Reasons for optimism, part 1

Last summer, I drove around some parts of Southern Minnesota, exploring outstate theater, and being honestly stunned by the varieties of interest and interesting creative and financial energies expended in the performing arts from Winona to St. Cloud, Willmar to Mankato and Rochester. This summer, Leah and I went North. Technically, I was just tagging along—actually, technically, I was the dog sitter while Leah met with theaters as part of her new job as Program Director of the Minnesota Theater Alliance—but regardless, last summer's conclusions were echoed and confirmed and echoed more. Sit yourself down and enjoy those articles here and here. But also know that in Fargo-Morehead, the seven year old Theater B is a major player in the sudden cultural growth of downtown Fargo—and not just by doing revivals of Sylvia but by trusting that there's an audience for more challenging work like Wintertime, Rabbit Hole, and Fat Pig. The founders of Theater B were tired of watching the most interesting people in Fargo-Morehead leave because the cities themselves weren't interesting enough, so they decided to help make it a place that people wouldn't want to leave. I'm going to stop typing for a second, so I can give them a round of applause. In Alexandria, the Alexandria Area Arts Association produced a production of Church Basement Ladies that was so popular that they added a Monday matinee performance that sold-out! 450 seats! On Monday! In Little Falls, the community theater has the most action-packed, advertisement stuffed season brochure I've ever seen, and the Fergus Falls Community Center is already moving forward on a rural arts conference for July 2011. The group of arts leaders Leah met with in St. Cloud said more intelligent things about audience development, cultural calendars, and marketing than I've heard in a long time. O, and, by the way, even in the midst of difficult economic times, the Paul Bunyan Playhouse, led by Zach Curtis, is having its best season ever, by far. (I sat with a packed house of 300 last Thursday night to see their production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile.) Their most successful season before this year? Last year. North or South, East or West, there are some wonderfully intelligent, creative groups of people making the performing arts outside of the Twin Cities—and a truly engaged audience coming to see a helluva lot of it from Church Basement Ladies to Rabbit Hole. We've got to get more coverage of this incredible arts community on this website. Is there a roving reporter outside the Cities? Send me an email. I'm very serious. We want to know more.