GUILLOTINE CITY

Watch your fingers! The blade-like doors of the Minneapolis-St Paul Elevated Rail are razor-sharp, and the masses of swarming, indifferent crows are hungry. Who are you supposed to believe in this city of 44 million people? What kind of revolution wears a mask? And why should you care?

GUILLOTINE CITY is a darkly comic neo-noir set in a not-so-distant future of the Twin Cities. A factory machinist is courted by two opposing political leaders: will she choose socialist revolution, charismatic politics, or a secret third path?

Written by Marge J. Buckley, a 2025-26 McKnight Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center, this production from Commutator Collective premiered for one weekend in February at the Bryant Lake Bowl and returns at Open Eye by popular demand. Commutator Collective is a queer-and-trans led arts group which has been creating homegrown experimental theatre in the Twin Cities since 2018.