You know you’re seeing good theater when the characters seem as real as your next-door neighbors. You know you’re seeing great theater when the characters who don’t appear onstage, but who are described by the actors, seem so real that you swear you saw them standing there. This is how I’ll remember Park Square Theater’s production of FROZEN, a story that will make you want to hug your children (or your teddy bear).

I’m so grateful that the West Bank Ensemble, a quintet of soaringly talented University of Minnesota students, performed in the lobby to bookend this play. The transformative power of that music wrapped a comforting stole around the shoulders of a play about forgiving the unforgivable.

Having read the synopsis of FROZEN, my companion and I clung to every last note of the ensemble, then wadded up some tissues in our hands in preparation, and stepped from the “light, bright and clear” into the dusk. Onstage loomed a stage prop wall of ice. It was cold in there.  read more »