The cast of the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack” features Pagnia Xiong (front) and, from left, Megan Kim, Dorothy Vang, Ashley Horiuchi, Phasoua Vang and Dexieng “Dae” Yang. It plays through June 29. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)

Fifty years ago, Hmong people first arrived in Minnesota as refugees from the wars of Southeast Asia. In their Laotian homeland, they were earmarked for destruction for having aided the U.S. side in the Vietnam War, and Minnesota became one of two states to help resettle the vast majority of those who escaped, California being the other.

Today, those of Hmong descent are an integral part of the Minnesota mosaic, but one of them, St. Paul-based playwright Katie Ka Vang, looked around and saw something missing. There were Hmong women with a certain style that never hit the pop culture radar: Tough, streetwise, cocksure and confident, deeply devoted to their families, friends and culture, but not the least bit demure or deferential.

Judging from her new play, “Sixpack,” which premiered this weekend at Minneapolis’ Jungle Theater, Vang knew just where to find them: the volleyball court. That’s where she saw these women’s aggressiveness, competitive fire and camaraderie come through. And she’s taking Twin Cities audiences there via a funny, absorbing and very rewarding 90-minute theater piece that chronicles the friendship of two St. Paul girls whose paths eventually diverged.

Deftly directed by Sara Pillatzki Warzeha, “Sixpack” entertainingly explores the ties that bind six women together, doing so with sharp-eared dialogue, vivid characterizations and an abundance of imagination in its design and choreography. On the latter account, Sandy Agustin has created some fascinating transitional interludes that blend volleyball movements with elements of religious ritual.

Pam (Ashley Horiuchi, left) and Auntie Windy (Phasoua Vang, center) make a plan to help their troubled volleyball teammate, Jou (Dorothy Vang), in the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack,” playing through June 29. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)

When we first meet Pam and Jou, they seem strangers, but it soon becomes clear that they’re estranged friends. We’re then cast backward to their high school years, when they’re both starting to impress coaches and college recruiters as promising volleyball players. Pam feels ambivalent about leaving for college, while Jou desperately wants out, largely due to a troubled relationship with her mother.

They’re supported and sometimes antagonized by a colorful retinue of women, and each actor in the six-woman cast steps forward to steal at least one scene. Or several, in the case of Phasoua Vang as the comical Auntie Windy, most memorably when she proves the volleyball equivalent of a pool shark while crafting a con.

Pam is the engaging center of the story, and that’s thanks not only to the fine writing, but also to Ashley Horiuchi’s eminently believable portrayal. While Dorothy Vang could bring more of Jou’s exasperated restlessness to the surface, there’s little she can do to upstage what Dexieng “Dae” Yang does with her mother, Smiles, the most brassy, take-no-guff character in the show, a woman both fun-loving and bitter. It feels like a bold breakthrough performance for Yang, one of both force and subtlety.

They’re complemented very well by Megan Kim and Pagnia Xiong in multiple roles, the latter shining when this quite successful Hmong music artist breaks into a sweet-voiced song that no one recognizes until she fast-forwards to the chorus in funny fashion and it turns into an exuberant sing-along.

Four women share a song in the Jungle Theater’s premiere production of Katie Ka Vang’s “Sixpack,” which plays through June 29. From left are Megan Kim, Dexieng “Dae” Yang, Phasoua Vang and Pagnia Xiong. (Courtesy Lauren B. Photography)

Taking its title from the slang term for taking a spiked volleyball in the face, “Sixpack” deals with some jarring realities, but does so with a lot of humor and not a hint of melodrama. It’s a richly real and ultimately powerful production.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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‘Sixpack’

When: Through June 29

Where: Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $15-$45, available at 612-822-7063 or jungletheater.org

Capsule: A very well-crafted play and production about some very colorful Hmong women.

Today is Monday, June 2, the 153rd day of 2025. There are 212 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at age 27 at a ceremony in London’s Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.

Also on this date:

In 1886, 49-year-old President Grover Cleveland became the first president to get married in the White House, wedding 21-year-old Frances Folsom.

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In 1924, Congress passed, and President Calvin Coolidge signed, the Indian Citizenship Act, a measure guaranteeing full American citizenship for all Native Americans born within U.S. territorial limits.

In 1941, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, died in New York of the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 37.

In 1966, U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.

In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder by a federal jury in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. (McVeigh would be sentenced to death and was executed in 2001.)

In 1999, South Africans went to the polls in their second post-apartheid election, giving the African National Congress a decisive victory; retiring President Nelson Mandela was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.

In 2012, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power (Mubarak was later acquitted and freed in March 2017; he died in February 2020).

In 2016, autopsy results revealed that musician Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Stacy Keach is 84.
Filmmaker Lasse Hallström is 79.
Actor Jerry Mathers is 77.
Actor Joanna Gleason is 75.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is 73.
Actor Dennis Haysbert is 71.
Comedian Dana Carvey is 70.
TV personality-producer Andy Cohen is 57.
Actor-comedian Wayne Brady is 53.
Actor Wentworth Miller is 53.
Actor Zachary Quinto is 48.
Actor Justin Long is 47.
Actor Morena Baccarin is 46.
Olympic soccer gold medalist Abby Wambach is 45.
Actor-rapper Awkwafina is 37.

Maynard James Keenan knows how to throw a party.

When the Tool frontman turned 50, he performed a series of shows in Los Angeles with his two other bands, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, along with his pals Primus. He called it “Cinquanta,” which is 50 in Italian.

Keenan was so pleased with the results, last year he took the show — now dubbed “Sessanta” — on the road to celebrate his 60th birthday. The outing was such a success, Keenan did it again this year. While “Sessantuno” is just sitting there ready to go, Keenan went with “Sessanta V2.0” instead.

Regardless of its title, the tour landed at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Sunday night for a memorable show quite unlike anything seen in arenas. Rather than three distinct performances, Keenan turned the evening into a three-hour concert mashup that only stopped for a 10-minute intermission.

The bands played three separate sets of three to four songs each, one after another. To be clear, each has a distinct sound of their own. Primus specialize in bass-heavy, off-kilter rock with a goofy sense of humor. The most commercial of the trio, A Perfect Circle offer a guitar-driven take on alt-rock, while Puscifer boasts a more dramatic, and electronic, approach with help from a second vocalist, British signer/songwriter Carina Round.

Still, Sunday’s show brought out the acts’ similarities and obvious camaraderie. A giant riser at the back of the stage held three full drum kits as well as sofas, drink carts and stairs to the main stage on either side. Throughout the show, various band members who weren’t playing hung out in full view of the crowd. During Puscifer’s “Bullet Train to Iowa,” roadies even pulled out a ping pong table for two members of APC to use.

There were also plenty of collaborations, like when Keenan and Round added backup vocals to Primus’ new single “Little Lord Fentanyl,” their first recording with their terrific new drummer John Hoffman. (Primus reportedly auditioned more than 6,000 drummers before finding Hoffman.)

With the 200 level closed off, the show could have easily downgraded to the 8,400 capacity Armory in Minneapolis. Then again, it felt like the sort of spectacle custom made for arenas and amphitheaters. And the grand finale of Primus’ “Southbound Pachyderm” with all three drummers and Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon” with all three bands had fans cheering so loud it sounded like a full house.

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Talk about a turnaround.

The Lynx gave up season-highs for points in a quarter and a half while being out a lot of things in the first half Sunday night.

“It was not a pretty halftime,” said coach Cheryl Reeve.

Her coach’s frustration was “really, really valid,” said Napheesa Collier.

By stepping it up on defense, the Lynx remain perfect on the season by pulling away for a 86-75 win at Golden State. At 7-0, this is Minnesota’s best start since a 9-0 kickoff to the 2017 championship season.

After allowing 52 first-half points, Minnesota held Golden State to eight in the third quarter, the fewest in a frame by a Lynx opponent this season. The Valkyries only added 15 in the fourth.

“We know what to do and that we’re not going out to do it is extremely frustrating. … We need to go out and take responsibility for that. I think that third quarter was us showing that we know what to do, we just need to do that for four quarters,” Collier said.

Four Lynx players scored in double figures, led by a 22-point, 11-rebound, 4-assist, 2-steal performance from Collier in almost 37 minutes of action. She missed Friday’s win over Phoenix with right knee soreness.

Courtney Williams had 20 points, Kayla McBride 16 and Bridget Carleton 12 for Minnesota.

Williams, who also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals, has reached the 20-point mark in two of her last three outings.

“Her pick-and-roll game is so good, shooting the basketball, making life easy for others, getting Phee easy baskets or (Alanna Smith) when she’s rolling, finding shooters. She just has this unique confidence in herself that never wavers,” Reeve said. “… Her will to win is very high. Her play is contagious.”

Williams had three threes and Carleton, Collier and McBride two apiece as Minnesota made a season-high 11 3-point shots.

But about that defense.

“It was just a matter of us locking in,” Williams said. “We know how we need to bring it every night and sometimes we take that for granted and we have to stop doing that. If we want accomplish the goal that we have for ourselves we can’t be a second half team.”

Golden State scored 29 second-quarter points for a 52-51 lead at intermission then went 8 for 30 in the second half, including 3 for 17 from deep, and turned the ball over nine times.

“We had a greater passion for what we were doing than what we demonstrated in the first half. As a result, I thought we were in their space a bit more. A lot of stuff they were getting in the first half came pretty easy for them. Their aggression was greater than ours, their pace was greater than ours,” Reeve said.

Up by one, Carleton hit a triple, McBride scored on a drive and Natisha Hiedeman added a trey for a 67-58 lead.

The Valkyries (2-4) went more than five minutes without a point during a third quarter in which they were 3 of 15 from the field and missed all nine 3-point attempts after shooting 45.7% from the field in the first two quarters.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Collier and Williams made it 83-61 midway through the fourth quarter, the end of a 24-3 Lynx run.

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