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

Michael founded ILLUSION THEATER in 1974. Michael has served as Artistic Producer for Illusion since its inception and has been a Project Director for the vast majority of ILLUSION THEATER’s programs, leading and overseeing all elements of planning, implementation, finance, evaluation, and reporting. These include all Education programs, productions, and a host of new program initiative grants and contracts supported by foundations, corporations, federal, state, county, and city sources.

Michael has guided the production of more 400 world premieres, bringing to the stage the work of a diverse and eminent group of artists. He has directed over 100 ILLUSION THEATER productions including the American premiere of Edward Bond's RESTORATION and the highly acclaimed 1991 production of MISS EVERS' BOYS. He directed Kim Hines' I BELIEVE I'LL RUN ON...AND SEE WHAT THE END'S GONNA BE for the Kennedy Center's 1996 prestigious New Visions/New Voices Festival, ILLUSION’s searing production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, and the Midwest premiere of the Kirsten Childs’ groundbreaking musical THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN. He conceived and directed the Twin Cities IVEY Award-winning, ILLUSION-commissioned adaptation by Allison Moore of Willa Cather’s MY ANTONIA. In 2012, he co-created (with composer Roberta Carlson) and directed ILLUSION’s original and highly popular music revue LOVE & MARRIAGE, which was slightly revised and presented as LOVE & MARRIAGE: WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES, in the wake of Minnesota’s passage of gay marriage and the defeat of DOMA.

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 Play to 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 Designer

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)

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