Groucho Marx Meets T.S. Eliot

Playwright

Jeffrey Hatcher has had nine plays produced by ILLUSION, seven of them premieres: Three Viewings (twice), Turn of the Screw, Good ‘n’ Plenty, No Strings! (with Stephanie Lusco), Murderers, Mrs. Mannerly, What’s the Word For, A Night in Olympus (with Bill Corbett and Chan Poling) and Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet. Other Twin Cities theaters that have produced his work include the Guthrie, History Theatre, Children’s Theater Company, Park Square, and Yellow Tree. His plays have been produced on Broadway, off-Broadway and in theaters around the United States and the world. His film and TV work include the scripts for Stage Beauty, Casanova, The Duchess, Mr. Holmes, The Good Liar, and episodes of Columbo and The Mentalist.  

Director, Executive Producing Director

Michael founded ILLUSION THEATER in 1974. Over the past 50 years, he has guided nearly 500 plays to production. Most recently Michael directed T. Mychael Rambo's PRESENT, Judy, Joan & Joni (conceived by Michael and Roberta Carlson), the premiere of Michael Egan's stage adaptation Five Minutes of Heaven, and In This Moment...Now. Favorite projects he has directed include Allison Moore’s Ivey award winning My Antonia, Bill W. & Dr. Bob by Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey, James Still’s Miranda, Kate Guentzel in The Pink Unicorn, and Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling’s A Night in Olympus. With Roberta Carlson, Michael created the musical Only One Sophie. Michael is part of the team that created ILLUSION’s Education/Prevention program in 1977 starting with the award-winning play Touch. Michael received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Ivey Award.

Groucho Marx

Jim has been a Twin Cities actor (both on and off camera), Master of Ceremonies and Host for 35 years. He has spent the past 18 years bringing It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Playto the stage at the beautiful Saint Paul Hotel. Most recently he appeared in a One Man Version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol for The Confluence Hotel and as James J. Hill in the One Man Show The Man Who Bought Minneapolis for The Minnesota History Center at The James J. Hill House in Saint Paul. He created the role of “Frank” in the World Premiere of Patrick Coyle’s play The Big Blue River. For The ILLUSION THEATER he appeared as “Joseph Goebbels” in the World Premiere of Dancing With Giants, “Groucho” in The Marx Brothers: The Cocoanuts, and “Bill W” in Bill W & Doctor Bob. He was one of the “3 Guys in Tights” in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare...Abridged and is The Feast Master for both The Feast of Fantasy and The Phantom’s Feast at The Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Jim was also “Tony” in Tony & Tina‘s Wedding and spent three years doing Improv as part of The Resident Company at Dudley Riggs’ Brave New Workshop. He was The Minister of Fun & Game Host for both The Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Wild for more than 20 years. Jim is a native of Saint Paul and still proudly calls Saint Paul home.

T.S. Eliot

John has performed with companies throughout the Twin Cities including Theater Latté Da, the Jungle Theater, Frank Theater, Gremlin, Six Points, Torch, Girl Friday Productions, Sandbox Theater, Carlyle Brown and Company, Theatre Pro Rata, and Park Square. As a writer, his plays have been performed at Lyric Arts Main Street Stage, the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, Thirst, the Minnesota Fringe Festival, and Torch Theater. John recently played a monster in the feature film debut of writer/director Joseph Scrimshaw’s movie, “Dead Media,” which is currently in post-production.

*member Actors’ Equity Association

Lighting Design

Dante (they/she/any) is a freelance lighting designer and technician based in Minneapolis who is excited to return to the Illusion after two years of designing In This Moment Now. Recent design Credits Included: A Jumping Off Point (Jungle), The Pinballs, The Imaginators (Black Hawk Children's Theater) Assistant design credits include Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, Annie (Children’s Theatre Company). The Song Poet (Minnesota Opera), Rusalka; Pelleas et Mellisande; The Flying Dutchman (Santa Fe Opera Festival) Sound of Music; The Jungle Book (Glimmerglass Opera Festival)

Scenic Design

Joseph Stanley previously designed We Take Care of Our Own at ILLUSION THEATER.  His design work has been featured by many theatre, music, and dance companies including Park Square Theater, Frank Theater, Stages Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Full Circle, Mixed Blood, Theater Mu, Pillsbury House, History Theater, Jungle Theater, Carlyle Brown & Co., Theatre Latte Da, the Minnesota Orchestra, Carleton College, Macalester College, Stuart Pimsler Dance Theater, Zorongo Flamenco, James Sewell Ballet, and others.  Joe received an Ivey Award for scenic design in 2010.  He was a founding Artistic Director of 15 HEAD—a theatre lab.

Costume Design

Amber works as a designer and technician across the twin cities. Her designs include Illusion Theater: We Take Care of Out Own, Five Minutes of Heaven;  Pillsbury House Theatre: What Washed Ashore Astray, bull-jean, Great Divide II: Plays on the Politics of Truth, Almost Equal To, The Great Divide: Plays for a Broken Nation; Minnesota Opera: Double Bill; Theater Latte Da: We Shall Someday, Christmas at the Local; Old Log Theatre: The Play That Goes Wrong, The Emperor’s New Clothes; Park Square Theatre: Aubergine; Mixed Blood Theatre: Interstate,Autonomy, Corazón Eterno, Agnes Under the Bigtop

Sound Design

C ANDREW MAYER has been blessed to work extensively in the Twin Cities including at the Jungle, History Theater, Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Opera, Mixed Blood, Theatre Latte Da, Pillsbury House, Six Points, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and numerous others; and nationally at Austin Opera, Everyman Theater (Baltimore), ACT (San Francisco), Philadelphia Opera, Opera Colorado (Denver), Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and others.  Previously at Illusion, he designed We Take Care Of Our Own, A Play by Barb and Carl, For The Loyal, Finding Fish, and Miranda. He was a 2008-2009 McKnight Theatre Artist Fellow and won an Audelco Award for his design for Carlyle Brown’s Pure Confidence at 59E59 in NYC. In summer he serves as the Producing Director of the Acadia Repertory Theatre on Mount Desert Island in Maine. 

Stage Manager

Rachel is delighted to partner with ILLUSION again after last year's Fresh Ink, and previously What is Emily Drawing? and A PLAY by Barb & Carl. She seasonally alternates touring and partnering with the Twin Cities local arts community. National collaborations: Cirque du Soleil's Twas the Night Before, Cirque Mechanics' Zephyr at the New Victory Theater, off-Broadway 2023 Drama Desk nominee for Unique Theatrical Experience. Cirque Mechanics 2021 remount Birdhouse Factory, 2022 inaugural tent show Cirque Mechanics Under Canvas, and 42ft: A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels. Selected local collaborations include 6 years with Circus Juventas, Mainstage Assistant Production Manager for The Taste of Minnesota, SOLO (The McKnight Foundation), 10//X// (Alternative Motion Project), Heaven, French Twist (Flying Foot Forum), Loyce Houlton’s Nutcracker Fantasy (Minnesota Dance Theatre at the State Theatre), Hatchet Lady (Walking Shadow Theatre Company), In the Margins (THREADS Dance Project), Four Saint in Three Acts (VocalEssence/Cowles Center).  B.F.A. Theatre Technology/Design, Minnesota State University, Mankato. For King and Kaela.

*member Actors’ Equity Assocation