History Theatre’s musical take on the troubled marriage of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, “This Side of Paradise,” is well-timed to take advantage of the renewed interest in this 1920s and ’30s “it” couple ginned up by Baz Luhrman’s extravagant new silver-screen adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” Like the movie, the play revels in Jazz […]
Article · May 13, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
L to R: Key Candles, Negative Space Photo & Design. Photos courtesy of Craftstravaganza Three interesting newsy bits from St. Paul’s thriving craft scene have caught my attention recently that merit passing on. If you’re looking to shop: Andy and Jenna Krueger’s long-lived indie craft sale, Craftstravaganza, is on the docket for this weekend at […]
Article · May 8, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Blank Slate Theatre’s production of the off-Broadway hit, “Columbinus,” created in 2005 by the United States Theatre Project, grabs you by the throat right from the start and doesn’t let go for an uncomfortable two hours. In the tradition of “The Laramie Project,” this two-act play blends fact and fiction to dramatize the events surrounding the […]
Article · May 6, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Work sample by theater artists Jason Overby and Telsche Thiessen. Photo courtesy of mnartists.org For a fifth season, the flagship Community Supported Art (CSA) program will offer art-box “shares” of original, locally made work by a select group of Minnesota artists. This program takes after the buy-local ethos of the slow food movement and is […]
Article · May 1, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Photo of the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston. Photo by Flickr user yeowatzup, reproduced here under Creative Commons license The Holocaust looms large in popular literature, film and theater. Nearly 70 years after the end of World War II, the subject is a fully realized genre whose narrative contours are, at this point, widely […]
Article · April 29, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Penelope Umbrico, detail from the installation “Mountains, Moving: of George C. Poundstone 1926 – 2013.” Courtesy of Bethel University galleries and the artist Penelope Umbrico’s exhibition, “Mountains, Moving: of George C. Poundstone 1926 – 2013,” recently opened at Bethel University’s Olson Gallery. Umbrico’s work is an exercise in meta-photography – laying bare for examination the […]
Article · April 24, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
The O’Shaughnessy was quieter than usual before last night’s show, particularly given the size of the crowd that braved the rain to see Emily Johnson/Catalyst’s one-night-only regional premiere of “Niicugni.” The light was dim, and there were homemade lanterns suspended from the rafters above both stage and audience, but little else by way of props […]
Article · April 23, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
“Lorca in a Green Dress,” co-presented by Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theater runs through April 28 at the Ritz Theater. “Lorca in a Green Dress,” Pulitzer-winning playwright Nilo Cruz’s surreal homage to poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca, opened at the Ritz Theater last weekend. The play, directed by Teatro del Pueblo’s Alberto Justiniano, […]
Article · April 17, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
For its last production of the season, Minnesota Opera (a Knight Arts grantee) is running an opulent iteration of Puccini’s final opera, “Turandot.” Two sets of lead players are performing in rotation for the show’s one-week run; the matinee I attended featured spinto tenor Scott Piper (as the love-struck, exiled prince Calaf) and sopranos Christie Hageman and Helen […]
Article · April 15, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
2012 Sally Award-winners. Photo courtesy of Ordway Center for Performing Arts Monday evening, April 8, Ordway Center for Performing Arts (a Knight Arts grantee) recognized the 2012 Sally Irvine Ordway Award-winners for their achievements in visual, performing and literary arts. Sally Awards are bestowed specifically to honor Minnesota artists and institutions for their efforts on […]
Article · April 10, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler
Katie Musolff, “Shooting Holes in the Sky,” River Journal, watercolor on paper, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Grand Hand Gallery In one of the pieces for her “River Journal” series, now on view in the Grand Hand Gallery, painter Katie Musolff observes, “Amazing, how two things that have so much in common can be so different.” The small […]
Article · April 8, 2013 by Susannah Schouweiler