Mee's comedy concerns a young couple who arrive at the young man's family cabin. To their surprise, they find both of the man's parents canoodling with lovers of their own. Wintertime, which contains partial nudity, will begin performances at the Guthrie Lab Jan. 31 with an official opening set for Feb. 5. John Miller-Stephany will direct the play, which Variety hailed as "wacky, elegant and amazingly buoyant." Wintertime plays through March 2.
In a recent interview, playwright Mee spoke about Wintertime: "I guess it's about different things . . . the struggles and difficulties and joy of love. But on some nights you could think the question is can two ordinary young people today find true love given the landscape of dysfunctional families and uncertain roles and changing sexual social gender mores . . . On another evening you could look at it and think, oh, it's really about a married couple that's been together for years . . . the complexities of staying together and sustaining a marriage and how do you avoid the temptations of love affairs — what causes them to stay together and what causes them to break apart."
The company of actors includes Robert O. Berdahl as Edmund, Brienin Bryant as Ariel, Jeffrey T. Cribbs as Jonathan, Josette DiCarlo as Maria, Sam Freed as Frank, Christopher Innvar as Francois, Charity Jones as Jaqueline, Isabell Monk O’Connor as Bertha, Steve Sweere as Bob and Claudia Wilkens as Hilda. The creative team comprises Mathew LeFebvre (set and costume designer); Dennis Parichy (lighting designer); Felix Ivanov (movement coach); Scott W. Edwards (sound design); Andrew Cooke (music consultant); Elisa Carlson (vocal and dialect consultant); Michael Bigelow Dixon, Matt Di Cintio, Ariane Sandford (dramaturgy); and Russell W. Johnson (stage manager).
Tickets, priced between $26 and $30, are available by calling (612) 377-2224 or (877) 44-STAGE or by logging on to www.guthrietheater.org. Preview tickets are available for $22, and the Guthrie Lab is located at 700 North First Street in Minneapolis, MN.
In related news: Thomas C. Proehl, who is currently the Guthrie's general manager, has been named interim managing director of the Guthrie Theater. Proehl replaces Susan Trapnell, who recently resigned from the position less than a year after she began working at the Minneapolis theatre.
