Exploring Lauren Gunderson's captivating work throughout the Twin Cities
Lauren Gunderson has brought cheer to the Jungle’s stage through three consecutive seasons of Christmas at Pemberley, including the co-commissioned world premiere The Wickhams; as well as our virtual stage with The Catastrophist.
One of the most produced playwrights in America, Lauren’s work expands beyond the Jungle’s stage here in the Twin Cities area. Learn more about upcoming and past productions and what have drawn other theaters to her work.
“What I love about [Lauren Gunderson’s] plays is that she's able to blend the grandest heady themes of science (or poetry) with incredibly intimate emotional stories of humans, and somehow they each inform the other, making them both all the more profound and meaningful.”
The Revolutionists
Lyric Arts
Directed by Hannah Weinberg-Goerger
Friday, April 23, 2021 @ 7:00 pm
Video-on-demand available April 24–May 2, 2021
Four beautiful, badass women lose their heads in this irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Playwright Olympe de Gouges, assassin Charlotte Corday, former queen (and fan of ribbons) Marie Antoinette, and Haitian rebel Marianne Angelle hang out, murder Marat, and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris.
This grand and dream-tweaked comedy is about violence and legacy, art and activism, feminism and terrorism, compatriots and chosen sisters, and how we actually go about changing the world. It’s a true story. Or total fiction. Or a play about a play. Or a raucous resurrection…that ends in a song and a scaffold.
“Lauren Gunderson writes three-dimensional characters. However, it is her women who are particularly--and beautifully--fully rounded. The four formidable characters in this play are relatable: smart and funny, strong and fragile, while being both full of confidence and doubt. We often refer to her female characters as "modern." Living in a world where--throughout theater, literature, and history--where female characters have often become distilled down to one-dimensional symbols at the hands of male writers, Gunderson's women feel particularly and uniquely modern because they are simply written to be real.
While THE REVOLUTIONISTS is about sisterhood and feminism, another major theme is how difficult it can be for those with privilege to set it aside in order advocate for real change, no matter how much one believes in the revolution. Gunderson makes the point that, no matter how comfortable or messy it gets, we owe it to our fellow human beings to take the risk over and over again, instead of remaining complacent. If one would like to see a revolution succeed, one has a moral responsibility to take part in the battle in a very personal way--using whatever tools or means they have at their disposal--to fight alongside those who are already giving their life for the cause.”
Laura Tahja Johnson
Artistic & Executive Director
I and You
SteppingStone Theatre | Park Square Theater
Directed by Mark Ferraro-Hauck
April 14 - 17 & 21 - 24
Caroline has been sick, out of school, and trapped in her room for MONTHS awaiting a liver transplant. Her only company is social media until her classmate, Anthony, bursts in with a sad posterboard for a poetry project that’s kinda….due tomorrow. As they stumble through, their conversation evolves beyond a school project into an authentic, funny, and heartbreaking exploration of isolation, illness, and the vulnerability of being real with another person.
“I think that one of the things that attracted me to [I &You] is how Lauren Gunderson writes in an authentic youth voice, which is rare to find in contemporary scripts where the experiences of teen characters are often not true to or performed by young people...and the piece is timely because it’s about connection in the midst of isolation and explores looking at living in a nation divided, how do we find language and vision to come back and see each other, to wait for each other.”
Mark Ferraro-Hauck
Jungle Theater’s THE CATASTROPHIST has been EXTENDED through May 9. Experience Lauren Gunderson’s timely piece that brings science and art together for an unforgettable experience. Click here to learn more and get your tickets today.
