Essays by Quinton Skinner

Quinton Skinner

A former theater critic in the Twin Cities and nationally, the Guthrie's Director of Communications Quinton Skinner will provide commentary and explore deeper issues about our plays throughout the 2012-2013 season.


Other Desert Cities: The Truth Will Set You Free(?)»

Posted on Feb 26, 2013 at 4:38 p.m. by quintons

It becomes tricky when we realize that the truth itself is often slippery, complicated and hard to grasp-precisely the territory in which Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities maneuvers with such poignant and powerful impact.

The Primrose Path: Passion, Poetry, Gossip and Regret»

Posted on Feb 21, 2013 at 3:36 p.m. by quintons
The Primrose Path is a tale more than a century-and-a-half in age that comes to us as modern, approachable and popular as anything flickering across today's screens large and small.

Clashing Currents: The Tectonic Force of Long Day's Journey into Night»

Posted on Jan 04, 2013 at 1:07 p.m. by quintons
The greatness that O'Neill wrought in Long Day's Journey into Night makes it a play of such literary power that it can lay claim to containing some of the great character studies in all of the canon.

Nice Fish: Mark Rylance Returns»

Posted on Jan 04, 2013 at 10:53 a.m. by quintons
When actor Mark Rylance was last on a Twin Cities stage, he was transfixing audiences in the title role of Peer Gynt; this spring Rylance returns to the Guthrie with Nice Fish, a mythic dive into the deep waters of the Upper Midwest.

Capturing the Season»

Posted on Dec 05, 2012 at 3:52 p.m. by quintons
Katherine Mommsen combines her love of the theater's emotional vocabulary with her own skill and artistry at pottery.

Jazz Solos and Well-Seasoned Cookware»

Posted on Nov 21, 2012 at 1:09 p.m. by quintons
The Servant of Two Masters lends itself to soulful and evocative comparisons.

Life, 1968»

Posted on Nov 02, 2012 at 1:05 p.m. by quintons
Christopher Hampton's Appomattox conveys poignant whispers from a time of national crisis, when the legacy of slavery, Civil War, foreign wars and the hope of Civil Rights seemed to raise and dash hopes almost from day to day.

Midwinter Light»

Posted on Nov 01, 2012 at 4:16 p.m. by quintons
The Guthrie this winter will be home to faces familiar both from its own stages and from the warehouse on the other side of downtown in The Servant of Two Masters.

Sharp Elbows and Pointed Laughs»

Tales from Hollywood is a fish-out-of-water comedy that lands with delicious irony. [8/21/12]

Essays from 2011-2012»

Essays on Much Ado About Nothing, The Burial at Thebes, reasons to be pretty, The Edge of Our Bodies, A Christmas Carol, Charley's Aunt, Julius Caesar, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, End of the Rainbow, The Birds, Hay Fever, Time Stands Still, The Amen Corner, Roman Holiday, The Sunshine Boys and The Brothers Size.