Nearly a year ago, the Baroque Room opened in Lowertown St. Paul, a new performance hall dedicated to providing an affordable, well-appointed concert and rehearsal space for the abundance of artists playing Baroque and Renaissance-era music in the Twin Cities. The venue is run by Marc Levine and Tami Morse, who are musicians themselves performing […]
Article · January 4, 2012 by Susannah Schouweiler
Getting butts in seats — that’s always the thing for performing artists, isn’t it? Even for prominent venues — Ordway, the Guthrie — and nationally acclaimed theater companies, it’s an ongoing and driving concern. And for small and mid-sized theater organizations and individual artists, building audience awareness and attendance is central, the answer to an […]
Article · January 2, 2012 by Susannah Schouweiler
One of the best things about the holiday season is the abundance of good music — cheesy pop Christmas albums aside, this time of year there’s nothing like a terrific show to bring a glow of good cheer to your cheeks. Below, I offer you three very different but equally tuneful options, to warm your […]
Article · December 21, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Recently, playwright and raconteur Kevin Kling was named “artist in residence” for Minnesota Public Radio. It’s a three-year position, for which he’ll develop original live programming, write some commentary for broadcast and host storytelling workshops around the state. His first commission for MPR is “Of Mirth and Mischief,” a staged musical-theater production, which premiered at […]
Article · December 19, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Air Sweet Air is a young gallery, just a couple of months old, but it’s been in the works for years. Multimedia artist Cheryl Wilgren Clyne has long had her eye out for just the right space to house the studio/art lab/gallery she has dreamed of opening. Clyne served as director of Minneapolis’ popular Rosalux […]
Article · December 14, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Late last week, leaders from the four organizations of St. Paul’s Arts Partnership — Minnesota Opera, the Schubert Club, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Ordway — joined by Mayor Chris Coleman, unveiled plans to expand and refurbish the Ordway Center. Specifically, they announced work on a new, much larger Concert Hall for the facility, which will house 1100 […]
Article · December 12, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
This month, AZ Gallery and Black Dog Café and Wine Bar are teaming up to showcase work from upwards of 50 neighborhood artists in the 1st Annual Lowertown Art Show. The juried exhibition, which opened last weekend, features an eclectic assortment of some 85 works in a variety of media, all made by artists who […]
Article · December 7, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Late last week, I saw Gremlin Theatre’s “How to Cheat,” the full-length remounting of a 2006 Fringe festival production, written and directed by award-winning playwright Alan Berks. I’ll not bury the lead: it’s a terrifically clever, brash take on a tried and true theme, not to mention a bracing alternative to treacly holiday fare. As […]
Article · December 5, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
The idea of marrying film and poetry isn’t a groundbreaking idea, but it’s an ingenious one. The Poetry Foundation and PBS have taken a stab at it with “Poetry Everywhere;” former Poet Laureate Billy Collins made a foray with Action Poetry. Beyond that, I’ve noticed a growing number of stand-alone, grassroots projects and festivals devoted […]
Article · November 30, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Last spring, unless you acted fast, you likely missed out on seeing Penumbra Theatre’s premiere staging of “I Wish You Love.” Tickets sold out quickly to playwright Dominic Taylor’s musical portrait of ‘50s crooner turned television pioneer, Nat “King” Cole. If you were one of those, like me, who missed out on tickets for the […]
Article · November 28, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler
Thousands of people from around the country will descend upon St. Paul’s vast downtown RiverCentre complex this weekend for the 36th annual Hmong New Year celebration. A significant majority of the more than 66,000 Hmong Americans who call Minnesota home live in the Twin Cities, making ours the largest urban Hmong population in the world. […]
Article · November 23, 2011 by Susannah Schouweiler