BLOG: Challenge Accepted

Your Learning Center You may have read an article in the Pioneer Press recently that seeks to tell the difference between "theater" and "theatre". You may have noticed that the article came to no conclusion. You'll have to forgive the Press. You see, this is an article idea that someone in the media trots out every couple of years, especially when it's a slow news day. Minnesota Playlist even ran an article about it, though the author of that had somewhat of an opinion on the matter. Given that English is really pidgin created out of the illogical insistence that a Germanic language must somehow follow the rules of a Romance language with a heavy sprinkling of Greek just to mess things up, and given that our language didn't get around to nailing down that whole "spelling" thing until extremely recently, I'm going to have to go with what the Grammarist says: "In most contexts, there is no difference in meaning between theater and theatre." In a recent article about the demise of San Jose Rep, I talked about it being a LORT house like our own Guthrie. I always take it for granted that readers of this blog know what LORT is. If you don't know LORT, let Backstage explain it to you. You will come to know LORT in time, for LORT has always known you. LORT loves you. LORT has a special plan for your life. Last week, I linked to an article by Terry Teachout about Broadway producing nothing but what the author called "commodity musicals". This week, Peter J. Casey has a handy flowchart that will teach you how to avoid turning a beloved movie, play or book into a bland, uninspired commodity. And, if you must give the world another piano recital, you should give one like this eight-year-old did. End of lesson. And Now, the Challengers A while back, the Knight Foundation rolled out the Knight Arts Challenge for St. Paul. At stake is a big pot of money. The rules for the first round were simple: you have 100 words to describe your big art project idea and how it will benefit St. Paul. More than 850 individuals and organizations stepped up to the plate, and now the Knight Foundation has named its 69 finalists. It's a diverse list, with a lot of interesting projects from a wide range of arts and artists. I could spend several articles running down the whole list, and while I would love to talk about a "skateable art plaza", I'm pretty much limited to talking about the performing artists and venues that made the first cut: Some theater companies are looking to build out theatrical infrastructure. Nautilus Music-Theater is making plans for a new space in Lowertown. Bedlam Theatre wants to trick out its new Lowertown digs with a bank of fancy technical equipment that it will have on hand to lend to other local organizations. Dreamland Arts wants to convert its 40-seat space in the Midway area into a solar-powered theater. A few dance companies are in the running. Contempo Physical Dance wants to establish a new choreography residency for Brazilian or African contemporary dance. Ragamala Dance (whose founder received a Doris Duke Artist Award earlier this year) is planning on a public celebration of Navarathri. TU Dance wants to start an exchange of sorts with New World School of the Arts in Miami. On the film side of things, Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota proposes a fellowship competition for local screenwriters. St. Paul filmmaker and Jerome grantee Kang Vang wants make a film exploring the lives of first generation Hmong-Americans. There were also a few radio projects put forward. Kaotic Good Productions wants to put on a live radio drama about immigrants, while Silvia Pontaza is looking to make a community radio show and podcast for the Latino community. There were some interesting collaborations in the mix. Mu Performing Arts wants to create a show in collaboration with puppet and mask artist Masanari Kawahara based on the stories of immigrants. The Science Museum of Minnesota wants to explore race and racism through a museum exhibition paired with a series of theater-based workshops led by Penumbra Theatre. Some companies are getting out of the theater space entirely. The Winding Sheet Outfit wants to revive its Theatre of the Tiny Clandestines, a series of performances in small, mobile black tent, whose changing location must be discovered through a series of clues. Wonderlust Productions (recently created out of the merging of Alan Berks and Company and Footprints Collective) wants to create a site-specific performance at the Capitol building, based on the stories of the people who work there. A group called Curious Incident (about whom I have not been able to find any information; if you're out there, C.I. drop me a line and let me know who you are) wants to bring immersive arts events to St. Paul's unused nooks and crannies. That's already a lot of stuff, and I've already burned through most of my column space this week, but there's one more big idea on the Knight Arts board that I want to highlight: Minnesota Fringe Festival has its eye set on creating a winter counterpart to the great summer festival we've all come to know and love. Last night at the Fringe Festival Preview, I was able to scrounge up a little inside information on the bigger proposal. It looks like the Fringe is gunning for a smaller-scale winter fest, with around fifty shows in five venues. Locations are still up in the air, but a tentative date of January 2016 is in the works. If the Knight Foundation decides to fund this, St. Paul will no longer have to look on in envy as Minneapolis soaks up all the Fringe love, and the rest of us may have a reason to brave the January cold. Given the huge gravitational pull that the current summer festival already has, the beginning of a second festival may throw the rest of the Twin Cities theater world into a bit of chaos, but if this works, it will be well worth it. Southern Resurgent If you're in the theater or dance worlds in the Twin Cities, you're probably well aware of the Southern Theater. An old cinema house rescued from dilapidation and briefly occupied by the Guthrie, the Southern was one of the premiere dance venues in town. Management, financial and grant issues nearly killed the space in 2011, turning it from a producer of new work to a rental house with only one full-time employee. Since then, there have been hints that the Southern was turning a corner to something new. Now, the Southern is finally announcing what that new thing is. Beginning in 2015, 15 local theater companies will be in residence at the Southern, cooperating in its new ARTshare program. While residencies, even this many, are nothing new for a theater space, the interesting experiment embedded in this program is the membership model. Audience members are invited to pay one recurring monthly fee for unlimited access to the shows that will run in a repertory format. It's a pay structure that has literally never been tried in the theater world, and, if it works, it may rank up there with Mixed Blood's Radical Hospitality program as one of the best bets for the future of performing arts. Or it may fail. Who knows? It's all an experiment. At this point, what does the Southern have to lose? Opportunities! Before I go today, I would like to share some amazing opportunities for all the playwrights out there from McSweeney's.