WLDRNSS // JON FERGUSON

REVIEWS FOR PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS

“Having seen Ferguson’s Super Monkey earlier this year… I’m here to say this guy is a local treasure” - Star Tribune 2009

“For four years, I’ve admired Ferguson’s directing work but could never put my finger on the reason. As I watch the next scene unfold at rehearsal, I’m finally able to trace my enthusiasm to its root: Ferguson posits a tender, even optimistic view of humankind.” - Christy DeSmith, American Theatre Magazine 2009

"Ferguson creates spaces where things can happen that don't happen anywhere else. He and his collaborators so clearly trust and inspire one another that you walk out of the theater into a world that feels richer than you'd realized it was before you went in." - TC Daily Planet 2012

“…Ferguson continues to deliver on his justly deserved reputation for emotionally impactful material rife with wildly diverse character dynamics.” - Twin Cities Performance Art Examiner 2009

“Jon Ferguson - in my opinion, the most exciting movement theater artist in town…” - The Rake 2008

“Or the White Whale” is stunning. Productions and performances like this don’t come along every day… a virtuoso exploration into maleness, its strength and weakness, its sincerity and its contradiction—a show at once tragedy and celebration.” - Lightsey Darst MN artists

“…nearly a year later what sticks in this writer’s mind is the show’s blend of the disarming and the ballistic. That is, its sweet humanity collided aptly with the physics of the concussion grenade… Boban pretty much captured lightning in a bottle, with a combination of choreography, clowning, and deeper stuff…” - Quinton Skinner, City Pages

“…the show captured the extremes of humanity one would expect to encounter in such a situation: It asked tough questions and featured moments of haunting terror, but it also offered moments of sweet humor and exceptional grace… I was too stunned at the end of this show to clap immediately. The sadness of the final scene was overwhelming, and it took a moment to recover—and then jump to my feet.” - Caroline Palmer, City Pages

"...there’s a lot here to look at and listen to: as one expects from Ferguson, the sets, lighting, and live music, are all elegant and inventive." - The Tangential 2015

“This milieu of sweetness and dark is matched by the onstage action, a mix of the metaphorical, the absurd, and the real… plays like the love child of Monty Python, Jane Austen, and The Princess Bride.” - Lightsey Darst, MPLS/St. Paul Magazine

“…part fable, part parable, part satire, fanciful but in the context of real issues—and all bursting with imagination. It has the feel of a staged dream, and like a dream, subject to a host of interpretations.” - Arthur Dorman, talkinbroadway 2015

"Ferguson has the courage to take the audience-performer relationship very seriously, to illuminate the fact that audience members are, in an important sense, co-creators themselves." - Jay Gabler, The Tangential 2015

"…it's lovely, delightful, innovative, poignant, creative, and incredibly moving. The original fairy tale deals with the ideas of home, place, and change…" - Cherry and Spoon 2015

"Commedia dell'arte is joyfully alive and well in Theatre Forever's production of Carlo Goldoni's 1743 play The Venetian Twins." - Talkin' Broadway 2015

“Good Job Horses comes and goes like a dream, as the creators push a surrealistic situation to the breaking point -- much to the delight of the audience.” - City Pages 2015

"...a cross between Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thelma and Louise, and 'The Carol Burnett Show.'" - Talkin' Broadway 2015

"The Nature Crown, is, on first glance, a pastorale ruminating on nature and humanity's place in it. Look a little more closely, though, and it's possible to observe less well-worn paths into thickets of memory, longing and regret." - Dominic Papatola, Pioneer Press 2015

"The Nature Crown, one of the most elaborate shows Ferguson’s produced in years, is a rich production built on a deeply layered allegory about memory and loss, about courage and fear, and about the meaning of maturity. It’s a little heavy, yeah, but it’s also charming and funny, suspended in Ferguson’s buoyant yet poignant alternate reality.”
- Jay Gabler, The Tangential 2015

“The physical production is wondrous...” - Arthur Dorman, talkinbroadway 2015

“See The Nature Crown to be inspired to set out on your own path, or just for the sheer joy of exuberantly creative storytelling.” - Arthur Dorman, talkinbroadway 2015

"Absurdist to the core… among the most genuinely heartwarming shows in the current flurry of holiday productions." - Ed Huyck, City Pages 2013

"…childlike in its generosity of imagination; in its sincerity of emotion; and in its thrall to humor involving butts, dicks, and boobs." - Jay Gabler - Vita.MN 2013

“To see one of his shows is to see beauty, humanity, and surprise; to be engaged, touched, and to leave the theater more fully yourself.” - The Rake 2008

“Jon Ferguson has put his stamp on impressionistic and richly emotive original works that draw upon movement and sound to project non-linear narratives…” - Variety 2007

“Super Monkey is a must-see for anyone who likes their theater to have a healthy dose of humor, a exciting feeling of discovery, and a profound sense of wonder” - Twin Cities Daily Planet 2009

“Director Jon Ferguson and his ensemble have created a wonderfully entertaining meditation on being and nothingness.” - Star Tribune 2009

“…a tremendous achievement, imaginative and entertaining… The execution of the production’s concept is impressively close to flawless.” - Jay Gabler, Twin Cities Daily Planet

“…chilling in its brutality…cold-blooded ferocity.” - Brad Richason, Minneapolis Performance Art Examiner

“Jon Ferguson directs this collaborative show about young romantic love, and it tackles those things near and dear with consistent wit and lighthearted aplomb.” - Quinton Skinner, City Pages

“Ferguson’s play is filled with enough charm, quirk and heartfelt emotion to disarm almost any cynic.” - Camille LeFevre, Star Tribune

“While I haven’t seen any other stage adaptations of “Moby Dick,” I can’t imagine they would be any more engrossing, entertaining, or overwhelming than Civic Stage’s “Or The White Whale.” - Matthew Everett (In My Humble 0pinion)

“Shows of this complexity, bravery and ingenuity are usually imported by the Walker Art Center… a richly layered piece of comic/tragic performance art… at turns slapstick funny, abstract, physical, emotional and metaphorical — always riveting, always surprising” - Matt Peiken, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Funny, moving, and sometimes even terrifying, Mr. Boban provides an intelligent and provocative response to the violence of our times… a work that should immediately be given an open ended run” - Caroline Palmer, City Pages

“a raw and funny work that constantly invents itself with honesty, and displays an affection for the victims of war… Political theater can be a minefield of soapbox self-importance, “Boban” refreshes with a lack of pretense… thank goodness for their willingness to work without a net and allowing the space between actors to fill naturally with consciousness.” - Graydon Royce, Star Tribune