THE GOOD PERSON OF SETZUAN

Frank Theatre will present THE GOOD PERSON OF SETZUAN by Bertolt Brecht, translated by Tony Kushner, at the former Rainbow foods site on East Lake Street, October 28-Nov. 20. This classic, comic play with music raises the question of how can we practice goodness and create a world that will sustain it. Performances are Thurs, Fri and Sat at 8:00, Sun at 2:00, with one student matinee at 12:00 noon on Thurs, Nov. 10. Tickets are $25, and there is a pay-what-you-can performance on Saturday, Oct. 29. Post-show discussions will follow the Sunday afternoon performances. More information on the Frank Theatre website, www.franktheatre.org.

In Brecht’s parable, rumors have reached the higher realm that it is impossible to live in the earthly world and remain good. A trio of bumbling gods descends to earth with the mission of finding a single good person, and, if they do, the world can remain as it is. On their first night, they need lodging. A waterseller tries to help, leading them to Shen Teh, a good-hearted prostitute, who is the only person who will help them out. Delighted with finding a good person, they give her 1,000 silver dollars, enough to buy her way out of prostitution and into a small tobacco shop. However, as a shop owner, she is taken advantage of by everyone, and finds herself forced to invent a “cousin,” disguising herself as a savvy businessman so that she can remain good and protect her resources. Her plan is complicated when she falls in love with an opportunistic pilot. When her neighbors begin missing the kind Shen-Teh, they accuse the “cousin” of causing her disappearance. In the final scene, she confronts the gods with the question “Is it possible to be good and remain good in a world that values profit over kindness and rewards greed and brutality rather than compassion and goodness?”

THE GOOD PERSON OF SETZUAN is directed by Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox with set designer Joe Stanley, composer/sound designer Dan Dukich, costume designer Kathy Kohl, lighting designer Mike Wangen and prop designer Kellie Larson. The show is stage managed by Glenn Klapperich and Katie Burger. The cast includes Ellen Apel, Patrick Bailey, Kate Beahen, Kirby Bennett, Alicia Britton, Virginia Burke, Leah Eckhardt, Katherine Ferrand, Emily Grodzik, Janis Hardy, Bethany McHugh, Kevin McLaughlin, John Middleton, Joseph Miller, Adam Rousar, Adan Varela, Logan Verdoorn and Sally Ann Wright. The show runs Oct 28-Nov. 20 at the former Rainbow Foods site, on 27th Ave S and East Lake Street, Minneapolis. Tickets are available on our website, www.franktheatre.org.

The performance will take place in the vacant Rainbow Foods site located at 2919 26th Ave S. The 70,000 square foot building has been empty for several years and was recently purchased by Wellington Management, to be redeveloped into a mixed-use facility. The site is within a 5-minute walk from the Lake St Midtown Blue Line station, easily accessible by train or bus, and there is plenty of free parking. It is also close to many restaurants and bars in the neighborhood. From 2001-08, Frank Theatre staged many exciting productions in vacant buildings such as a former munitions plant in St. Paul, the former Sears building (now Midtown Global Market), the Pillsbury A Mill Machine Shop and others.