Happy Summertime!
--------
HUGE improv theater recently announced they’re holding their first ever
headshot and resume day for actors. Here’s how the folks at Huge describe the event:
Casting agents ask us all the time if we can send them improvisors to audition for commercials! It’s fun work and great money, but you need a little bit of prep to get it. To serve this need, HUGE is offering its first-ever Headshot and Resume Day. Participants will receive: help generating their performance resume, a digital file of one or more headshot options, and coaching on acting in front of a camera. The day is designed to give performers a basic headshot and resume to get them started, and introduce them to some of the casting agents looking for them.
Headshot and resume day will be on July 7th. It’s been set-up for improvisors but is open to all.
You can contact Molly Chase for more info -
[email protected]
--------
Have you ever been an Art Hound?
Each week MPR news airs a segment called
Art Hounds wherein local members of the Minnesota arts community talk about upcoming arts events they’re excited about or intrigued by. It’s a wonderful way to let MPR listeners know about shows, concerts, art openings and other random cool stuff happening each week and it has extra impact because the recommendations come from other artists.
If you know about a cool upcoming art event don’t hesitate to submit it to the Molly Bloom and Chris Roberts who put the segment together each week. They really are committed to local arts and always try to cast a wide net.
Oh, one thing to keep in mind though. The only stipulation is that it can't be your own work or work you're professionally, financially or personally associated with in any way. But isn’t more fun to brag about someone else’s cool project anyway?
--------
Graydon Royce recently wrote a nice
article for the Star Tribune about small arts organizations in the Twin Cities being agile and strong in ways the big arts organizations can’t be. You should definitely read the whole article. Here’s a few things from the article worth highlighting:
"Signs of this shift are visible well beyond the Fringe:
- Mixed Blood Theatre has launched an experiment in free admission that is being watched nationally.
- The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, a big organization, is taking a small approach to reaching more audiences. After cutting prices to $10, the SPCO now has a season pass that lets patrons see unlimited concerts for $5 a month.
- Once-tiny Park Square Theatre in St. Paul has methodically bulked up, is building a new stage and could afford a major musical ("Ragtime") this season.
- The chamber ensemble Accordo has established itself, pulling its musicians from both the SPCO and the Minnesota Orchestra.
Money from the state Legacy Amendment has spread hundreds of grants under $100,000 to arts groups throughout Minnesota.
"
It’s worth noting that plenty of the artists responsible for the work done on these small scales were drawn to working in the Twin Cities because of the large arts institutions. It’s very likely that separating out work done by small arts groups from work done by large groups is more difficult than it appears. But as someone who works with and for some small arts organizations I like the idea that staying small makes it easier to do cool work that people want to see.
--------
State of the Arts recently
ran an article breaking down recently announced $1.3 million in grants funding from ArtPlace for four new cultural initiatives in the Twin Cities. The breakdown goes as follow:
Who: Native American Community Development Institute
What: Anpetu Was'te Cultural Arts Market
How Much: $435,000
Who: Intermedia Arts and the City of Minneapolis
What: Creative Citymaking
How Much: $325,000
Who: Public Art Saint Paul and the City of Saint Paul
What: City Artists In Residence
How Much: $300,000
Who: Pillsbury House + Theatre
What: Arts on Chicago
How Much: $250,000
Congrats to all the organizations and projects benefiting from this funding. And hooray for art in the Twin Cities. We continue to find ways to make other cities envious.
--------
Do you guys know about the Twin Cities Improv Festival?
This Thursday will mark the 6th year of the
TC Improv Festival. Looking at the line-up of acts the festival has certainly grown from a rag-tag group of almost entirely local acts to 50/50 mix of local audience favorites and highly sought out national touring improv groups.
There’s a lot of great groups to pick from on any night of the festival. Here’s a few groups I would suggest if you’re trying to just hit a few highlights.
On Friday you should go see
Messing with Gausas. This show features Chicago improv guru Susan Messing and TV and improv pro Christina Gausas. I don’t know what they’ll do but they’re amazing and hilarious performers so I’m sure they’ll be amazing and hilarious together.
On Saturday you should go see
Star Trek, the next improvisation. This is a local show that’s been playing off and on since early 2011. They perform improvised new episodes of Star Trek the next generation. It’s a cool concept performed by very experienced and talented improvisors.
On Sunday you should go see the Brave New Youth. It’s a group of teenagers who have been studying improvisation. Things will likely get weird and sweaty. What’s not to like about that?
The Twin Cities Improv Festival takes place at Huge theater in Minneapolis starting on Thursday, June 21st, and running through Sunday, June 24th.
--------
Just the other day Representative Betty McCollum hosted a visit from National Endowment for the Arts Chair Rocco Landesman at the History Theater in St Paul. Guess what Rocco had to say:
”The Twin Cities are poster children for what the arts need to be in every city across the country, with this kind of support and this kind of commitment," he said.
"It really is a special place for the theater which is my field, and the arts generally."
You can read
Euan Kerr’s coverage of the visit here
--------
Off-Leash Area’s Paul Herwig is offering theater performance and design
workshops.
Off-Leash Area co-director & award winning scenic designer Paul Herwig says the following about the upcoming workshops, “if you are looking for a way to develop your personal vision
within theatre & dance production, the creation of original work, or an emphasis on
physical & visual expression - then these workshops are for you.”
Workshop #1. Work with Materials - Thurs July 12 to Sun July 15
Physically identifying with materials used in design
Workshop #2: Work with Objects - Thurs July 19 to Sun July 22
How the stuff of performance can be the motor of performance
Workshop #3: Work with Painters & Sculptors - Thurs Aug 16 to Sun Aug 19
Borrowing from the artistic visions of painters & sculptors
Workshop #4: Work with Light - Thurs Aug 23 to Sun Aug 26
Light as a performance partner
All Workshops run Thursday through Sunday
Thursdays 6-9, Fridays 6-9, Saturdays 10-2, Sundays 10-4
Seems like an interesting way to develop the relationship between your the content and appearance of your work.
--------
Follow MN Playlist daily on twitter @
@minnesotaplays
And follow my sometimes funny, sometimes inappropriate tweets
@thatlevi
Hope you have a week full of art and summer fun!
-Levi
