Frank kicks off its 20th anniversary season when the Guthrie Theater presents the Frank Theatre production of

Marina Carr's
BY THE BOG OF CATS

March 12-April 5, 2009

At the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio
818 2nd Street South, Minneapolis

Directed by Wendy Knox
Set Design by John Francis Bueche
Lighting Design by Jeff Bartlett
Costume Design by Kathy Kohl
Sound Design by Michael Croswell
Stage Managed by Spencer Putney

With a cast that features Virginia Burke, John Catron, Annie Enneking, and Melissa Hart, with Sulia Altenberg, Gabe Angieri, Tony Brown, Christopher Kehoe, Bob Davis, Izzy Rousmaniere, Eric Sharp, Anika Solveig and Cheryl Willis

Set in rural Ireland, By The Bog of Cats mixes the trademark dark humor of the Irish with an uncompromising tale of abandonment and shocking self-sacrifice. Hester Swane (Virginia Burke) is an Irish "tinker," a woman born of gypsies, and tied to the bleak landscape of the bog where she has lived her whole life. Her younger lover, Carthage Kilbride (John Catron), with whom she has a daughter, is on the verge of a marriage to another woman that will bring him land, wealth and respect. Refusing to acknowledge that Carthage could ever leave her, Hester grips more tightly and tragically to the life she believes is rightfully hers.

Tickets are priced from $18 to $30, with opening night priced at $34. Tickets can be purchased through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at www.guthrietheater.org. Celebrate 20 years of Frank at our BIRTHDAY PARTY on March 21! Tickets and information about the frankalicious benefit birthday party are available by calling 612.724.3760.

Frank Theatre is a professional theatre company committed to producing unique work which stretches the skills of the artists who create the work while simultaneously challenging the everyday perceptions of the audience through the exploration of ideas and issues of social, political and/or cultural concern. Recent work includes Martin McDonagh’s THE PILLOWMAN, Suzan-Lori Parks’ VENUS, Shakespeare’s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Carson Kreitzer’s THE LOVE SONG OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, Marc Blitzstein’s THE CRADLE WILL ROCK and Bertolt Brecht’s MOTHER COURAGE.

For further information, please contact Frank Theatre at (612) 724 3760, or at info@franktheatre.org.

"God bless her, because if it weren't for Knox, Twin Cities audiences would never get to see Brecht, the wild and woolly German playwright who saw theater as political energy and a platform to invite the masses in for a slap in the face." Graydon Royce, StarTribune

"Frank Theatre's production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui manages to make theater matter again and address the fear of the nation. In a moment when the policies of the U.S. government can have such a profound effect on the world, Brecht's political views could not be more appropriate." OBJECT MAGAZINE

"Wendy Knox didn't wait for someone to build her a space. This fall, she demonstrated again the vital role Frank Theatre plays in the theatre ecosystem, staging the difficult ARTURO UI at Metro State's St. Paul campus." StarTribune, year end, 2001

"As the driving force behind Frank Theatre, Wendy Knox is the ideal mix of pragmatist and dreamer: She is as artistically adventurous as any director in town, but also sensible enough never to let her ambition overleap her company's resources. Last year's Frank production of Brecht/Weill's The Threepenny Opera was proof positive of Knox's talent. Set in the gloomy warren of the Southern Theater and suffused with hellish red light, Frank's Threepenny created an atmosphere of amplified gloom. From the very first scene, in which the cast posed in lurid tableaux of sexual congress and violence, it was clear that Knox knew exactly how to play this tricky script. This was Brecht as Brecht would have had it: a throng of thoroughly despicable characters floundering in an industrial morass. Dark stuff, to be sure, but illuminating as well. Though Brecht's play is famous for alienating its audience with uncomfortable truths, Frank's Threepenny had us bewitched from the very start."
CITY PAGES, BEST STAGE PRODUCTION, 1999