New, live theater is back with this outdoor series of short, science fiction plays, September 4-12.
Tickets on sale now.
“What would the future look like if we actually learned from this moment right now?”
Ten great, local writers attacked this question, and 17 amazing, professional actors bring those visions to life for you. Live!
What might police training look like 100 years from now? How might advances in genetic testing change our moral choices? What happens when a community tries to stop the future from arriving? If Artificial Intelligence built you the perfect community, would you still get restless? And, 150 years into the future, is falling in love still terrifying?
We all need new ways to think about the future, and we’re inviting you to be a part of the conversation.
Starring some of the Twin Cities talents you’ve been missing, including Laurel Armstrong, Nathan Barlow*, Jennifer Blagen*, Katie Bradley*, Ernest Briggs, Javari Horne, Dominique Jones, George Keller*, Megan Kim, Kurt Kwan*, Ian McCarthy, Ariel Pinkerton, Siddeeqah Shabazz, Julia Valen, Adam Whisner, Payton Woodson
Performed at Frogtown Farm and Park September 4-5, and Newell Park September 11-12, you’ll be able to stretch out on a picnic blanket or relax in lawn chairs. Enjoy the end of summer, mingle safely with other audience members, and consider what a positive future might be—while being entertained by Twin Cities artists who are eager to return to the stage. And, everyone who buys a ticket takes home a card game we just created—about Futurism!
When you imagine the future what do you see? Are you more of a fatalist? Revolutionary? Romantic? Take our What Kind of Futurist Are You Quiz and find out. Then listen to our short audio preview play, The Thing That Changes Everything, featuring Tracey Maloney and Randy Reyes. Can you identify all the Futurists in their dialogue?
*Members, Actor’s Equity Association
Anything humanity has ever created has started with an idea, a vision, imagination.”
BECKY DALE, PLAYWRIGHT, cOMPOSER, AND WONDERLUST ENSEMBLE MEMBER
Press Coverage for Hopscotch
10 playwrights, 17 actors, 10-minute plays pop up with visions of the future
by Kathy Berdan, Pioneer Press
Ten short plays let Twin Cities artists (and outdoor audiences) envision the future
by Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune
Exploring the new normal for Minnesota’s live theater scene
by Euan Kerr and Susan Davis, MPR
WCCO’s Center Stage, hosted by Jearlyn Steele
Women’s Press (print edition out now)
Details
Location
September 4-5: Frogtown Farm and Park, 946 Minnehaha Ave W, Saint Paul
Performances will be in the Northwest corner of the park, among the Oak trees, on the Minnehaha Ave side of the park. There is ample free parking along Minnehaha Ave.
September 11-12: Newell Park, 900 Fairview Ave N, Saint Paul
Performances will be in the Southwest corner, nearest the intersection of Hewitt Ave and Fairview Ave. There is ample free parking in the neighborhood around that corner.
Please bring chairs or a blanket to sit on. There will be plenty of room for the audience to stretch out on a hill, socially distanced, and watch the show. Actors’ voices will be amplified so you can hear every word.
Paved sidewalks lead to the check-in area. The sitting areas during the show will be just off the pathways on a grassy field. The terrain is a little hilly but nothing steep. There are no stairs.
All actors are mic’d for ease of hearing.
Tickets
Tickets are “Pick Your Price” (including $0). Suggested price: Single Lineup $15, Double Feature $25. Reserve your seat now!
Performance Dates & Times
The 10 new works are divided into two sets (A and B), each lineup presenting 5 short plays in approximately 75 minutes. Audiences may experience either set independently or in any order.
Frogtown Farm and Park
Saturday 9/4/21, 3:30 pm – Lineup A
Saturday 9/4/21, 6:30 pm – Lineup B
Sunday 9/5/21, 3:30 pm – Lineup B
Sunday 9/5/21, 6:30 pm – Lineup A
Newell Park
Saturday 9/11/21, 3:30 pm – Lineup B
Saturday 9/11/21, 6:30 pm – Lineup A
Sunday 9/12/21, 3:30 pm – Lineup A
Sunday 9/12/21, 6:30 pm – Lineup B
The Plays
Lineup A
ORGANIC GPS by Alan Berks.
Starring Javari Horne and Dominique Jones
In a future where no one wants for anything, being observant and kind is a valued gig, and nature is honored and heard, two young people still experience terror at the prospect of falling in love.
AND IF YOU’VE NEVER by Katie Ka Vang.
Starring Laurel Armstrong, Megan Kim, and Ariel Pinkerton
An exploration of what police academy could be like for the next generation of law enforcement officers.
SOAR by Antonio Duke with music composed by Becky Dale.
Starring Nathan Barlow* and Dominique Jones
An Afro-Futurist play examining PTSD through the lens of black brotherhood. Set on a fictional island in the Caribbean two brothers need to find their lost moon magic in order to remember how to soar towards their light.
CIVIL AUTHORITY by John Heimbuch.
Starring Nathan Barlow*, Julia Valen, and Ariel Pinkerton
Devon’s genes hold the key to tracking down a dangerous revolutionary in the City. But will she agree to comply with the Civil Authority? Or does justice have a price?
great great grand written and composed by Becky Dale.
Starring Laurel Armstrong, Julia Valen, Javari Horne, and Megan Kim
It’s 2121. And 2020. The great great granddaughters are laughing and playing and crying and calling to us. Can we hear them?
Lineup B
THERE ONCE WAS A HAPPY CONSORTIUM by Kira Obolensky
Starring Jennifer Blagen*, Katie Bradley*, Ernest Briggs, George Keller, and Kurt Kwan*
Sometime in the future, you can get a job telling stories and making circles with rocks. It’s a pretty good job if you’d like a neutral stress-free gig. When a rogue storyteller meets a government-sanctioned group of storytellers in the woods, the story has to change.
DOWN BY THE LAKE by Alayna Jacqueline
Starring Jennifer Blagen*, Siddeeqah Shabazz, Adam Whisner, and Payton Woodson
Set in the distant future, two paranormal enthusiasts investigate a small hidden conservative town terrorized by a pack of monsters only seen by the lone-child of this community.
TOTAL PAZ by Leah Cooper
Starring George Keller*, Ian McCarthy, and Adam Whisner
Welcome to TTL PAZ, the Ten Thousand Lakes of Peace Autonomous Zone, where empathy and reciprocity have replaced extractive capitalism. It’s all pretty wonderful, as long as you stay inside the biome and let the AI manage the rest.
BREATHE IN THE LIGHT by Oogie_Push.
Starring Katie Bradley*, Ernest Briggs, and Payton Woodson
Theatre meets ritual. What would it look like if we spent more time taking care of our inner selves and respecting each other?
NO MORE STATUES by JuCoby Johnson
Starring Kurt Kwan* and Ian McCarthy
In 2040, on the 20th anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, two friends help celebrate the removal of the last statue of a colonizer in the United States.
* Appearing through an Agreement between Wonderlust Productions, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Production Team
Co-Artistic Directors: Alan Berks and Leah Cooper
Production and Stage Management: Gabriel Peñaloza-Hernandez and Rosie Tabachnick
Sound Design and Engineering: Maje Adams, Rachel Brees, and Peter Morrow
Cello Player: Elise Butler-Pinkham
Marketing and Communications: KD Bauer
Audience Services: Emma Halper
Special Thanks
Nancy Baldrica and David Fettig
Lizbett Benge
Maurice Broaddus
Pat Campanaro
Christina Castro
Sun Mee Chomet
Pat Coldwell
Marianne Combs
Barb and Fran Davis
Glenda Eoyang
Dr. Joyce Ester
Erica and Patience Fields
Terry Fitzgerald
Mary Beidler Gearan
Nor Hall
Bruce and Jean Johnson
Brandon Jones
Amy Hubbard & Geoff Kehoe
Ellie Krug
Kevin Lindsey
Dr. John Moravec
David O’Fallon
Pillsbury House Theatre
Peter Rachleff
Kent Redford
David Harrison Rivers
Cecily Sommers
Sarah Tan
Saymoukda Vongsay
Clarence White
Rhiana Yazzie
Behind the Scenes
About the Creators
Alan Berks is co-Artistic Director of Wonderlust Productions and a writer, director, and teacher. His many plays include Goats, Almost Exactly Like Us, #ringtone, 3 Parts Dead, Complicated Fun, and others that have been seen around the country. He is an affiliated writer at the Playwrights’ Center in Minnesota and co-created Thirst Theater, the Workhaus Collective, and MinnesotaPlaylist.com.
Leah Cooper is co-Artistic Director of Wonderlust Productions and has been directing, producing, and managing in theater for over 30 years. She was the first Executive Director of the MN Theater Alliance, co-founding partner at MNPlaylist.com, and Executive Director at the MN Fringe Festival. Leah is also a freelance director, facilitator, and consultant in community engagement and organizational development, and a frequent director for the Breaking Ice (diversity and inclusion) program at Pillsbury House & Theatre.
About Wonderlust Productions
Founded in 2014, Wonderlust Productions brings together members of communities whose stories are often ignored or misunderstood and collaborates with them from the beginning of the idea until the final performance, to create a truly inclusive interaction that privileges both authenticity and artistry and instigates education, entertainment, conversation, and transformation.
