THE AYES HAVE IT—
AND THE LIES HAVE IT, TOO

Tracy Letts’ darkly comic council meeting exposes
the dirty business behind small-town government

With its season-opening production of Tracy Letts’ The Minutes, now running through November 15, CV Rep delivers a darkly comic, provocative, and ultimately chilling theatrical experience that examines American history, institutional power, and the stories we choose to tell ourselves. It is a bold choice, and one that demonstrates the company’s impressive artistic growth under Artistic Director Adam Karsten’s leadership.

Set during a city council meeting in the fictional town of Big Cherry, The Minutes initially appears to be a rather mundane examination of small-town government. Council members gather to discuss routine municipal business, navigating petty grievances, procedural formalities, and bureaucratic minutiae.

At the center is Mr. Peel (Torsten Johnson), a new council member whose questions about the minutes from a previous meeting gradually reveal something far more troubling beneath the town’s carefully maintained civic identity.

Admittedly, the first half feels sluggish. For an extended stretch, the play seems content to introduce one unremarkable government official after another, offering a succession of moments that establish personalities without much dramatic momentum. One begins to wonder where, if anywhere, the story is headed.

But patience is richly rewarded.

As the seemingly disconnected pieces fall into place, the play undergoes a transformation. What initially appeared to be an inconsequential exercise in municipal bureaucracy reveals itself as something far more sinister, and suddenly those earlier moments take on an entirely different significance.

Under Karsten’s assured direction, a strong ensemble brings the peculiar inhabitants of Big Cherry to life, finding humor in their eccentricities while allowing the darker implications of their behavior to emerge.

Torsten Johnson anchors the production as Mr. Peel, bringing sincerity and determined curiosity to the council member whose questions threaten to unravel the town’s secrets. Kevin Symons is equally effective as Mayor Superba, projecting the easygoing authority of a practiced politician while gradually revealing something considerably more calculating beneath the surface.

Thomas Flynn delivers an amusingly combative Mr. Assalone, Howard Shangraw finds considerable comic mileage in the cantankerous Mr. Oldfield, and Margery Lowe is wonderfully eccentric as Ms. Matz. Randy Brenner, Charles Everett, Linda Slade, and Angela Landis contribute nicely drawn characterizations, while Craig Wroe brings genuine humanity to Mr. Hanratty. Calvin Adams makes a significant impression as the mysterious Mr. Carp.

Jimmy Cuomo’s imposing scenic design captures the sterile authority of a municipal chamber, providing an environment that becomes increasingly unsettling as the proceedings unfold. Moira Wilkie’s lighting and Joshua Adams’ sound design further enhance the production’s mounting sense of unease.

Letts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of August: Osage County, has constructed a work that is simultaneously an absurdist comedy, a political satire, and a disturbing examination of the mythology upon which communities, and indeed nations, build their identities.

It is a blistering indictment of historical revisionism, collective complicity, and the lengths to which those in power will go to preserve a comfortable narrative. The play’s ultimate revelations justify much of what preceded them, inviting audiences to reconsider everything they thought they understood.

Perhaps most impressive is CV Rep’s decision to open its season with such an unconventional and potentially divisive work. Indeed, as I left the theater, I overheard audience members expressing confusion, seemingly uncertain what to make of what they had just witnessed.

Rather than diminishing my appreciation, those reactions only deepened it.

There is tremendous value in theater that unsettles us, challenges our assumptions, and sends us into the night with questions that resist easy answers. Not every worthwhile theatrical experience needs to be immediately understood, much less universally embraced.

Under Karsten’s leadership, CV Rep has demonstrated increasingly impressive artistic ambition and maturity. Choosing The Minutes to launch its season speaks to a company willing to take risks, trust its audience, and embrace theater as something more than pleasant diversion.

The Minutes may not be an entirely comfortable evening at the theater, nor is it intended to be. But it is an intelligent, audacious, and rewarding one.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

photos by David A. Lee

The Minutes
CV Rep (Coachella Valley Repertory)
CV Rep Playhouse in Cathedral City
ends on November 15, 2026
for tickets, visit CVRep

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦