My Best of the Year List for Theater 2020 – Part I

As we all know, this year was strange. Every part of our lives was upended and for those whose work involves live performances, this was an understatement. Collectively, we have lost so much during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with epic loss of life and livelihoods, we have lost intimate connections with friends and loved ones. We have also lost the experience of being an audience – united in a time and place, attention wrapt, heartbeats literally in synch, inhaling a singular performance and exhaling applause.

That said, there were still many notable performances in 2020, whether live and in person, live-streamed, or recorded. And every single theater company that worked to adapt their art to fit unprecedented conditions — to keep connected with audiences through emails, interviews, podcasts, and glitchy Zoom readings — should be recognized for their relentless stubbornness and extraordinary commitment to the single greatest story-telling medium in history: theater in all its forms.

So here are my personal highlights from the performing arts world in 2020, along with my fervent wish that we will all be gathering together for live performances at this time next year. Part I focuses on the live performances I saw. Part II explores the virtual theater I enjoyed.

Live Performances During the Before Times

Best musical: Indecent, Music Theatre of Madison

With Paula Vogel’s Tony Award-winning play Indecent, director Meghan Randolph and MTM bested every theater in the state by performing this shimmering gem first. Their production in the Play Circle Theatre in the Wisconsin Union was simply magnificent. 

With a bare, wooden stage flanked with footlights; sets and props made entirely of vintage suitcases; a three-person klezmer band (violin, clarinet and accordion) that blended into the cast; and a nimble ensemble of seven extraordinary actors; Indecent told an expansive story about the Polish/Jewish playwright Sholem Asch and theater troupe whose lives were irrevocably changed by their experience of producing his play, God of Vengeance. Exceptional choreography by Brian Cowing and one of the most touching love scenes I’ve ever seen onstage, complete with a real rainshower, made this a very bright spot in a very challenging year.

Best audience interaction: Every Brilliant Thing, Forward Theater Company

During a giddy moment about half way through Every Brilliant Thing, sole performer David Daniel tried to high-five every single person in the Playhouse at Overture. He scooted through rows of audience members, he ran up and down the aisles, and he finally collapsed in the middle of the stage, sweaty and breathless and ecstatic. It was a beautiful moment in an evening full of heartfelt reasons to be alive and grateful for both the dramatic and the quotidian miracles around us every day. It is hard to imagine being part of such a performance now. Though it’s billed as a solo show, Every Brilliant Thing is really a community event, relying on audience members to play characters, to improvise, and to read lines that carry the story forward. It’s the most baldly collaborative play I’ve ever been part of, and with Daniel leading the way, it was an extraordinary experience. Kudos to him and to the audience members who shared – and were a part of – this singular evening of theater.

Best production concept: Ruddigore, Milwaukee Opera Theatre/Skylight Music Theatre

How does one make a lesser known 19th century Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera fresh to 21st century audiences and also make it, well, funny? MOT Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik’s answer is almost always to turn convention on its head, and that’s exactly what she did with a bold reimagining of the operetta Ruddigore, along with co-director Catie O’Donnell. That is how the production ended up in a small, black box theater with no orchestra, performed largely a cappella by a cast of only 11. A study in black and white, the cast looked strikingly like an Edward Gorey illustration brought to life in an early silent film. And since Ruddigore was written as a parody of Victorian melodramas, it turned out that the stock characters and general silliness were a great fit for the flickering, black and white world of early cinema. I can’t wait to see another unlikely mash-up of genres from this team.

Best production for young audiences/Best costumes: The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, First Stage

What do you get when you combine a singing bag of trail mix, dancing chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs, an incredibly sharp pair of sewing scissors with hot Latin dance moves, and a rock that rocks out like a background singer from the last Kiss tour? First Stage’s totally amazing world premiere musical, The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, about a series of epic battles for backyard domination. Adapted from the children’s book of the same name, the simple story was transformed into a ’70s-era musical that was equal parts dance-off and professional wrestling tournament. Kelly Doherty’s clever, energetic direction kept the fun front and center, aided by catchy songs, killer choreography by Molly Rhode, and some of the best costumes and puppets I’ve ever seen, created by Brandon Kirkham. Unfortunately the initial run was cut short when COVID hit. But hopefully the show will be back at the Todd Wehr Theater next year. I am, let me assure you, still ready to rock.

Best foreshadowing of our virtual lives during lockdown: The Nether, The Constructivists

There are a lot of disturbing elements of Jennifer Haley’s play The Nether, a very on-brand production by The Constructivists. Part detective procedural and part dystopian nightmare about escapism, fantasy and morality, it contrasted a seemingly ideal world in a computer simulation with a potentially messy and dangerous real life. Unfortunately the creepy, often sadistic production was cut short by COVID, and we were all forced to retreat into our houses and use computers to do our jobs, shop, maintain our friendships, and find entertainment. Echoes from the play’s central question have bounced around my brain and all over my computer screen for months now, as we are all urged to venture carefully into both the virtual and the outside worlds in this time of crisis.

Best (mostly solo) performance: Laura Gordon in Happy Days, Renaissance Theaterworks 

In another unfortunately prophetic piece for 2020, I will treasure the image of Laura Gordon’s perky 1950s housewife, going through her morning routine and adjusting her makeup as if everything is fine, while buried up to her chest in an enormous prison of mud and debris. Beckett’s characteristically dark and absurd tale, Happy Days, was a brave programming choice for Renaissance Theaterworks and an absolute triumph for Gordon. Stripped of blocking and most movement, Gordon communicated volumes in the smallest gestures and captivated with the tiniest changes in her facial expressions. Her moments of panic and fear were horrifying, mostly because she’d been able to overcome so much isolation and pain. It was a stunning tribute to just how much we can endure.

Most estrogen onstage: The How and the Why, Two Crows Theatre Company

In The How and the Why, the two main characters talk about ovulation, menses, and uteruses (uteri?), for hours. That’s because Zelda (Brenda DeVita) and Rachel (Kelsey Brennan) are both scientists, working in the field of evolutionary biology. Zelda, in her mid-50s, is an established academic with prizes, publications and considerable professional stature due to her groundbreaking “grandmother hypothesis,” which attempts to explain “the how and the why” of human menopause. Rachel, a 28 year-old graduate student at NYU, also has a revolutionary theory about “how and why” women menstruate, postulating that it’s a defense mechanism against the toxicity of sperm. Not only does The How and the Why contain more unflinching references to the female reproductive system than a sex-ed class, it features two strong, smart women who are emotionally complex and intellectually bold, played by equally fierce actresses. Could we see more like this, please? More pure estrogen onstage, and backstage, and in the director’s chair, and as playwrights? Human biology diagrams are optional.

Last event I saw live: Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe

To celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday, I bought a pair of tickets to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the glorious Hancher Auditorium on the campus of our alma mater, the University of Iowa. Along with 1,800 other theater-goers, we were fascinated, moved, and astonished by the artistry of the company, the inventiveness of the pieces and the beautiful athleticism of the individual dancers. The program ended with the company’s signature work “Revelations,” which simultaneously took my breath away and filled me with joy. But sitting in the second balcony of the grand auditorium in early March, I kept sneaking glances at the audience in between pieces. As random members of the crowd covered coughs with their programs, I wondered with a sinking feeling if this would be the last such gathering for a while. Even though only a handful of COVID cases had been reported in Iowa and Wisconsin at the time, I was sadly correct.