written by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by Michael Robins
Mrs. Mannerly emerges from the wickedly funny imagination of Illusion Theater audience favorite Jeffrey Hatcher. Inspired by an etiquette class from his youth, Hatcher creates a world of seven-year-olds studying manners in which one student in the class stands out, the one with the Double-O-Seven briefcase.
The production stars Barbara June Patterson (who originated the role of Lucy Stickler in Jeffrey Hatcher’s Murderers) as the textbook perfect Mrs. Mannerly, who is perhaps not quite so perfect. Phyllis Wright, who appeared as Minka Lupino in Murderers, performs a comic tour de force when she pulls off split-second transformations to play all of the other characters in the show.
Tickets $15-$25. Call 612-339-4944 or visit www.illusiontheater.org.
What are audiences and critics saying about Mrs. Mannerly?
“I just keep laughing. I don’t remember when I’ve laughed so much in one evening.” ~Audience Member
“Hatcher’s dialogue is typically smart, funny, and subversive…” ~City Pages
“Phyllis Wright switches between characters so smoothly onstage at the Illusion Theater that watching her is like witnessing a gear-changing race-car driver up close. She’s deft and effortless as she goes from the girl who talks in a dull bass voice to the snot-nosed boy who uses his hand instead of a tissue.” ~Star Tribune
“Barbara June Patterson plays the title character with a nice blend of folded-hand propriety and palm-rubbing busybody-ness, a woman whose love for Emily Post is equaled only by her love for Johnnie Walker.” ~Pioneer Press
Men with linoleum. Head-on bridge collision. Ideal woman in apron. Through more than 10,000 images, Irwin Denison Norling—the unofficial town photographer for Bloomington, Minnesota–captured the strange juxtapositions, incongruities, and dark corners of suburban America in the 1950s and ’60s.
Get an up-close look at these photographs at the opening reception, co-sponsored by the Bloomington Historical Society. 