Is there a theater boom happening in the Twin Cities

Here’s an important note from Minnesota Playlist Editor Alan Berks- "According to various sources, on Saturday, Feb 25, there were sold out crowds at--at least--Theatre Latte Da, Mixed Blood Theatre, Dreamland Arts, Walking Shadow Theatre Company, ShadowPlay Theatre (at the Theatre Garage), Pillsbury House Theatre, Illusion theater, and Open Eye Figure Theatre. Since the beginning of the year, we've heard about multiple sold out crowds at those theatres plus--at least--Park Square Theatre, History Theatre, Workhaus Collective, TigerLion Arts, and Urban Samarai. Normally, you might dismiss one or two sold-out shows as a result of tiny house size but if you add all those theaters together it becomes much harder to dismiss. Assuming people are still going to the Guthrie, that is an awful lot of additional people who seem to be traveling all over the city for theater. What is the explanation? A) The rise of social media makes word-of-mouth marketing so much more effective. B) Professionalization of arts administration has made arts marketing better across the board. C) The Guthrie deserves credit for hosting many of these companies in the Dowling Studio and thereby introducing a wider theater-going public to more options. D) Ten years of talking about what great theater towns the Twin Cities are has finally raised the curiosity of the public. E) Free Night of Theater deserves credit for allowing thousands of theater-goers to take their first risks at smaller companies for free. F) The proliferation of entertainment options in our culture has not destroyed the audience for theater but enhanced it. People want to go out and do stuff and the more things that get them out, the more risks everyone is willing to take more often. G) It's a mild winter. H) The shows themselves are attractive to audiences! I) All of the above J) Or, this is much ado about nothing. Coincidental. Nothing to see here. No big deal. Or K) some other explanation we haven't thought of yet. What's your theory?" Thanks, Alan --- Do you know Mixed Blood Producer in Residence Jamil Jude? He’s only been in the Twin Cities for a short while but he seems to be getting a lot of interesting things going. He wants you to know about the upcoming Free For(u)m Monday evening at Mixed Blood. This is an effort to move conversations that have mostly been happening online into real life. Here’s a note in Jamil’s own words: Twin Cities Community, My name is Jamil Jude and I am reaching out to you, asking you to participate in an upcoming conversation we’re hosting at Mixed Blood Theatre Company. On Monday, February 27, at 7:30 PM Mixed Blood will have an Industry Night performance of our production of Crashing the Party. I’d like to have the conversation immediately following the production (roughly 9:00PM). For the conversation, I’d like to use the following ideas as jumping off points:

• What makes Twin Cities Theatre unique?
• What is the state of Twin Cities Theatre? Collaborative? Competitive? What should it be?
• Are Twin Cities artists working? Solely in local markets or both locally and nationally?
• What type of work are we making? Classics? New Plays? Devised work?
• What does the future of Twin Cities Theatre look like?

It’s my hope that this conversation will connect more Twin Cities artists to one another, celebrate the success of our community, highlight some areas in which we can improve, and fill us all with the passion to be the best community we can be. In light of the recent posts and comments on HowlRound’s blog the immediacy of this conversation cannot be denied. Will you join in? Please feel free to contact me ([email protected] or 850-443-6039) if you have any questions. I really hope that you can be part of this conversation. Talk to you soon, Jamil Jude Here’s a place on the internet for more details and info: Mixed Blood Free Forums I hope a lot of people can come out and participate on Monday. --- Former Managing Director of the Guthrie Theater Donald Schoenbaum has died Here’s his obituary from the Star Tribune: Don Schoenbaum obituary Here’s the Guthrie press release via State of the Arts: State of the Arts Schoenbaum has been called a theater hero. Do you have any theater heros? --- The New Play in town I’d like to highlight this week is Buzzer, which is on stage now through March 18th at the Pillsbury House theatre. ’Buzzer’ details Here’s part of the show description from the Pillsbury House website: “African-American attorney Jackson is determined to show off his success. When he returns to the mean streets of his youth with his white girlfriend and best friend, he discovers a changing neighborhood where a combustible mixture of race, sex, and class is simmering just below the surface.” What appeals to me about Buzzer is not only is it a world premier of a new play produced in the Twin Cities but its also a dark comedy addressing issues of race and class that according to some reviews and a bit of word on the street doesn’t suck. It’s gotten positive reviews from both the Star Tribune and TC Daily Planet. And according to the Pillsbury House twitter feed they’ve been selling a lot of tickets to the show. I haven’t seen Buzzer yet, but plan to next weekend. If you know of a New Play being produced in Minnesota be sure to let me know. [email protected] --- Arts Advocacy Day is this Wednesday, February 29th. This is a great opportunity to show how much artists care about the community they are a part of. A few years back Sheila Smith of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts wrote a letter to theater professionals about why they should participate in Arts Advocacy. What she wrote still holds true. Go give it a read. Sheila Smith with a message from the people who brought you the legacy amendment. Got here to get more info about Arts Advocacy and to sign up Do it! --- If there are other great conversations happening about theater and art please point me in the right direction. So I can eavesdrop and report back to everyone else. Hope you have a sellout week -Levi