I've long been a fan of Saint Paul's Park Square Theater, a company that regularly employs our local A-list actors to do challenging plays and do them very convincingly. When I was first attending Park Square's productions six or seven years ago, it seemed to me they never quite garnered the attention that's regularly paid to Minneapolis institutions like the Guthrie and the Jungle.

But they've been on a roll in recent years, with major renovations and fundraising for a second stage space (which The Line covered). The just-closed production of the musical Ragtime, based on E. L. Doctorow's novel, was a financial triumph for the theater. And in a couple of weeks, Park Square will mount the world premiere of a commissioned play by one of our area's most distinguished playwrights—and the playwright will be a member of the cast.

A Southern Family

In his first appearance on the Park Square stage, Carlyle Brown will portray the grandfather in a tale of an interracial family in the Deep South of the 1960s. Brown's play centers on the story of Mary Ellen Collins, a young white woman separated from her mother after the mother marries a black man. As Mary Ellen re-connects with the mother via the mother's letters, she learns that she has a half-brother and seeks him out.

“This is a new kind of play for me,” according to Brown. “I am exploring the American identity from an African-American perspective, but the central character is white. And I’ve never written a play with a female central character….There are many negative notions of what black families are that undermine the power of those families. I am attracted to this story, where the strength of the black family reflects my experience.”

A Distinguished Career

Based in Minneapolis,  where he is the artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company, Brown has a long and distinguished list of credits. He's been a commissioned playwright at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, the Houston Grand Opera, Chicago's Goodman Theater, and many others. He's been an artist in residence and/or taught at New York University, Antioch College, the James Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, the University of Minnesota theater department, Carleton College, and elsewhere. And he's a core alumnus of our Playwrights' Center.

American Family, which previews March 16-22 and opens on March 23, looks to be a stellar opportunity to see one of our major theater-creators in action on the page and on the stage.