Winter is the best time to take advantage of all the arts and entertainment offerings in the Twin Cities, and Theater Mu is adding an exciting new show to the mix.
The Asian American theater company is producing the world premiere of “Fifty Boxes of Earth,” the latest show from New York City-based playwright Ankita Raturi. The production, running March 1-16 at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, centers around Q, who has just moved to a new neighborhood and brought 50 boxes of earth for the community garden instead of a bed. But as Q starts cultivating fantastical plants, one man’s distrust grows, as well.
Photo by Rich Ryan
The story was conceived as a creative response to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Raturi explains. “The play is inspired by a passage from Chapter 18 of ‘Dracula’ in which professor Van Helsing explains exactly what a vampire is and how to destroy one,” she says in a statement. “Reading that passage a few years ago, I felt like I was reading a xenophobic stump speech. I wanted to create a text that spoke to this kind of conflict in any cultural context because it’s a well-worn history that repeats and repeats everywhere.”
“‘Fifty Boxes of Earth’ really speaks to how complicated an experience can be when an outsider immigrates into a new community, and how misunderstandings and distrust can erupt in a garden space that’s meant for new life and togetherness,” says Katie Bradley, Theater Mu’s interim artistic director. “… I was struck by how much each character is simply trying to survive in their own way, and what impact this survival mode can have on their relationships with one another.”
Photo by Rich Ryan
Following the multidisciplinary tradition of South Asian performing arts, “Fifty Boxes of Earth” incorporates artistic choreography by Ananya Chatterjea and puppet design by Oanh Vu and Andrew Young in its world-building. “The dance and the puppetry can take any form to bring the story into specific cultural contexts, as well as ground us in this magical non-place that is everywhere and nowhere at once,” says Raturi.
The show will kick off Theater Mu’s 2024/25 mainstage season, “The Depths of Us,” which focuses largely on South Asian and queer stories. Tickets to all productions can be purchased online.
