November 2008

Behind the curtain

november-575.jpg

V. Paul Virtucio. Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater's Rooms of Disquiet at Tofte Lake Center.

Dancers, directors, improvisers, actors, even costume designers around Minnesota prepare for rehearsal hoping to be surprised. In this issue, peek behind the curtain at this strange, private thing they do that even they don’t always understand.

Articles

The standard rehearsal

By Alan M. Berks
Posted Saturday, November 1

After thousands of years of performance, most rehearsals share a surprising amount of consistency. Why? Is this good or bad? (Part 1 of 3.)

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Harrumph

By Joseph Scrimshaw
Posted Saturday, November 1

When expectations become rules, theater folk start to look pretty stupid. Joe Scrimshaw asks you to stop sighing disapprovingly.

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Basic instinct

By Karen Sherman
Posted Saturday, November 1

Dances develop over two years or more. Karen Sherman shows us the delicate process that created her most recent show, copperhead.

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Space for rent

By MinnesotaPlaylist
Posted Thursday, November 6

Specs and contact information for twenty good rehearsal spaces.

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Rehearsal in progress

By Craig VanDerSchaegen
Posted Thursday, November 6

Killer Joe, The Caretaker, Twelfth Night, Sindibad, and The Horse, the Bird, the Monkey, and the Dancer.

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The conventional unconventional

By Alan M. Berks
Posted Monday, November 10

If everyone's input is equally valuable, how many alternative theater artists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

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Silhouettes

By Sonya Berlovitz
Posted Monday, November 10

Rehearsal is a place to experiment and fail—even for experienced costume designers. So, yes, you need to wear that plastic bag today.

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Inside outside

By Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater
Posted Thursday, November 13

Inside the process exactly as it happened of reworking Rooms of Disquiet at the Tofte Lake Center.

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Inside outside (the photos)

By V. Paul Virtucio
Posted Thursday, November 13

Photos from the rehearsal process.

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A rehearsal proposal

By Alan M. Berks
Posted Monday, November 17

Specialization bad. Company good. An argument for a return to a kind of ensemble theater, regardless of the type of work you like to do.

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Dumb as planned

By Chris Carlson
Posted Monday, November 17

The question is “How do you rehearse improv?” The answer: Bananas. Seriously. Improvisers make it art to not know what they’re doing.

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Another actor prepares

By John Middleton
Posted Thursday, November 20

A comprehensive, sequential warm-up from breath to yoga to centering—um, does anyone else feel a little numb right now?

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Eleven tips for rehearsal

By Sarah Gioia
Posted Thursday, November 20

Directing on a shoestring budget often requires greater organizational skills than seems fair. Here are eleven ways to handle it.

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I ♥ difficult actors

By Matt Sciple
Posted Monday, November 24

Have you met Anita Coddle or Ivanna Feelit? Though they may seem difficult, they keep theater lively.

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Los Angeles, take six

By Matthew Foster
Posted Monday, November 24

People don’t rehearse only for art. They rehearse for a night out.

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Letters to the editor: November 2008

By Minnesota Playlist readers
Posted Thursday, November 27

We encourage thoughtful comments, ideas, disagreements, and criticism. Write us. Here are some of the messages we’ve been sent so far.

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In defense of theater

By Matthew Foster
Posted Thursday, November 27

There's no good reason, but if you want to spell it R-E, go right ahead.

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Blogs

The last year

September 2010
Personal best

August 2010
Fringe points of view

July 2010
Gone fishin'

June 2010
Wild grass

May 2010
What's that sound?

April 2010
The healing arts

March 2010
All the world's a stage. . .

February 2010
Reel live

January 2010
Feeling Minnesota

December 2009
Jingle blogs

November 2009
Making art, work

October 2009
So very close. . .

Now playing

The Taming of the Shrew, Sept 11-26, 2010.  Theatre Pro Rata.

The Taming of the Shrew

See it this week at The Gremlin Theatre in Minneapolis. Presented by Theatre Pro Rata.

Theater talk

Featured Artist

Brianna Belland

Brianna Belland

Brianna Belland Choreographed Innuendos and Outuendos playing at Patrick's Cabaret this month.

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Commonweal: Required Reading - what would you add to this list of essential theatre reads? http://bit.ly/dneYjx #2amt #mnpl

sailert: Agree. RT @almeberks: #mnpl Scottsboro Boys was wow. Complicated, beautiful, affecting, intelligent, entertaining, disturbing. More please

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