The Norwegians

By C. Denby Swanson

The Twin Cities Premiere

Directed by Joel Sass+

Starring: Jane Froiland (Olive), Luverne Seifert* (Tor), James Rodríguez (Gus), and Sara Marsh* (Betty)

Presented in production with The Mount Curve Company, with North Star Theatricals and Triumph Productions, in partnership with The Playwrights’ Center, at Artspace’s Grain Belt Warehouse

Creative Team: Jared Zeigler* (Stage Manager), Mary Shabatura (Lighting Designer), Aaron Newman (Sound Designer), Joel Sass (Set Coordinator), A. Emily Heaney (Costume Designer), Alec Lambert (Assistant Stage Manager), Michael James (Technical & Design Consultant)

Photos: Melissa Hesse

"The acting company has a rollicking time with this one-act, channeling over-sized characters… This dark comedy is not just a send up. It's a paean to the hardy, aspirational people who settled Minnesota."

— Rohan Preston, Star Tribune

"If you're thinking Coen Brothers, you're not far off in terms of dark, screwball humor... The cast is game and gifted."

— Dominic Papatola, Pioneer Press

"Swanson's script is full of twisty, noir-ish manipulation. It's laugh-out-loud stuff that luxuriates in its Minnesotan-ness… it's a clever, verbose very funny piece of work riding on a dark undercurrent that keeps coming tantalizingly close to bubbling over."

— Ira Brooker, Minnesota Playlist

"Swanson's script is crisp, sharp and loaded with laughs... It's a black comedy, an entertainment, carried off with D&S's usual big imagination"

— Pamela Espeland, MinnPost

"'The Norwegians' is full of good moments in a single, 90-minute act. It manages to skewer many of Minnesota's most sacred icons...[And] there's just something appealing about mobsters in parkas."

— Eric Ringham, Minnesota Public Radio

"The Norwegians is a cross between A Prairie Home Companion and Fargo, with more edge than the former but without the latter's ominous cloud of despair. Director Joel Sass and his dynamic and dynamite four-person cast bring this wacky story to life in an intimate setting, providing a truly entertaining 90 minutes of theater."

— Jill Schafer, Cherry and Spoon

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association

+Member, Stage Directors’ and Choreographers’ Society