Theater Mu returns to in-person theater in full force. MAN OF GOD is gripping as a part comedy, part thriller. I was completely engrossed in the production and honestly couldn’t write enough words to fully explain what I experienced. You will just have to see it for yourself, truly a DON’T miss this season!
Set in a hotel room during a mission trip in Bangkok, four members of a Korean Christian youth group discover that their revered pastor has hidden a camera in their bathroom. We witness each girl struggle to process what this means and what to do. Through their communal rage we see their brilliantly choreographed violent revenge fantasies play out on stage. The girls all come from drastically different points of views which forces the others to the ends of their comfort zones exposing the deeper truths and repressed feelings. They come together to recognize the gut-wrenching reality of the male gaze and growing up as a young woman and decide how they are going to respond to it.
The entire cast was strong in their roles that made it easy to be lost in the world they created. Each cast member brought a different energy to the show that was truly explosive together. Louisa Darr as the logical Jen who feels silenced to maintain a good reputation, Suzie Juul as naive Samantha who has a hard time living between the black and white ideals of the world, Janet Scanlon as the quiet Kyung-Hwa who must face her own past before processing what has happened to her today, and Dexing “Dae” Yang as the feisty and outspoken Mimi who puts up walls to keep others at arm’s length. Their timing was like a tennis match at times bouncing back and forth in such perfect rhythm.
Rounding out the cast is Rich Remedios who played the pastor, we see him almost as a prop throughout the production in each of the girls fantasties, but performs a final poignant scene, played so perfectly that I wanted to start planning my own revenge fantasy.
MAN OF GOD by Anna Ouyang Moench is 85 minutes of strategic humor that punches through the drama of a deeply intrusive and disturbing act. Together it makes this message stunningly poignant. The entire show was presented with such care and attention under the direction of Katie Bradley, making her directorial debut. The lines between drama and comedy, thriller and coming-of-age story blended seamlessly and I am already looking forward to seeing what production Bradley is involved with next.
Theater Mu’s production of MAN OF GOD runs February 16-March 6th at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets: www.theatermu.org/man-of-god
Content Warning from Theatre Mu: This show contains dramatized fighting and references to sexual abuse, eating disorders, drug use, and paedophilia.
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