MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL

by Jayme McGhan

I am delighted to serve the Dramatists Guild as the new regional representative for the Twin Cities and surrounding area. Having grown up in and around Minneapolis, I spent countless days walking the river paths under Minnehaha Falls, fishing for sunnies on Lake Nokomis, and playing hours of pickup hockey games at local outdoor rinks. My family, a union-heavy, blue-collar group of completely loveable neurotics, had no interest in the theatre. It wasn’t even an option for entertainment, let alone an art form one would identify themselves with. The rebuilt transmission of an old Chevy Camaro was our equivalent of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Gallagher’s watermelon splattering all over the audience was our Pollock. A handful of dirty jokes cleverly told around the dinner table was our Shakespeare. That all changed when my late grandmother insisted on taking my mother and I to see a production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Orpheum Theatre. It was then that I had my first taste of magic. And it was then that I began to understand that the Twin Cities is one of the most exciting theatre scenes in the country.

After graduating high school from The School of Environmental Studies at the Minnesota Zoo, I enrolled in Southwest State University with full intentions of completing my generals and moving to Hawaii to become an Ichthyologist. Contrary to popular belief, there are very few sharks in Minnesota. Though I had only seen a few stage productions at that point, I decided it would be a nifty idea to audition for the theatre department’s production of Bus Stop. Life would most certainly have been easier if my name wasn’t on that first cast list. But, wouldn’t you know it?

I have always been a writer. Short stories, poetry, grocery lists, letters expressing my undying love to a new girl in school every week; these were my creative outlets. But it wasn’t until I stepped on the stage for the first time that I knew I was home. And, more importantly, the characters, the stories, the ideas bouncing around in my head were home. I spent my undergraduate career taking every opportunity I could to act, direct, and design. But what I liked the most, what made me feel absolutely complete, was seeing my plays come to life on stage.

I met my beautiful wife Nikki in a production of West Side Story at SSU. She was an elegant dancer. I was a Riff who couldn’t sing or dance. My ineptitude with musical theatre must have been charming because she decided to marry me. While still at SSU, I was lucky enough to begin a relationship with the wonderful people at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. They helped to develop my love for, and ability to write, plays. Gary Garrison, our new Executive Director of Creative Affairs, along with Gregg Henry and many others were kind enough to include me in the summer playwriting intensives, national festivals, and the like. I am still constantly amazed by what ACTF does for young writers.

After I graduated with my bachelors in theatre, we moved to Las Vegas where I would attend the M.F.A playwriting program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I soon found myself attached to Cockroach Theatre; an incredibly talented group of artists who make the kind of theatre I dream about. I joined the company and served in whatever capacity I could while still keeping up on my studies and graduate assistantship at UNLV. I remain a proud national member of Cockroach Theatre and look forward to seeing the opening of their new season with a production of my play The Methuselah Tree, which will also tour to The Minnesota Fringe Festival this summer. Upon graduating with my Masters degree, we decided the heat was too much for us. So we made the journey back to the arctic tundra that I love so dearly.

I currently spend my time writing furiously, promoting my plays, traveling, attending the theatre, teaching at local universities, and working with the youth group in my church. I’ve also been known to frequent Twins games, go camping in the many state parks with old friends, and play a good deal of beer league softball. My plays tend to mirror my background; focusing on family loyalty, labor issues and the working class, as well as on spiritual themes. My work has now been seen in some capacity or another in New York, California, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington D.C., Utah, Arizona, Kansas, and more. I am fully committed to writing for the theatre and am ecstatic at any opportunity to see my plays come to life.

And now I have the incredible privilege to profile the Twin Cities for The Dramatist. This place is a playwrights dream. Maybe it’s the famous “Minnesota Nice,” but a true sense of community, as well as a feeling that the pie is big enough for everyone to have a bite, always seems to be present. Nearly two and a half million theatre tickets are sold here every year. The Twin Cities is second only to New York in per capita attendance to the theatre. The Minnesota Fringe Festival, held every year in August, is one of the biggest in the world. And with a nationally renowned development organization like The Playwrights Center, along with over one-hundred producing companies like The Guthrie, Mixed Blood, Penumbra, The Children’s Theatre, Theatre De La Jeune Lune, and many others, opportunities for new work abound. This column will provide a clear picture of what is happening in Minnesota theatre. It will focus on the inner workings of local companies, new opportunities for productions, workshops, and readings, and profiles of various local writers.

In the spirit of a true Minnesotan, welcome to the Twin Cities. Now, come in out of the cold before you freeze your face off.