Performance news 12.06.10

Some local film news: Colin Covert of the Star Tribune discusses the short "Ana's Playground," detailing a child's experience during wartime that is, disconcertingly, shot almost entirely around the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Now it's hard to enjoy food at the Arcadia without wondering when the bombs are going to fall. he also mentions the locally lensed "The Convincer," starring Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin. No, it's not a sequel to "Little Miss Sunshine." If you haven't seen it, check out mn original's profile of Frank Theatre's Wendy Knox. Her dog doesn't seem especially interested in the interview. What's outside that window, boy? What is it? You can enjoy a broadcast of Kevin Kling's "Scarecrow on Fire: The Lost Notebooks of Oz" on Minnesota Public Radio, who commissioned the tale of Oz after Dorothy. This is the sort of thing Kling is especially good at -- some of you might remember he made his reputation locally with "The 7 Dwarfs," a play set 200 years after Snow White's story, when she has become a religious legend. Man, that play is due for a revival. While I don't intend to engage in self-promotion here, a new arts column has debuted in the Twin Cities, and I would be remiss in not mentioning it, even if I am the author. It's called "Max About Town" at MinnPost, and will cover all sorts of arts every weekday. Comp tickets -- are they worth a damn? Not according to Chad Bauman of Arts Marketing, who feel they devalue ticket prices and are more trouble than they are worth. Are there no uses for comps? Well, some, according to Bauman. Art critics should get them, for one. Whoo hoo! You've probably heard about the donnybrook at the National Portrait Gallery, which pulled an excerpt of a film by David Wojnarowicz after complaints from religious groups (and calls to pull federal funding). Thomas Cott of "You've Cott Mail" rounds up a number of recent stories about the subject.