Placemaking projects, MRAC workshops, props snafus and more. News of the new.

Greetings! -------- This past Saturday I went to an all-day Irrigate Arts workshop. Irrigate is a three year project led by artists focused on using the idea of Placemaking to enhancing and reflecting the cultural and economic benefits that artists bring to a community while making a positive impact along the in development Central Corridor Light Rail line in St Paul. There were about 35 artists at the workshop on Saturday who had the opportunity to learn about the Central Corridor as well as learn more about how to collaborate with local businesses and organizations. Additionally, artists who attend an Irrigate workshop are eligible to submit a project idea and get funding and support from the Irrigate arts team. I’m excited about the possibility of partnering on a project with non-arts organization and making something I maybe wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to make. One thing I observed in the workshop I attended was a pronounced lack of theater artists. There was maybe one or two other artists at the workshop who identified as theater or stage artists of some kind. I know there are a few theater artists who have worked on or are working on Irrigate projects but I would love to see way more theater people get involved. If you’d like to sign up for a workshop go here and fill out the super short form. And then theater in Minnesota will win! -------- MRAC workshops and panel Do you need money? The Minnesota Regional Arts Council is hosting a panel focused on putting together Fundraising Events on a Budget. The panel will feature Debra deNoyelles, from the Soap Factory, Jessica Peterson, from Yellow Tree theater, and Joel Rainville from the Ordway and Heart of the Beast theater. It will be moderated by MAP associate director Amy Wagner. The panel is being held on Wednesday, May 9th, from 3 to 6pm at the MRAC offices on University Avenue in St Paul. Additionally, MRAC is holding a workshop on developing an individual giving campaign on May 16th and another workshop on successful grant writing on May 22nd. These programs are all free but they ask that folks register in advance. So, what are you waiting for? Go get signed up and get the support you need to make your art. -------- I took in several non-traditional performances this past week that helped remind me what I love about live theater and what I love about Minnesota’s arts community. It’s come up before but I can’t say enough good things about the Chicago Avenue Project coming out of Pillsbury House theatre. The program is professional theater artists working with elementary school aged kids to create and stage live short plays. Sometimes the kids write the plays, sometimes the kids perform in the plays, but all the time the kids learn about every part of how theater is made and all the time amazing work shows up on stage. And I don’t mean amazing work in that condescending way where adults tell kids they did a great job because they managed to actually do something. The shows come out of this program have true heart, comedy, dramatic tension, metaphors, and leave audiences asking questions and having discussions. It’s all the things theater is supposed to do. Another program I was lucky enough to be an the audience for this past week was the Spring shows at Circus Juventas. For the uninitiated, Circus Juventas is performing arts youth circus school in St Paul. It also happens to be the largest youth circus arts school in the country. Not unlike the Chicago Avenue Project, on it’s face Circus Juventas just looks like an after-school and weekend educational program for kids. But in reality it’s an organization that offers kids an opportunity to work with professional circus artists in learning skills, strength, and self-confidence. And all of the students enrolled in programs at Circus Juvents participate in their shows. They learn the skills and then demonstrate them to a real audience. The shows start with three and four year olds walking on balance beams and doing sommersaults but quickly progresses to 10 year olds on a trapeze, kids riding unicycles, tiny three-tiered human pyramids, and an actual high-flying throw and catch trapeze act. It’s a show that would be terrific if done by adults and yet non one performing is older than 18 and haven’t yet reached their teens. -------- Recently, during a production of The Mill at the Playwrights Center, there was a moment when actor Eric Webster’s character, Case, was meant to angrily slam a glass beer bottle onto a wooden work-space. Instead of merely emphasizing frustration the beer bottle shattered, cutting Webster’s hand and splashing liquid onto nearby audience members. It didn’t really disrupt the scene, which was luckily not too far from intermission, but it got me thinking about other prop-related mishaps in shows. I asked for other stories of prop issues from the Minnesota Playlist Facebook community and got a wealth of fascinating responses. You can go to our Facebook wall to see all of them but here are a few snippets that seemed particular interesting or entertaining. Tory Stewart, in describing an actors bleeding hand as the result of an unexpected broken bottle said, “... his hand was dripping blood on the stage. If I wasn’t the Stage Manager and didn’t know it was a mistake, I might’ve thought it was a really cool directorial choice.” Ryan Lindberg, in describing actors having to handle a door that wouldn’t open onstage shared a familiar stage moment, “All line were said correctly but the wide-eyes subtext underneath it all was ‘what the fuck are we going to do?’ And dancer Tamara Ober shared the classic, ”There’s the good old split-the-pants and not wearing underwear bit.” I suppose if things didn’t go wrong we might all forget that theater was happening live. Or maybe we’d just get too comfortable and lose our edge? -------- In lieu of spending a lot of space here writing about how sad the death of Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, AKA MCA, has made me and explaining how it’s reminded my of the importance an artist can have in our lives and how easy it is to forget that influence until that artist dies I’m just going to share this video: http://youtu.be/qORYO0atB6g -------- That’s what I’ve got to highlight for now. If you’ve got something you think Minnesota Playlist should be paying attention to please send emails to [email protected] I hope your only mishaps this week are funny ones. -Levi