Come and get your fresh new spaces!
In with the new
Congratulations, Twin Cities. You survived the ravages of Stagezilla. Scientists are still working to explain where this giant entity originated from, even as our brave public servants struggle to put out the fires left in the beast's destructive path. Even though they couldn't save all of the city, thank god for our jaegers and their dedicated pilots. It was close this time. Too close.
Wait… You're telling me Stagezilla isn't a knockoff kaiju? It's just a ridiculous name that the Star Tribune gave to this past weekend's theater openings because they declared without any research or empirical evidence that this was the busiest weekend ever for Twin Cities theater? Or did they declare it, since they used the old journalistic dodge of placing a question mark at the end of their headline? Is this really journalism? Damn you, Stagezilla, for being such an abstract monster! (Or, monster?)
This may have been a busy weekend for Twin Cities theater, but it may be getting even busier in the future. Just a few months ago in this very column I was again bemoaning the slow winnowing of small theater spaces here in the Twin Cities, and now, like a good journalist, I have to walk that back. (Well, actually, not like a journalist, since they're free to make unsubstantiated statements, slap question marks on the ends of them, and call it a day without so much as a correction or followup.) Apparently, we're in a growth trend for small spaces.
You may already know about the ongoing process to revive the Victoria Theater on University Avenue. That project unveiled architectural and design plans last fall and is now trying to close out the last six months of their 18-month purchase plan with the city land bank, with a fair amount of community support. But they're not the only ones renovating a defunct movie theater in The City That Likes to Get a Reasonable Night's Sleep.
Over on West 7th, local couple Ryan and Tina North recently completed the purchase of the old Garden Theatre, with plans to revive it as a 150-seat theater space, rechristened as North Garden Theater. The Norths are moving along at a pretty rapid clip, with a construction firm already hired and plans to have the space up and running later this year. You can follow along with them at the North Garden Facebook page.
Meanwhile, over in Northeast Minneapolis, the director of Word Sprout, Allison Broeren, and Fringe Festival favorites Mike Fotis and Joe Bozic have worked out an odd deal to create Strike Theater, a new space for improv, storytelling and spoken word. The odd part is that Strike is housed within the headquarters of the SEIU Local 26 labor union. (It's an especially appropriate name right now, since that union may be going on strike soon) Though, it becomes a bit less odd when you realize that Local 26's president, Javier Morillo is also a storyteller and has recently been on the stage at the Fringe Festival.
If you have a sharp command of Google Maps, you might have noticed that SEIU Local 26's offices are in the Thorp building in Northeast, right across the street from a certain old warehouse space that now stands empty. If you're not one of the many Twin Cities denizens who have never been to Northeast because you erroneously believe that it's just so far away, then you may know that this empty warehouse space used to house Nimbus Theatre. The Nimbus crew recently closed up shop after their landlord jacked up the rent, and they're moving… somewhere. The company has not yet announced their new location, but still has plans to be up and running by this summer.
Also in Northeast, a group called Minnsky's Theater successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign to open a Vaudeville/Circus space. According to their Kickstarter page they are "in final negotiations to take over an active theater in NE Minneapolis. It has 17'-19' ceilings, seating for 100-200, free parking and is already set up as a performance space." For the life of me, I can't think of an active theater in Northeast that actually matches these stats, unless they're thinking of Nimbus' former home. In that case, I hope they've got some builders in their crew, because Nimbus already stripped that space back to the bone.
Needless to say, all these projects are fun and exciting and will become huge sinkholes into which the artists involved pour their time, money, love and maybe a little blood, depending on how hands-on they get with the power tools, all for you. Will they last? Who knows? But at least this time we're in a growth trend instead of a dwindling spiral.
Fair representation
Last week on News and Notes, we talked about the ongoing copyright dispute over That'swhatshesaid, a mashup of all the lines spoken by female characters in the 11 most produced plays from the last American theater season. (If you don't feel like re-reading last week's article, then you can read American Theatre Magazine's summation.) When we last left this story, the artists behind the show were staring down the barrel of a second cease-and-desist order from publisher Samuel French, hilariously concerning The Whipping Man. This is hilarious, of course, because that play has no female characters and therefore has none of its lines used in That'swhatshesaid.
The story is getting less hilarious by the day, though. Dramatists Play Service, which handles publishing for some of the other plays referenced in That'swhatshesaid, jumped on the old C&D railroad and fired off their own threatening letter.
In the past, this would be the point at which the small, scrappy production at the sharp end of the cease and desist order would be bullied into submission. After all, the Fair Use section of US copyright law is open to some interpretation. Unfortunately, when a publisher with plenty of money and resources gets a bug up its butt over something, the individual artist fairs about as well as a rickety rowboat slamming headfirst into a Navy destroyer. After all, hashing this out in court takes money, and what lawyer wants to work for next-to-nothing to defend an artist with no money?
Well, they didn't find one that will work for next-to-nothing. Instead, they found one that will work for nothing. Specifically, they found Jeff Nelson, a partner at the law firm Miller, Nash, Graham & Dunn, who specializes in intellectual property cases and who has agreed to represent them pro bono. Nelson stepped up to defend That'swhatshesaid by cribbing Sam French and Dramatist Play Service's own tactic: He sent them cease-and-desist letters telling them to stop sending their cease-and-desist letters. He also helpfully included copies of the script (since it was pretty clear that at least the folks at Sam French hadn't read it before firing off threatening letters), politely informing them:
"Now that you’ve had the opportunity to review the script, you likely understand that no permission was sought because no permission is necessary."
So, this fight is on, and I am thrilled. I can't wait to see what shenanigans happen next.
In the meantime, if you'd like to help keep this fire stirred up, the folks behind That'swhatshesaid are still taking inquiries for touring opportunities.
Perspective
An article has been making the rounds through social media lately concerning the state of black performers in America and what it means when white culture tries to define for them what is authentically and acceptably "black". (No, it's not about Beyonce. Though, seriously, white people should probably just stop making comments about Beyonce.) It's an article from Vox by Chicago actor Bear Bellinger on how the industry treats him as a non-famous black man in a world where all the positions of power (director, casting director, artistic director) are held by well-meaning, but clueless, white men.
There's been a lot of talk about diversity in the performing arts lately, what with the recent Oscar nominations being so white you could bleach your clothes with them. But I think the story that best jives with Bellinger's account is the recent flap between actor Tonya Pinkins and the director of a production of Mother Courage transplanted to the Congo. I've (covered it here before) In the current state of things, an actor is, for the most part, expected to bow to the wishes of a director, whether or not the director has a good perspective on the story.
As Pinkins pointed out in a later editorial, she believes that actors in general, regardless of race or background, need to be allowed more agency in the creation of a show, since they are ultimately the ones who have to get on stage and tell the story.
(Although, to be fair, neither Pinkins nor the director of Mother Courage are from the Republic of Congo, so they're both kind of guilty of appropriating a story that's not theirs)
Sparked on by Pinkins' assertion that black perspectives should matter in theater, Michael Feingold dedicated his latest edition of the great series "Thinking About Theater" to the history of black performers in theater and how much of a struggle it has been for them to get recognition. (It's a long read: here's Part I and Part II.) It's a good delve into history and helps you better understand why we're still somehow lacking in more diverse directors and theater leaders. Also, I learned that the BBC was still airing a blackface minstrel show all the up until freaking 1978.
You can still get involved
You! You there! You are needed! You are special and wanted and your opinion counts most of all and you're just the best! (That oughtta satisfy the typical theater person's ego). That's why you should consider signing up for both of these things:
Join Minnesota Citizens for the Arts as we storm the state capitol and politely ask them to hold Legacy spending on the arts steady in the years to come. It's a very calm and considerate kind of political action, but it's still necessary.
(2) Minnesota State Theater Conference
Join the Minnesota Theater Alliance for the first ever statewide theater gathering. Applications for the conference are open, and the Alliance is also asking for submissions to be a presenter at the event. By the way, I'm on the steering committee for the conference, so I'll be helping to select the presenters. Impress me.
