Yes, we have an “Exit Strategy”

by ED FELIEN

James (Charles Nolte) and Mae (Shirley Venard) return from a reconnaissance mission in “Exit Strategy,” playing at Mixed Blood Theatre through May 4. (Photo by Ann Marsden)

There is so much great theater in the Twin Cities that it is intimidating to try to describe it. The Children’s Theatre Company just finished a run of “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” a rollicking farce based on the popular children’s book, “If You Give a Moose a Muffin.” Reed Sigmond and Dean Holt are nonstop boffo slapstick and even if you don’t have children or grandchildren you should see them when they revive their antics this summer, July 8 through 20. Call 612-874-0400 for more information.

If the Minnesota winter got to you and now you doubt the existence of joy and happiness, then an evening of toe-tapping ecstasy awaits you at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre with its current production of “42nd Street.” The young stars glitter and the regulars give off a warm and fuzzy glow, and the food is pretty good, too. Call 952-934-1525.

The Frank Theater just finished its run of “Puntilla and his hired man Matti” at a warehouse on 27th Street and 19th Avenue. Wendy Knox loves to bring obscure plays and deserted buildings back to life. Brecht’s “Puntilla” comes alive and bites under her direction. It played to sold-out houses. If one had one complaint about Knox’s Frank, it would be that her shows don’t run long enough. Just when you hear about it and figure out where it is, it’s gone!

Which brings us, finally, to “Exit Strategy,” playing at Mixed Blood Theatre on the West Bank. This is a new play by Bill Semans and Roy M. Close. Bill Semans was the founder and guiding light of The Cricket Theatre, where he produced nearly 100 plays from 1968 to 1979. Most recently he wrote and directed the feature film “Herman, USA.” Roy Close was a theater critic for ten years at the Star and Tribune, beginning in 1971. Then he went across the river and became a theater critic at the St. Paul Pioneer Press for another ten years. He’s written nearly a dozen plays.

Their play is a simple story of two old people living on a little social security and less hope. A mysterious stranger enters their lives and gives them an opportunity to be more than they thought they could be.

Mae, played superbly by Shirley Venard, is a cantankerous and religious landlady whose primary responsibility is to enforce the order of the house on her sole tenant, James. Matisse, in describing drawing, once said it is the line that is left out that makes the masterpiece. In “Exit Strategy” perhaps the most poignant moments are when Mae watches television and we see her vulnerability and tenderness. There are no lines. She and James just stare into space and directly at the audience.

It is such a treat to see Charles Nolte on stage. He is so confident, so rich in his reserves of emotion and depth of character. The role of an aging, out of work actor with a desperate yearning for young men could have been played as melodrama or farce, but Nolte has the character under control, and we feel compassion and sympathy for James even in his most extravagant excesses.
Bill Semans takes a turn across the boards and plays the mysterious stranger with just the right amount of opaque enthusiasm.
It’s a lovely play, and it gives us wonder and appreciation of the wide dimensions of the human spirit.

It runs through Sunday, May 4. Performances are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Call 612-338-6131 for more information.