Theater review: Latte Da shifts to classic drama for an involving ‘Glass Menagerie’

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There are niches galore in the Twin Cities’ vibrant theater scene. For example, Children’s Theatre Company is designed for the youngest among us, while History Theatre focuses upon stories from the state’s past. And, if you’re in the mood for a musical, head out to Chanhassen Dinner Theatres if you want a conventional interpretation or to Theater Latte Da if you want something more inventive and imaginative.

But Latte Da is playing against type this month by presenting a classic American drama, Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” Yes, the company’s artistic director, Justin Lucero, incorporates music into his staging, but Katharine Horowitz’s score consists mostly of atmospheric tones, some of it produced by fingers running around the rims of glassware.

Amy Eckberg (Laura) and Brandon Brooks (Jim) in Theater Latte Da’s production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” a departure from the company’s custom of producing almost exclusively musicals. The show runs through March 1, 2026 at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. (Dan Norman / Theater Latte Da)

Yet the artistic decision that sets this version of Williams’ oft-produced play apart is a design that incorporates video cameras into the action and casts large-scale projections of the actors in closeup across the wall behind them. While it can be jarring to be addressed by an expansive disembodied mouth or peered at by an enormous set of eyes, it makes for a far more intimate experience. And that proves valuable in a play about vulnerability, establishing connections and severing them.

“The Glass Menagerie” is the play that put Tennessee Williams on the map, catapulting him to fame upon its Broadway premiere in 1945. It takes us to a St. Louis apartment shared by aging southern belle Amanda and her young adult children, Laura and Tom, the latter holding a warehouse job that makes him the household’s chief breadwinner. Laura is a painfully shy recluse who finds comfort in her collection of glass animals, but the extroverted Amanda is determined to marry her off.

It stands as one of American theater’s great character studies, as Williams crafted four memorable individuals and set them off into clashes and connecting conversations. It’s a talky script, but one that allows its actors to show off their skills in producing layered portrayals.

And Latte Da’s staging features four exceptionally well-rendered performances. The video elements serve Dustin Bronson well. As Tom, he acts as our narrator and the chief force of fury as he seeks to burst free from his family bonds. And the closeups allow for some wistfulness and conflicted feelings to more clearly emerge. Yet no camera is needed when his eruptions occur, for his rage and desperation can be felt all the way to the back of the cozy Ritz Theater.

Meanwhile, Norah Long is simply magnificent as his mother and chief antagonist. Long brilliantly captures Amanda’s unique blend of charm, eccentricity and anxious inner tumult, most memorably during a fire escape exchange with Tom in which she seems to transform into the playful romantic of her youth. Like most of Williams’ heroines, Amanda enthusiastically embraces her delusions, and Long makes her a fascinating woman to watch.

Dustin Bronson (Tom), Amy Eckberg (Laura) and Norah Long (Amanda) in Theater Latte Da’s production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie,” a departure from the company’s custom of producing almost exclusively musicals. The show runs through March 1, 2026 at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. (Dan Norman / Theater Latte Da)

The video projections also bring audiences into closer contact with Amy Eckberg’s Laura, helping us see glimpses of the butterfly that struggles to emerge from its cocoon. And Brandon Brooks ably inhabits the “gentleman caller” who comes to dinner, in addition to creating the soundscape that gives this strong staging its eerie, haunted mood.

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

Theater Latte Da’s ‘The Glass Menagerie’

When: Through March 1

Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Mpls.

Tickets: $75.75-$21.75, available at 612-339-3003 or latteda.org

Capsule: Video enhances the intimacy of a classic drama.

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Green Day Condemns ICE as Part of Super Bowl Festivities

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The pop-punk band Green Day performed a relatively uncontroversial medley of its hits at the opening ceremony before Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday.

But two days before that performance, during another Super Bowl weekend event, Green Day’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, took to the microphone to call on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to quit their jobs.

“This goes out to all the ICE agents out, wherever you are,” Armstrong said from the stage of the FanDuel Party in San Francisco on Friday, before using expletives while telling agents to quit their jobs.

Sooner or later, he added, referring to top administration officials, “Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, JD Vance, Donald Trump, they’re going to drop you like” a bad habit, again punctuating his remarks with expletives. “Come on this side of the line.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Green Day has long been a sharp critic of President Donald Trump and his policies.

In 2016, the band led a “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” chant while performing at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles. During concerts, Armstrong and bandmates have frequently changed the lyrics of their hit song “American Idiot” from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” In 2023, the band released the protest song “The American Dream is Killing Me.”

Last month, Trump bashed Green Day as a musical selection for the Super Bowl’s festivities. “I’m anti-them,” he told The New York Post. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.” (The president has likewise disparaged Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican artist who will headline the Super Bowl’s halftime show. He said recently that he would not attend the game, saying of Bad Bunny’s selection, “All it does is sow hatred.”)

Green Day is hardly the only act to use a Super Bowl appearance to make a political statement. Brandi Carlile, the gay singer-songwriter who performed “America the Beautiful” before the game, told Variety on Saturday that queer representation mattered in the current political moment.

“The through line to being queer and being a representative of a marginalized community, and being put on the largest stage in America to acknowledge the fraught and tender hope that this country is based on,” she said, “it’s something you don’t say no to. You do it.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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Super Bowl Play-by-Play

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By The Associated Press

Play-by-play of the 2026 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks:

FIRST QUARTER

NE wins the coin toss and elects to defer, SEA elects to receive.

A.Borregales kicks 65 yards from NE 35 to end zone, Touchback to the SEA 35.

Seattle Seahawks

1st & 10 at SEA 35

15:00 1st — K.Walker left end pushed ob at SEA 45 for 10 yards (C.Davis).

1st & 10 at SEA 45

14:29 1st — K.Walker right tackle to SEA 45 for no gain (C.Barmore).

2nd & 10 at SEA 45

13:50 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass short left to A.Barner to NE 40 for 15 yards (C.Woodson).

1st & 10 at NE 40

13:25 1st No Huddle — S.Darnold pass deep left to C.Kupp pushed ob at NE 17 for 23 yards (M.Jones).

1st & 10 at NE 17

12:58 1st No Huddle, Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete deep left.

2nd & 10 at NE 17

12:51 1st — K.Walker right tackle to NE 14 for 3 yards (A.Jennings; R.Spillane).

3rd & 7 at NE 14

12:06 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete short left to R.Shaheed.

4th & 7 at NE 14

12:02 1st — J.Myers 33 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-C.Stoll, Holder-M.Dickson.

Seattle 3, New England 0

Kickoff from J.Myers kicks 65 yards from SEA 35 to NE 0. D.Johnson to NE 28 for 28 yards (D.Young).

New England Patriots

1st & 10 at NE 28

11:52 1st — R.Stevenson up the middle to NE 34 for 6 yards (E.Jones).

2nd & 4 at NE 34

11:20 1st — R.Stevenson up the middle to NE 36 for 2 yards (E.Jones).

3rd & 2 at NE 36

10:40 1st Shotgun — D.Maye pass short left to R.Stevenson ran ob at NE 43 for 7 yards (D.Thomas).

1st & 10 at NE 43

10:04 1st — D.Maye pass short left to D.Douglas to SEA 49 for 8 yards (E.Jones).

2nd & 2 at SEA 49

09:27 1st — R.Stevenson right tackle to SEA 45 for 4 yards (C.Bryant).

1st & 10 at SEA 45

08:51 1st Shotgun — D.Maye sacked at NE 45 for -10 yards (D.Hall).

2nd & 20 at NE 45

08:09 1st Shotgun — D.Maye scrambles right end to SEA 44 for 11 yards (N.Emmanwori).

3rd & 9 at SEA 44

07:23 1st Shotgun — D.Maye pass incomplete deep right (D.Witherspoon).

4th & 9 at SEA 44

07:18 1st — B.Baringer punts 34 yards to SEA 10, Center-J.Ashby, fair catch by R.Shaheed.

4th & 9 at SEA 44

07:18 1st — B.Baringer punts 34 yards to SEA 10, Center-J.Ashby, fair catch by R.Shaheed.

Seattle Seahawks

1st & 10 at SEA 10

07:11 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete short left to J.Smith-Njigba (A.Jennings).

2nd & 10 at SEA 10

07:06 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass short left to J.Smith-Njigba to SEA 14 for 4 yards (C.Davis).

3rd & 6 at SEA 14

06:22 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete deep left to J.Smith-Njigba (J.Hawkins).

4th & 6 at SEA 14

06:15 1st — M.Dickson punts 50 yards to NE 36, Center-C.Stoll, fair catch by M.Jones.

New England Patriots

1st & 10 at NE 36

06:07 1st — T.Munford reported in as eligible. D.Maye pass deep middle to K.Boutte to SEA 43 for 21 yards (J.Love).

1st & 10 at SEA 43

05:33 1st Shotgun — T.Henderson up the middle to SEA 47 for -3 yards (E.Jones).

2nd & 13 at SEA 46

04:53 1st Shotgun — D.Maye pass short left to T.Henderson to SEA 48 for -2 yards (J.Jobe).

3rd & 15 at SEA 48

04:15 1st Shotgun — D.Maye sacked at NE 42 for -10 yards (D.Witherspoon).

4th & 25 at NE 42

03:38 1st — B.Baringer punts 52 yards to SEA 6, Center-J.Ashby. R.Shaheed to SEA 13 for 7 yards (D.Pettus).

Seattle Seahawks

1st & 10 at SEA 13

03:29 1st — K.Walker right tackle to SEA 15 for 2 yards (C.Durden; J.Gibbens).

2nd & 8 at SEA 15

02:51 1st — K.Walker left end to SEA 16 for 1 yard (C.Barmore).

3rd & 7 at SEA 16

02:06 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass short right to A.Barner to SEA 28 for 12 yards (M.Jones).

1st & 10 at SEA 28

01:25 1st — R.Shaheed left end to SEA 23 for -5 yards (C.Woodson).

2nd & 15 at SEA 23

00:40 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete short left to J.Smith-Njigba (A.Jennings).

3rd & 15 at SEA 23

00:37 1st Shotgun — S.Darnold pass incomplete deep left to J.Smith-Njigba.

4th & 15 at SEA 23

00:32 1st — M.Dickson punts 45 yards to NE 32, Center-C.Stoll. M.Jones to NE 32 for no gain (D.Thomas).

New England Patriots

1st & 10 at NE 32

00:19 1st — R.Stevenson right tackle to NE 37 for 5 yards (J.Reed).

END QUARTER

Seattle 3, New England 0

MORE

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Curling: Americans seal medal shot with two victories Sunday

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Duluth’s Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin started Sunday by just getting back into the win column, then finished it by getting into the playoffs at the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

The United States’ mixed doubles curling team is guaranteed to play for a medal, something Americans weren’t able to do in two previous Olympics appearances, after defeating Estonia 5-3 and Sweden 8-7.

The match with Estonia’s Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill was the lowest-scoring of the tournament thus far, and the first in Olympic mixed doubles since 2018 in which neither team scored more than one point in a single end.

The teams alternated forcing the other to one point over the first six ends. Thiesse’s last rock of the sixth end deflected off an Estonian guard, forcing them to settle for one when they were going for three.

The back-and-forth finally changed in the seventh when Lill’s last rock had too much weight and not enough curl, missing the target and giving the Americans a steal of one. That gave Team USA a one-point lead, but not the last rock in the climactic eighth end. With the game in Kaldvee’s hands again, she again missed her target, only grazing the American rock in the scoring area and sealing the result.

As tight as the afternoon match was, Team USA’s showdown with the Swedish sibling team of Isabella and Rasmus Wrana was much more freewheeling.

Each side scored three in their first attempt with the hammer. After holding the Swedes to a single point in the third end, Thiesse was on target, pushing a Swedish stone out of the way and scoring another three for a 6-4 US lead at the halfway point. The Americans then added on to their lead by stealing a point in end five.

Sweden tied it up with two in the sixth end and a steal of one in the seventh but the Americans won it in the eighth. Dropkin had a highlight-reel shot in which he ejected all three Swedish stones from the rings, leaving two in place. After the Swedes failed to push those rocks out of scoring position, they conceded before Thiesse even had to throw the last rock of the game.

The Americans (6-2) conclude round-robin play on Monday morning (3:05 a.m. CST) against host and defending champion Italy, with both teams knowing they’re in the semis. If the Italians win, they’ll trigger another meeting in the semifinals (11:05 a.m. CST). If the Americans win, Italy will drop to fourth and the US will play Sweden in the semifinals.

The losing semifinalists will play Tuesday morning at 7:05 a.m. CST for the bronze medal, with the mixed-doubles gold-medal game taking place at 11:05 a.m. Tuesday.

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