NEWS: Minnesota Theater Alliance’s New Director Arts Theatre by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 12, 2016April 15, 2016 It's transition time for some of Minnesota's leading arts organizations, and the Minnesota Theater Alliance is no exception. Today, MTA named Joanna Schnedler as its new Executive Director, succeeding the outgoing (and founding director) Leah Cooper. This leadership transition includes a 2.5-week overlap for Cooper to hand off the reins in good
REVIEW: Violet (Yellow Tree Theatre) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 11, 2016April 14, 2016 David Murray and Jessica Lind Peterson in Yellow Tree Theatre's production of Violet. Photo by Justin Cox Photography. For the final production of its eighth season, Yellow Tree Theatre presents a very satisfying production of Violet. This musical is based upon Doris Betts’ short story The Ugliest Pilgrim (her most-printed short story) and features music
REVIEW: Catch Catch Me If You Can (Chameleon Theatre Circle) Arts Dance Music Theatre by Basil Considine - April 11, 2016April 15, 2016 Austin Stole, Maria Isabel Gonzalez, and John Goodrich in The Chameleon Theatre Circle’s production of Catch Me If You Can. Photo by Daniel K. McDermott for Sinséar Productions. Let's say just one thing about the plot of Catch Me If You Can, the biographical musical about the life and escapades of Frank William
REVIEW: Hanggai for More (Ordway) Arts Music by Lydia Lunning - April 8, 2016April 8, 2016 Photo by Yang Feng. You say you need more traditional Mongolian punk rock cowboy music in your life? I may have some excellent news for you… well, more excellent if you hadn’t missed the performance, but you can still buy their music! The latest entry in the Ordway’s World Music and Dance series
PREVIEW: Sole Instinct 2 Dance Battle / INTERVIEW: B-Boy Jurza Arts Dance by Basil Considine - April 8, 2016April 8, 2016 Theatre professionals in Los Angeles like to complain that New Yorkers think that their theatre scene doesn't exist, despite more than 500 theatre organizations to the contrary and, you know, Hollywood. You could say the same thing about just about any arts form in the Twin Cities – much of the
PREVIEW: Taiko Drumming Hits the Twin Cities Arts Dance Music by Twin Cities Arts Reader - April 7, 2016April 8, 2016 One Voice performing with Mu Daiko last week as part of their annual school tour OUT in Our Schools. Photo by Brian Geving. April is Taiko Month in the Twin Cities. In the aftermath of World War 2, U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan encountered kumi-daiko, a modern performance art using traditional
INTERVIEW: Composer Richard Einhorn Arts Music Opera Theatre by Basil Considine - April 7, 2016April 9, 2016 Composer Richard Einhorn at the piano. There are many stereotypes about classical music after World War 2. Beautiful is usually not one of them: in the postwar era, many Western art music composers decided to explore other aesthetic directions, to which audiences often responded with words like grating, difficult to listen to, cerebral, and
PREVIEW: Arts Board Film Festival Arts Dance Movies by Hanne Appelbaum - April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 The Minnesota State Arts Board has announced the schedule for the 2016 Arts Board Film Festival, a free exposition of films by 32 filmmakers and groups of filmmakers who received Arts Board grants between 2013 and 2015. Films range from 1-minute dance films (of which there are 10) to 20-minute excerpts
REVIEW: Buyer & Cellar (New Century Theatre) Arts Theatre by Bev Wolfe - April 2, 2016April 3, 2016 Photo by George Byron Griffiths. Buyer & Cellar, a play by Jonathan Tolins that Variety called "Absolutely delicious!", concerns an out-of-work gay actor getting a “dream job” working as a store clerk in a shopping mall – a mall that just happens to be located in the basement of Barbara Streisand’s Malibu home.