ILLUSION THEATER 2024-25 Season

March 28 – April 13, 2025
Transatlantic Love Affair presents Red and the Mother Wild

March 28 – April 13, 2025: Transatlantic Love Affair presents Red and the Mother Wild a new piece from old bones! Red and the Mother Wild is a tale of what lies beyond the bounds of our cultivated lives. Inspired by the themes and hidden corners of Red Riding Hood, the piece weaves revisioning of our 2011 Fringe show, Red Resurrected, with new material developed as part of Illusion’s 2024 Fresh Ink series. Journey with us into the deep dark woods, where wolves are not what they seem, and the wild has something to teach us all.

There has always been something different about Red. Raised in a small mountain community, she is the child of everyone and noone at once, yet longs for something beyond the bounds of what she knows. Called by the woods, that one forbidden place, what will she find when she leaves the path created for her? Meanwhile, stories abound of another woman who also went astray, who wandered into the wilderness long ago…

TLA and ILLUSION have had a long relationship beginning in 2012 when TLA presented Ballad of the Pale Fisherman in ILLUSION's Lights UP! Series. Other works with ILLUSION include Red Resurrected (2013), Ash Land (2014), emilie / eurydice (2015), 105 Proof (2016), The Privateer (2017), The Devout (2019), These Old Shoes (2014 and 2023).

Conceived and Directed by Isabel Nelson
Creative Team: Mark Benzel, Amber Bjork, Cristina Castro, Peytie McCandless, Derek Lee Miller, Isabel Nelson, Adelin Phelps, and Allison Vincent

April 25 – May 4, 2025
Scarecrow on Fire

April 25 – May 4, 2025: Scarecrow on Fire written by Kevin Kling. Kevin imagines a twist to the story of The Wizard of Oz, as only he can. Dorothy is back in Kansas with a cyclone in her head, she's in trouble and calls for help. Can the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion find their way from Oz to Kansas?   With the all-star cast of Dan Chouinard as the Tinman, Stephen Yoakam as the Lion, Simone Perrin as Dorothy, and Kevin as the Scarecrow, these four plunge into one adventure after another and still arrive at the realization that, “Home. There really is no place like it.” Kevin Kling was one of the first playwrights ILLUSION engaged for collaboration. He first performed his solo work 21A in ILLUSION’s studio warehouse (1984). Kevin played a collection of eight unforgettable characters on the Minneapolis to St. Paul bus route giving the play its name. ILLUSION produced his Lloyd's Prayer twice, in 1989 with Kevin playing the Raccoon Boy and Michael Sommers playing Lloyd and later in 2002 with Nathan Christopher playing the Raccoon Boy and Zach Curtis as Lloyd. Kevin has also performed at LIVE at Lyndale Gardens for each of the four years of this free outdoor series. This year Kevin offers Scarecrow On Fire directed by Michael Robins with Kevin Kling, Dan Chouinard, Simone Perrin, and Stephen Yoakam, with music from the House of Mercy band.

June 2025
Fresh Ink

June 2025: Fresh Ink. Dedicated to generating new work, Bonnie and Michael established the Fresh Ink Series in 1987 as a part of ILLUSION’s season to have time and space for artists to try out new work. Fresh Ink gives artists a platform and resources to advance new work in a workshop setting and then, most importantly, share the work with an audience.  Fresh Ink demonstrates ILLUSION’s commitment to developing new works in American theater.

July & August 2025
ILLUSION. OUTSIDE. Live at Lyndale Gardens

July & August 2025. ILLUSION. OUTSIDE. Live at Lyndale Gardens. ILLUSION’s 5th summer season of programming free joyful music, theater, and entertainment at the Amphitheater in Lyndale Gardens, 6400 Lyndale Avenue South, Richfield.  Colleen Carey, of the Cornerstone Group, said, “We built the Amphitheater at Lyndale Gardens purposefully to have a community gathering space. We are thrilled to have ILLUSION THEATER again program this Summer Series in our Lyndale Gardens Amphitheater.”

September 2025
Nobody, No Time

September 2025: Nobody, No Time by ILLUSION Mellon Playwright in Residence, Carlyle Brown, is inspired by the life of Bert Williams, the famous and popular Vaudeville Negro entertainer. He was the headliner in the Ziegfeld Follies and at the beginning of the twentieth century he was one of the top recording artists in the world. He performed in black face and built his career and legacy on the exploitation of Negro stereotypes. W.C. Fields called him the funniest and the saddest man he ever knew. Nobody, No Time is a new play with music that looks inside the most talented, complex and conflicted figure of the Vaudeville era. As the Mellon Playwright in Residence, Carlyle has been a part of Illusion's leadership team since 2020. Nobody, No Time will be the fourth play Carlyle has written since he began his Mellon residence with Illusion.

Spring 2025
KEEPIN’ IT REAL

Spring 2025: KEEPIN’ IT REAL In addition to the development of new plays, ILLUSION is known for its groundbreaking educational work serving Twin Cities and greater Minnesota youth for over 40 years. KEEPIN’ IT REAL will once again tour Twin Cities area schools in March, with in-house performances at CFPA. This interactive performance piece was originally created from stories of older teens who wanted to tell their truths to incoming freshmen —so the younger students could avoid the “dramas” the older students had experienced. Each year the show changes based on the concerns of current teens. Most recently, ILLUSION included scenes that touch on the anxiety and depression teens have been feeling since the pandemic. Students’ responses, “Thank you, this is the first time these topics have been discussed.” “I know people who are going through what happens in the play.”  “Some days you just need a break.”  "Keep your head up, even if life brings you down."  KEEPIN’ IT REAL was developed by ILLUSION’s Education Team - Producing Director Bonnie Morris, Director of Education Karen Gundlach, Content Specialist Kathy Anlauf, and ILLUSION’s team of Teaching Artists. 

The regular season of performances is presented at the Center for Performing Arts (3754 Pleasant Avenue South, Minneapolis) unless noted otherwise.

ILLUSION – 50 years!

Bonnie and Michael each participated in the social and political changes that occurred throughout the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, - including the Civil Rights Movement, protests against the Vietnam War, the Women’s Rights Movement, Sexual Experimentation, and the Gay Rights movement. Theater itself was changing. Theaters around the world were used to bring awareness, provoke dialogue, and promote change. Bonnie and Michael saw many of these revolutionary theatrical works here in the United States, France, England, and Germany. They saw how artists played a role in all aspects of life in these countries, how companies created work collaboratively, how performances were held in non-traditional spaces, how the works invited audience participation, and how theaters were telling stories that hadn't been seen on stage before. All of this foment fired the imagination of Bonnie and Michael as they developed ILLUSION THEATER.

In 1974 Michael Robins was in Paris studying classical dance and physical theater. For Michael, “the name for the theater came to me while I was in France, the word 'illusion' in French is more about the illusions we cling to about life – and less about visual tricks or physical gestures.” Bonnie Morris adds, “The name led us to our mission -- to create theater that illuminates the illusions, myths and realities of our times and catalyzes personal and social change.” Michael continues, "Throughout the years our work has looked at long-held illusions, inviting audiences to examine their own ideas, perceptions, conceptions to see what is real behind the illusion. We produce plays that illuminate, entertain, and invite audiences to imagine new realities.”