By Naomi Crocker
With the feud between winter and spring that has been taking place these past few weeks, one cannot help but consider transitions, conflict, and various other contrasting concepts. Fittingly, the events featured in this week’s Arts MN will help extend your thoughts on such notions by forcing you to ponder the changing need for technology, the refugee experience, the nature of progress, and in general, the old versus the new.
Refugee Nation
Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN // April 10–13, 17–20 // Thursdays–Saturdays, 8:00pm & Sundays, 2:30pm
Refugee Nation—the joint production between Intermedia Arts and TeAda Productions that runs weekends now through April 20—is about a young generation seeking to understand their history while immersed in a community healing from the traumas of war. Although the story is built specifically off of stories from Laotian refugees in the United States, the play manages to touch upon a broader refugee experience and seeks to unite “people from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and histories relating the ideas of change, loss, struggle, healing, and the unrelenting strength of the human spirit.” Tickets are $12 in advance, as well as for students and seniors, but can also be purchased at the door for $15. You can find more information about purchasing tickets online here.
Beer bonus: Consider making the 12 minute walk to the newly opened Bone Yard on Hennepin Avenue. The restaurant, which specialized in elevated Southern cooking, features inventive cocktails, a huge selection of STRAIGHT bourbons and whiskeys, as well as a satisfying tap list.
Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders
Harriet Brewing Tap Room, Minneapolis // Tuesday, April 8, 8:00pm
Considering this week’s theme of transitions, the upcoming Harriet Brewing Tap Room show featuring Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders fits right in. Grab your favorite Harriet beer and listen as the band seamlessly transitions between blues, country, swing, rock ‘n’ roll, and even surf all in an effort to transform the old into something new—in Crankshaft’s case, an original style termed “pork neck.” Although the event is free (the beer, obviously, is not), arrive early to claim a table since seating in the tap room is limited.
Beer bonus: The event takes place at the Harriet Brewing tap room, so if you can’t find a beer at the venue, it’s probably because you’re wearing a blindfold. In addition, the tap room will feature the A La Plancha food truck on Tuesday night. Yum.
Dead Man’s Cell Phone
Theatre in the Round, 245 Cedar Avenue. Minneapolis //April 11–April 13 // Friday–Saturday, 8:00pm & Sunday, 2:00pm
Winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play of the Year, and directed by Sarah Ruhl, Dead Man’s Cell Phone will run through April 13 at Theatre in the Round. The story follows Jean, whose solitary meal is interrupted one afternoon by the continued ringing of a nearby diner’s cell phone. Upon answering, Jean is understandably surprised to find herself in a conversation with the deceased owner of the cell phone (who incidentally has died over his bowl of soup). What ensures is a journey of self-discovery for both Jean and the audience. Theatre in the Round is the perfect space for featuring intimate yet subtle plays of self-discovery such as Dead Man’s Cell Phone since the actors are unable to turn away from an audience that is seated aROUND them. Highly recommended. Although tickets are $22, there are also student ($15) and senior ($18) discounts during Friday and Sunday shows.
Beer bonus: Republic Seven Corners is located just up the block and has happy hours both from 4:00–6:00pm and from 10:00pm–12:00am. This week’s news—Republic is one of the first Twin Cities bars to carry Evil Twin brews (three rotating Evil Twin brews to be exact), which recently became available in Minnesota.
Danish Dancing at Danebo
Danish American Center, 3030 West River Parkway South, Minneapolis // Friday, April 11, 7:00–9:00pm
To gear up for the Danish (Evil Twin) craft beers you’ll be drinking following this weekend’s performances of Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Theatre in the Round, consider making the trek down to Minneapolis’ Danish American Center to learn traditional Danish folk dancing. Yes, folk dancing. The event is free, beginners are encouraged, and you are welcome to come alone or with a partner. Given the demographics of the regular clientele, you’re sure to hear an informative anecdote or two about Denmark, the history of folk dance, or about the group of young people who convened in 1924 to discuss the building of the Danebo building itself. If you’re a history buff, a Scandinavia fanatic, or want to learn to dance, albeit without the risks involved with diving headfirst into a style such as breakdancing, this event is not to be missed.
Beer bonus: As mentioned, you’ll probably be drinking Evil Twin beers at Republic sometime this weekend, but you should also consider picking up some Danish Mikkeller beers while you’re at it (we recommend Zipp’s Liquors, which is a 5 minute drive from the Danish American Center). This way you can properly discuss the feud that is currently ensuing between the twin brothers who run the respective breweries.
American Craft Council St. Paul Show
St. Paul RiverCentre, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd, Saint Paul // April 11–13 // Friday, 10:00am–8:00pm, Saturday, 10:00am–6:00pm & Sunday, 11:00am–5:00pm
From Friday, April 11–Sunday, April 13, the St. Paul RiverCentre will host the annual St. Paul American Craft Council show. The show will feature the work of over 225 craftsmen and women (all of whose work will be for sale), as well as related lectures and symposia for both budding artisans and appreciators of fine craft. If you have even the slightest inkling of interest in pottery, textiles, contemporary jewelry, painting, woodworking, or metalsmithing, come let this event inspire you.
Beer bonus: The Beer Dabbler is bringing a new kind of craft to the American Craft Council show—craft beer. With the help of Forage Modern Workshop and Brownsmith Restoration, The Beer Dabbler will host nine Minnesota craft breweries and brewpubs in specially designed tasting room. Enjoy samples from Bang Brewing, Bent Paddle Brewing, Blacklist Brewing, Dangerous Man Brewing, Fitger’s Brewhouse, Fulton Brewing, Hayes Public House, Indeed Brewing, and Sociable Cider Werks—plus, meet and have conversations with the brewers themselves as they pour their liquid craft.
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