Political theater crossing borders

E-mail jay@tcdailyplanet.net for your chance to win a free pair of tickets to see eco-entrepreneur Majora Carter and Ananya Dance Theatre on March 10! THEATER | Teatro del Pueblo's 10th Annual Political Theatre Festival examines questions of Latino identity By Bev Wolfe, TC Daily Planet "Latinos in Transition" is the theme for the 10th Annual Political Theatre Festival, presented by Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theatre. In its 10th year, the festival is becoming a staple in the community and Al Justiniano, artistic director of Teatro del Pueblo, hopes that the festival will continue for many more years.MORE » Gremlin Theatre VISUAL ARTS | Artists "Navigating the Aftermath" of the Iraq War at the University of Minnesota's Quarter Gallery By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet Artists from Iraq and the United States using images to find healing from the emotional wounds of the Iraq War will be featured in an upcoming exhibition called Navigating the Aftermath at the University of Minnesota's Quarter Gallery in Minneapolis. Through art, film, and special events, the artists—including anti-war activists, Iraq war veterans, and Iraqi artists—explore how we exist after experiencing the devastations of war.MORE » Regis Center, University of Minnesota Korean Lunar New Year celebration By David Zander, Asian American Press Korean Adoptees Ministry hosted families, church members and friends to their annual Lunar New Year celebration last Saturday at Korean Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Center. More than 100 were treated to an authentic educational and colorful experience of Korean dance, dress, traditional costumes, games and food.MORE » Northrop renovations begin By Ashley Aram, The Minnesota Daily The iconic Northrop Auditorium is filled with history, architectural drama and University of Minnesota pride - and is used for little more than graduation ceremonies and concerts. But an $80.8 million renovation beginning today will bring more people into Northrop, and for the duration of the construction, move graduation out.MORE » THEATER | Walking Shadow Theatre Company dances with desire in "Drakul" By Rebecca Collins, TC Daily Planet Walking Shadow Theater Company breathes new (and yet eternal) life into Bram Stoker's Dracula with their latest production, Drakul, written and directed by John Heimbuch. The play speculates about the lives of the book's characters seven years after their final, violent encounter with the Greatest Vampire of All Time.MORE » Red Eye Theater One million Minnesotans now covered by domestic partner registries By Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent While Minnesota bans same-sex marriage, civil unions and domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples working for government offices, there is one way same-sex couples can be recognized: through domestic partnership registries.MORE » THEATER | "Leave": Urban Samarai takes on Don't Ask Don't Tell By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet There's a lot to like about Matthew A. Everett's play, Leave, which is now being staged by Urban Samarai at the Sabes Jewish Community Center. There is poignant characterization, witty dialogue, passion, politics, and a lot of well-toned half-naked men making out. Set against the backdrop of Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the play tells the story of four gay men—two marines, an ex-army soldier, and "a marine wife"—whose lives get tangled together in a searing drama in the midst of war.MORE » Sabes Jewish Community Center Lawmakers react to Dayton budget plan By Nick Busse, Session Weekly/Session Daily DFL and Republican lawmakers had very different reactions to Gov. Mark Dayton's proposed $37 billion budget plan.MORE » MOVIES | "Cedar Rapids": More enjoyable than a trip to the actual Cedar Rapids By Emily Weiss, TC Daily Planet As we rode the 6E bus to the ol' AMC Southdale Center 16 last night to see a screening of Cedar Rapids—the new comedy directed by Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Youth in Revolt)—my friend Jessie and I had a conversation that made us sound less like in-the-know twentysomethings and more like our mothers.MORE » Recommended to be regents By Mike Cook, Session Weekly/Session Daily A quartet is one vote away from serving on the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents. Steve Sviggum, David Larson, David McMillan and Laura Brod were recommended for approval at a joint meeting of the House and Senate higher education committees. The House and Senate are scheduled to meet jointly Monday for the final vote.MORE » DANCE | Sarah Michelson's "Devotion" at the Walker Art Center: The cycles of life, spinning and spinning and spinning By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet Our sixth-grade music teacher would occasionally have talent-show days, when we'd be invited to take turns standing before the class and demonstrating whatever talent we chose to muster. With no false modesty, I'll say that I was a big hit with my memorized Bill Cosby standup routines. One of my classmates didn't go over so well, though: when she performed her original interpretive dance to some pop hit of 1986, the kids laughed and she ran from the room crying, thus living the nightmare of many performing artists: you put your soul nakedly on display, and everyone else thinks you look ridiculous.MORE » Walker Art Center This week's highlights Meet the Minneapolis School Board: Jill Davis on addressing inequity, strengthening community by Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet Last month, Jill Davis was elected chair of the Minneapolis School Board, where she has served for the past two years. Coming from a social work background, Davis values early childhood education and improving equity among all the schools in the district. She also aims to find ways to make Minneapolis schools more equitable, and has advocated encouraging parents to send kids to their neighborhood schools, in order to strengthen community and parental involvement. VISUAL ARTS | Ta-coumba Aiken, In the Spirit and in the zone at Metro State's Gordon Parks Gallery by David Jarnstrom, TC Daily Planet The Gordon Parks Gallery at Metropolitan State University's St. Paul campus hosted a reception on Thursday night, February 3, for In the Spirit, a new exhibit featuring the work of Ta-coumba Aiken. The showing includes mixed media paintings by the St. Paul artist who is perhaps best known for his public murals and his mentoring work with area youth. Minneapolis Riverfront Design competition winner announced by Joe Sixta, TC Daily Planet On Thursday, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the Minneapolis Parks Foundation announced that Tom Leader Studio of Berkley, California and Kennedy & Violich Architecture of Boston, Massachusetts are the winning design team for the Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition. MUSIC | Grant Hart pushes forward in wake of house fire by David Jarnstrom, TC Daily Planet Grant Hart played a solo set in Minneapolis at Cause Spirits and Soundbar on Friday, February 4-mere days after a fire consumed two rooms in the indie rock icon's South St. Paul house and left him hospitalized for a few hours. SINGLE WHITE FRINGE GEEK | Fringe 2011: Apparently size does matter by Matthew A. Everett • Are Minnesotans, or Fringers in general, just shy? Property Taxes 101: Minneapolis, St. Paul, mosquito control district by Mary Turck, TC Daily Planet Are your property taxes going up this year? Join the club - that's true across Minnesota. The amount due on the property tax bill is clear. Beyond that bottom line, property taxes are harder to understand, and myths abound. If your home's estimated market value goes down, will your taxes go down, too? If you add a second story to your home, will your taxes go up? Is it true that "tax rates vary by neighborhood?" Or that "market value has no relation to actual property value?" Two Northeast Middle School students make convincing case for their school by Robin Sauerwein, TC Daily Planet Hamza said that at Northeast, which has an International Baccalaureate Program, "Teachers help you so your work is above and beyond. Everything they do is to get us prepared for high school and college. We compare learning what other people are learning. We don't look at the world as large as it is but a smaller portion. We look at our similarities and we try to bring things closer." MOVIES | Talking with Silver Tongues director Simon Arthur and star Lee Tegersen by Jim Brunzell, TC Daily Planet PARK CITY, UTAH—The idea of going to the Sundance and Slamdance film festivals each January is not only to cram in as many screenings as possible, but to have the opportunity to be the first to discover exciting new talent. As I mentioned in my first Sundance preview, many filmmakers, actors, writers and producers first get noticed at Sundance. But there's another great festival that happens simultaneously: Slamdance. Just for Kix: Brainerd costume designers taste Super Bowl stardom by Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet Cindy Klough's phone has been ringing off the hook ever since the Super Bowl, where her company's light-up body suit costumes were featured on the bodies of the backup dancers for the Black Eyed Peas. Klough said she was surprised by the reaction. After all, her company, Just for Kix, has created costumes for other big events such as the Orange Bowl, but the publicity surrounding the Super Bowl was greater than anything they've experienced. MUSIC | Robyn, Diamond Rings, and Natalia Kills move the masses at First Avenue by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet Just as Robyn was about to take the stage at First Avenue on Sunday night, I realized that there was some Twitter drama going down between me and her first opener. New Met Council on the horizon By Erik Hare, TC Daily Planet With the new Governor's term comes a new Metropolitan Council. The body, which oversees transit, utilities, and urban planning is made up representatives from sixteen districts across the Twin Cities metro area, who serve four year terms. The entire Met Council is appointed by the governor. Governor Dayton has delegated screening to a Governor's Nominating Committee made up of former Met Council members and local government representatives to make the final recommendations. MUSIC | Best Coast and Wavves at the Varsity Theater: Hormones and aliens, but otherwise nothing special by Becky Lang, TC Daily Planet If you had asked me before the Best Coast and Wavves show Friday night at the Varsity Theater, "Becky, do you think this concert will be a mind-blowing experience that you will someday tell your children about in order to show them that you were once young and wild?" I would have promptly answered, "No. Not at all." THEATER | As Mother Courage, Barbra Berlovitz is a must-see by Bev Wolfe • Tony Kushner's updated version of Bertold Brecht's anti-war masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children opened last week at the Lab Theater. Bricklayers Theatre and Collectif Masque's co-production of Mother Courage provides a brilliant blend of costume, masks, music, and physical humor that should not be missed. Pothole season is wide open in Minneapolis, St. Paul by Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have surveyors and crews out working night and day to fix the not-quite-spring potholes around the cities. Along with reports made via email and from phone calls from residents, both cities prioritize potholes based on size of potholes and the location's traffic. Arts Orbit Radar 2/17/11 by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet This week's event recommendations, from Tut to Tennis. THEATER | Sam Green's Utopia in Four Movements asks a big question, but gives a wrong answer by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet Utopia in Four Movements reminded me of the books of Malcolm Gladwell, a writer who's so incredibly gifted that you swallow his arguments without really thinking too hard about whether they actually match the evidence he's presented. For more information on this, see p. 73 of Sociology for Dummies-the section titled "Preparing for Potential Pitfalls: Data/Theory Mismatch." THEATER | Michelle Perdue's The Housekeeper's Dirt takes on the issue of domestic violence by Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet Michelle Perdue's The Housekeeper's Dirt at the Playwrights' Center dramatizes a not-quite savory and seldom-acknowledged aspect of black history. As with all cultures, African-Americans aren't immune to domestic abuse. And, as with other culures, the issue gets swept under the proverbial rug, beatings happening behind closed doors and nothing being done about it. It hardly ever gets talked about. THEATER | Letter from a young theater artist to Charles Mee, re: erased bobrauschenbergamerica at 1419 by Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet Here's the thing about Charles Mee. He's a great playwright. He brilliantly draws from classic texts and popular culture to create plays that are provocative and profound and beautiful. And Mee has a noble mission. He started this thing called the (re)making project, where he gives permission to any theater company to steal is work royalty-free so long as they only use part of it. WHO IS THAT? | Rebecca Collins, (un)closeted screenwriter by Jay Gabler • "Right now I'd really like to talk about the TV show Dallas, Charlene Tilton, the Oscars, Diana Vreeland, or the Egyptian uprising." THE OPTIMISTIC PESSIMIST | Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a mouthful, and a must-see by Jim Brunzell III • Apichatpong Weerasethakul is not an easy name to pronounce (he goes by "Joe" for short), and his latest film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, is quite a mouthful too-but "Joe's" film won the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. The Thai director began making short films in 1993, releasing his first feature length film, Mysterious Object at Noon, in 2000. But it wasn't until his 2002 film Blissfully Yours won him the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival that film enthusiasts around the world starting to learn his name rather than referring to him as "the Thai director with the long name." Ten years of tutoring on the East Side of St. Paul by Jeanette Fordyce, TC Daily Planet "If we had more volunteers we could serve more children," said Audrey Lindenfelser SSND, executive director of the East Side Learning Center. "We have the space and supplies to add more students to our programs." In April, the center is celebrating 10 years of reading success with kindergarten to fourth grade students who have been performing below grade level but now have improved their scores. This past year ESLC served 225 students with the help of 240 volunteers. MUSIC | Justin Townes Earle at First Avenue: "I know better, but sometimes I just don't care" by Natalie Gallagher, TC Daily Planet "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm a weak man. A couple of my weaknesses are ladies-well, now that's the sound I like!" said Earle, pausing while a few women in the audience screamed-"and fried chicken. And I can't decide which I like better...but let's face it, fried chicken is cheaper but it gives me a lot less to write songs about." THEATER | Two strong plays about kids facing supreme challenges: Youth Performance Company's MEAN and SteppingStone Theatre's Four Little Girls by Betsy Gabler, TC Daily Planet Two youth performances that have similar themes—tolerance, anger/hatred, ignorance, peacemaking, and the resilience of young people—are currently happening simultaneously here in the Twin Cities. THEATER | Our Town by Yellow Tree Theatre: Excellent "community" theater by Christopher Kehoe, TC Daily Planet Look sharp, friends: this unassuming little show in, of all places, Osseo is poised to be among the finest Twin Cities theater offerings in 2011. Bold words for mid-February, but Yellow Tree Theatre's latest is a winning effort that throws the gauntlet down to its metropolitan cousins. Lily Tomlin at the State Theatre: Still makin' 'em laugh by Betsy Gabler, TC Daily Planet It's Agnes! It's Ernestine! It's Lucille! Yes it is. And even more when you're lucky enough to catch the many personalities brought to life during "An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin." Tomlin's tour stopped at the historic State Theatre last weekend after performances in Illinois, Kansas, and Wisconsin, but before California, Australia and beyond (including Biloxi, Mississippi's Hard Rock Cafe). ¡Olé! North Minneapolis legislative town hall meeting By Kris Bishop, TC Daily Planet On January 26, Representatives Bobby Joe Champion and Jeff Hayden held a town hall meeting at the Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center, UROC, to explain the basics of the state budget. NEW IN BLOGS SCHOOL TALK | Raised hands, new report reflect good news about Minnesota high schools/students by Joe Nathan • Dozens of raised hands, and a new report from Minnesota Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius reflect good news. More Minnesota high school students are taking and passing challenging college level classes. Cassellius wisely praised the progress, and stressed the significant work left to do. POKING AROUND | Supporters turn out for WPBP fundraiser by Mary Treacy • 250 famished supporters ready to share a hearty breakfast with a community of friends, one and new. Walker, bikers and drivers dodged the Cities' famed potholes to gather for a gustatory treat served by a squadron of volunteers on hand to support the work of the Women's Prison Book Project. SINGLE WHITE FRINGE GEEK | My play Leave: The audience completes the production by Matthew A. Everett • When my first play was produced in Minneapolis, the whole family flew out from the east coast to see it. As we sat waiting for the show to start, my dad noticed I had a weird look on my face.
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