SOCIAL
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PLAYWRIGHT BECK LEE
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by jane maiorano photos by aj sundby
Guests in the Lowry Hill home of former theater exec Tom Hoch and Master Gardener/ Entrepreneur, Mark Addicks, gathered to meet New York City playwright Beck Lee in early March. During the party, Lee regaled the guests with the recollections of an aspiring Twin Cities transplant settling in to life in Linden Hills in the months before the subprime mortgage meltdown exactly ten years ago.
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Lee, who brings his ferociously funny comedy “Subprime” for its Midwest debut at the Mixed Blood Theatre in May, described the process of writing the piece, which he calls a Minneapolis-born project. “It was all very funny,” Lee told the guests, who drank in Lake of the Isles views while sipping Famiglia Meschini Argentine and Korta Katarina Croatian wines.
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The playwright recalls, “I was having a lot of fun with my girlfriend at the time. [Andrea, who would later become his wife] It was sort of a parlor game at first… We would pretend to be our Linden Hills neighbors talking negatively about us!” Learning the local customs in this way, and especially choice North-speak turns of phrase, Lee turned the game into something of a project. “I realized our neighbors obsessing about this couple consisting of a local and an interloper, would make a funny play.” And, so, “Subprime” began its eight-year journey from paper to the stage. 14
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After readings at The Jungle Theatre and one hosted by Hoch at The Hennepin Theatre Trust, Lee was feeling confident that his play would be produced here. But as bad luck would have it, fact and fiction suddenly merged. The ruptures on stage in the play mirrored similar problems with the couple splitting, and with the American economy crumbling, for that matter.
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Luckily Lee never gave up on Minneapolis and apparently, Minneapolis is willing to give the New York native a second chance. “We developed the play in New York, in readings with Tony winning actors, and it grew the way it’s supposed to.” Subprime is ready for its close-up in the Twin Cities, with Peter Moore directing and Charles Fraser, Bonni Allen, Jen Burleigh-Bentz, and Dan Hopman heading the cast. “Subprime” is being produced by Media Blitz Entertainment at the Mixed Blood Theater from May 4 to 27. The play is written by Beck Lee, and co-conceived by Lee with Andrea Iten. For tickets, visit www.subprimetheplay.com
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1. Jennifer David, Wendy Brown, Zelda Thomas Curti 2.Charles Fraser, Jen Burleigh-Bentz, Beck Lee, Bonni Allen, Dan Hopman 3.Tom Hoch, Beck Lee, Mark Addicks 4.Donna & Bryce Hamilton 5.Susie Goldstein 6.Zelda & Stefano Curti 7.Allen Hamilton & Susan Wagner 8.Carole Bruns & Dan Raphael 9.Martha Archer, Courtney & Scott Vincent 10.Beck Lee & Jane Maiorano 11.Mark Addicks & Petey 12.Natalie Auger & Ethelind Kaba 13. Thom & Martha Sandberg, Beck Lee 14.Edward Weinberg, Jon Scharmer-Weinberg, Teresa & Raphael Schneider 15.Karen Stoeckel & Debbie Gold
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8 lake society magazine