FRANKS 2011-12 SEASON
AJAX IN IRAQ by Ellen McLaughlin, at the Playwrights' Center, Nov. 3-27
SANTALAND DIARIES at the Women's Club, December 2011
TBA, Spring 2012

Last Season at FRANK
September, we presented the area premiere of ECLIPSED by Danai Gurira, an Obie Award-winning playwright (In the Continuum, 2006) at the Playwrights’ Center, Sept. 17-Oct. 10. ECLIPSED centers on the lives of five women who are thrown together by the recent civil war in Liberia. Salvaged as chattel from wartime looting, these “wives” of the commanding officer form a hardscrabble alliance and develop their own a hierarchy as they confront questions of survival within their compound. The arrival of a new girl who has learned to read, and the return of a former “wife” who has learned to kill, quickly transforms their possibilities. Surprisingly vivacious and often funnier than you would expect, Eclipsed raises thought-provoking questions about power and resistance, solidarity and complicity, as the women hold out for the hope of a brighter destiny. The production features Frank veteran Shá Cage (VENUS, F***ING A), Hope Cervantes, Nisreen Dawan, Signe Harriday (SHREW) and Yeukai Mudzi, with direction by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox.

In November, Frank headed downtown for a holiday visit to Hennepin Stages with our production of David Sedaris;’ SANTALAND DIARIES. A delightfully absurd look at the commercial underbelly of the holiday season by the NPR humorist and best-selling author of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Sedaris’ sharp observations of his odd encounters during the season of forced joy are a delightful antidote for those who have had it up to here with the Christmas treacle! SANTALAND DIARIES featured Joe Leary as “Crumpet,” the elf. The production will be directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox, who has directed acclaimed productions of the play at Syracuse Stage (Syracuse, NY) and Portland Center Stage (Portland, OR).

In March, Frank staged the musical CABARET by Kander and Ebb at the Centennial Showboat Theatre. We were delighted to have Melissa Hart, who played Sally Bowles in Hal Prince’s original Broadway production join us as Frau Schneider! Directed by Wendy Knox, with Musical Direction by Michael Croswell.

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In the giving mood? Frank is signed on to Network for Good's online giving option. Go to our "Support Frank" page and check it out. Maybe even go some way towards relieving some holiday guilt. While you're there, check out our wish list.

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Check out what folks are saying about Wendy! (Will download the Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine's latest article about Wendy.)

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FRANK has a NEW rehearsal space! Frank's new space is at 2637 27th Ave. S. Suite 208, in the Ivy Building for the Arts, located in the Seward neighborhood of
Minneapolis.

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City Pages names the Big Hot Dog “Best Director”!
http://bestof.citypages.com/2007/arts-entertainment/70106/

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