John Catron News

It's fitting that Shakespeare Theater's Artistic Director Michael Kahn has created an evening that bookends the pathetic theater critics of the 18th century with criticism in our own day.  His cracker-jack, double casting results in a fun evening with star turns-and slapstick routines-galore.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

Dark & Stormy Productions today announces the producers, venue, and partners for its upcoming production of Extremities by William Mastrosimone. Previously, Dark & Stormy has presented Outside Providence by Edward Allan Baker, Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, The Receptionist by Adam Bock, The Drunken City by Adam Bock, and The Hothouse by Harold Pinter. Extremities will be the first production of Dark & Stormy's 2015 season.

I went for a walk today. The sky through the trees caught my eye. The sound of music floated in and out between the calling of the birds, and the smell of the late summer prairie was all around me. I followed Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau through their lives, studies, and friendship. I thought about nature not as something to be visited occasionally, but as something we live in the midst of daily, whether we're aware of it or not. Sometimes her voice is obscured by the busyness of modern life, but she's always there if we take the time and listen hard enough. TigerLion Arts' outdoor walking play, NATURE, is more than just theater, it's an experience. The story of the life of writers, philosophers, scholars, and friends Emerson and Thoreau includes one very important character, nature, as experienced through the beautiful grounds of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Last weekend I saw the classic play The Heiress, about Catherine, a wealthy heiress lacking in social graces with a stern father and an unexpected suitor. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the play until I had a sudden revelation the next morning - Catherine is Mad Men's Peggy. The Heiress is all about Catherine reclaiming her power, even if it comes at the expense of her own happiness.

Acclaimed playwright-screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher revisits his acting roots in the Jungle Theater's production of THE HEIRESS, portraying Dr. Austin Sloper, a role he says he's always wanted to play. Artistic Director Bain Boehlke designs and directs the celebrated stage adaptation based on one of Henry James' most memorable novels, Washington Square. The elegant costume drama, also stars Kate Guentzel in the title role of Catherine Sloper and her real-life husband John Catron as Morris Townsend, her suitor, supported by an all-star cast including Jennifer Blagen, Charity Jones, Wendy Lehr, Paris Hunter Paul and Anna Sundberg.

Acclaimed playwright-screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher revisits his acting roots in the Jungle Theater's production of THE HEIRESS, portraying Dr. Austin Sloper, a role he says he's always wanted to play. Artistic Director Bain Boehlke designs and directs the celebrated stage adaptation based on one of Henry James' most memorable novels, Washington Square. The elegant costume drama, also stars Kate Guentzel in the title role of Catherine Sloper and her real-life husband John Catron as Morris Townsend, her suitor, supported by an all-star cast including Jennifer Blagen, Charity Jones, Wendy Lehr, Paris Hunter Paul and Anna Sundberg.

Actor John Catron reveals a little insight into his Cassio in the Guthrie Theater's production of OTHELLO and a little about himself and his future work in this Q&A.

For Illusion Theater's Ninth Annual Lights Up! series, Transatlantic Love Affair, the creators of Minnesota Fringe Festival hit Red Resurrected (2011 Encore Slot Winner) and Ivey Award-winning Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010), offers ASH LAND, a tale inspired by economic hardships past and present and scored by old American spirituals and new slide guitar compositions. Opening today, January 31, the dynamic and spirited Ash Land runs through February 22 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Ave.

Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. THE SCHOOL FOR LIES by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.

Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. The School for Lies by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.

For Illusion Theater's Ninth Annual Lights Up! series, Transatlantic Love Affair, the creators of Minnesota Fringe Festival hit Red Resurrected (2011 Encore Slot Winner) and Ivey Award-winning Ballad of the Pale Fisherman (2010), offers ASH LAND, a tale inspired by economic hardships past and present and scored by old American spirituals and new slide guitar compositions. Opening on January 31, the dynamic and spirited Ash Land runs through February 22 at the downtown Minneapolis theater, located on the eighth floor of The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Ave.

Park Square cracks the ice of winter with a wickedly funny satire inspired by Moliere's The Misanthrope. THE SCHOOL FOR LIES by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012) storms the stage in a production led by Amy Rummenie, Artistic Director of Walking Shadow Theatre Company, in her Park Square directing debut.

In today's world, we've come to expect action, excitement and big emotion, or displays of it, and it's only getting worse in the age of 'reality TV.' What the public wants, they get. And lots of it. Reality today is oversized, over spent and over wrought.

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Guthrie Artistic DirectorJoe Dowling will helm Brian Friel's modern adaptation of the Chekhov classic. First produced at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 1998, Friel's adaptation renders the language of the play into a modern idiom and offers humor and further developed characters' roles and relationships. Uncle Vanya-a play that has not been performed on the Guthrie stage in nearly 25 years-begins performances on September 14 on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

The Guthrie Theater's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night moves into the final week of its acclaimed run, with the performance of Helen Carey as Mary Tyrone earning accolades for its complexity and sympathetic power. Carey, an actor with an illustrious career spanning a Tony Award nomination, pivotal roles in Guthrie productions, stage credits in New York and the U.K., as well as numerous film and television credits, was termed "superb" in her latest role by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its production of Eugene O'Neill's semi-autobiographical masterwork Long Day's Journey into Night. For the first time in its 50-year history, the Guthrie will present this Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning family drama under the direction of Artistic Director Joe Dowling. The production will star actors Peter Michael Goetz and Helen Carey in the roles of James and Mary Tyrone. James is an aging actor and Mary is his rambling, morphine-addicted wife-both struggle to helm a dysfunctional family racked by addiction, despair and festering guilt.

Park Square Theatre offers its first Neil Simon play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, a semi-autobiographical romp behind the scenes at the fictional 1950s "Max Prince Show," starting tonight, June 1st. The comedy writers work to outshine each other while Max worries about the network executives and the future of his television show.

Park Square Theatre offers its first Neil Simon play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, a semi-autobiographical romp behind the scenes at the fictional 1950s "Max Prince Show," starting June 1st. The comedy writers work to outshine each other while Max worries about the network executives and the future of his television show.

The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its first-ever production of Hay Fever, Noel Coward's sensational and highly entertaining comedy of manners, playing March 10 - April 22, 2012, on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.