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A new jazz-infused operetta premiering at Minneapolis’ Open Eye Theatre brings the dreamlike poetry of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet John Berryman to the stage.

The show grew out of composer Greg Brosofske’s long fascination with the University of Minnesota professor who once lived in Prospect Park.

“He's unlike anybody else,” Brosofske said. “He's definitely his own guy. He's almost like he was inventing his own language.”  

Berryman won the Pulitzer in 1965 for “77 Dream Songs,” helping cement his reputation as a leading voice in the confessional poetry movement, known for its deeply personal and emotionally raw writing.

Berryman was also a towering presence in the University of Minnesota’s literary life, shaping generations of writers through his teaching and influence long after his death. His career spanned a decade and a half before he died by suicide in 1972.   

Brosofske eventually realized there were few tributes to Berryman — and began looking for a way to honor the poet.

Brosofske spent more than a decade researching Berryman and shaping the idea into a stage work that eventually became the operetta “STRANGE HEART: The Dream Songs of John Berryman.”

With its world premiere at the Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis, it reimagines Berryman and one of his most famous works, “The Dream Songs,” with a cast and creative team of Minnesota-based artists.   

Rather than telling Berryman’s life story, the show moves through a dreamlike landscape shaped by his memories, poems and inner turmoil.

Bradley Greenwald has played the role of Berryman since the show’s first workshop in 2015. He says it is not meant to be a biographical depiction of the poet’s life, but a musing on how he saw the world.   

“The interesting part of John Berryman was how he evoked his response to the world through poetry,” he said. “To create a piece that is basically a memory dream was the right way to evoke someone in a way that would make us want to get to know him better as an artist.”   

Brosofske introduces Henry, a recurring character in Berryman’s poems, as a puppet performed by Samuel Albright. Brosofske imagined Henry as an alter ego for Berryman, reflecting the relationship between a poet and the characters he creates.  

Anna Hashizume plays three women tied to Berryman’s life: Donahue, his mother and a fictional nurse inspired by real events.

Hashizume says the show deconstructs Berryman through moments that are seemingly non-sequiturs.    

Hashizume said the three performers — herself, Greenwald and puppeteer Albright — each explore a different part of the poet’s mind. “All three of us are diving into the psyche of John Berryman,” she said.

The show also reflects Berryman’s struggles with substance use and mental illness. The creative team said they wanted to present the poet in full, not define him solely by the way he died.

“There's an inevitability to that, and I tried to deal with it in a way that embraces that inevitability, but also had a degree of tenderness,” said Brosofske.   

Brosofske instead brought into focus all the complexities of Berryman, without the “sanitization to remove any of the more troubled reaches” as Brosofske sees in the world today. 

Director Sass said Berryman’s poetry resonates because it puts words to a range of experiences that are universal.

"It really gives a lot of expression to a poet's experience and wrestling with, you know, big joys and challenges and lows in life that anyone can relate to, but he put words to them the way a lot of us just are not capable of,” Sass said.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. Call or text 988 to get connected with trained counselors who can help. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is available 24/7.

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Anika Besst

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A new operetta at Minneapolis’ Open Eye Theatre reimagines the life and poetry of Pulitzer Prize–winning University of Minnesota professor John Berryman through a dreamlike staging that explores the writer’s inner world.

A puppet, a poet and a dreamscape: A new operetta at Open Eye Theatre

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