The famous Kyle from Project Success is currently preparing for the second iteration of his play, The Scribbler, provided by Spiral Theater. Kyle Munshower founded Spiral Theater to follow his love of the art and create enjoyable theater for anybody to enjoy. So far, Munshower has written six plays and is currently working on two more. This is just the start; the playwright and theater company has plenty of goals for the future.

“I’d love to consistently pay our creative team above a minimum wage for each production. In the next five years, I want to double the size of our audience. I want to continue offering Pay-As-You-Are ticket pricing, and add even more opportunities for completely free theater. I’d love to tour a production both in the United States and abroad. I imagine we’ll also officially incorporate as a nonprofit at some point, but I’m not rushing into that.” Munshower is very dedicated to his work and it is definitely worth it to watch any of his shows.

The Scribbler runs from May 16-19 at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown Minneapolis. 7:30 pm on 16, 17, 18; for May 19 there is a 2:00 pm matinee. Luckily, students and families can see the play for free through Project Success at Spiral’s final dress rehearsal on Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30pm at the Phoenix Theater.

Munshower provided a synopsis of The Scribbler: “In a kingdom in the old times, the only person who can read and write is Bartleby the town scribe. Except even he can’t, leaving the work to his sister Athena who can. But under the backward rule of the outburst-prone King Scoopty Woop, women aren’t allowed the right to write. When a rival kingdom sends a written declaration of war, Bartleby and Athena scramble to avoid violence, swindle to keep their secret, and struggle to make their kingdom a better place for all.”

If this does not sound interesting to you, I don’t know what does. Southwest students and families can get tickets to The Scribbler for free through Project Success. According to Munshower, this iteration of the play is “different in some ways and very similar in others.” On the first iteration, Munshower admitted to “having no money and still insisting on paying his creative team.” He also said he and his crew “stole costumes, borrowed sound equipment, and asked audiences to bring their own chairs.”

Despite the various hardships, Munshower decided to create his second iteration of the play which he claims “is set to be our biggest show yet with an impressive budget, exciting additions to the script, a stellar new cast and director, and a full production team.”

This is all very exciting for Munshower, his crew, and anybody interested in seeing this production. The project has been years in the making, with its inspiration

As one of Kyle’s Project Success students, knowing his ambitious life story, I was interested in hearing his inspiration for this work.

“During my year-long stint living in Rome, I visited a small under-the-radar museum near Piazza Venezia. It was there I learned about the role of the scrivener in the Middle Ages: someone whose job it was to read and write when no one else could. I thought it would be very funny if that person also couldn’t write and was just pretending. Thus began a five-year process of bringing The Scribbler to life.”

“I wrote ten pages in Rome. It was a short sketch that I never imagined would turn into anything. Two years later, in the midst of our first big COVID-19 winter, I showed these pages to classmates in a virtual workshop with the Playwrights’ Center. They urged me to keep writing. Thanks to them and the vehement encouragement of my amazing partner Eva, I finished the whole script. I approached my incredible friend and collaborator Kevin, pitching that we perform the show on the beautiful green rooftop of The Bakken Museum for the MN Fringe Festival. That performance served as a proof-of-concept for Spiral Theater and began the journey that we find ourselves on now.”

Munshower’s dedication to his work is definitely not something that should be overlooked. So if you’re able, visit the Phoenix Theatre in Minneapolis from May 16-19 for the second iteration of The Scribbler.