This month's articles showcase a variety of performance-focused offerings, from improv to traditional repertory theater and dance, as well as an elegy for the soon-to-be-closed Jeune Lune Theater.
As the theater crowd around the state gears up for the Fringe Festival in August, it feels like there's a race on: all the other theater makers in the region rush to get their best offerings on stage and in front of audiences before they are immersed in the month-long Fringe extravaganza. So, this month, we're giving a special nod to theater and performance, from a survey of the state's talented, but under-appreciated Twin Cities improv performers to a profile of one of the dancers featured in SOLO (a showcase of each of the McKnight dance fellows performing work created especially for them). Later in the month, look for a review of the annual dance spectacle, Momentum, as well as critiques of the McKnight visual arts fellows' exhibition and the new production of The Man of la Mancha at Lanesboro's Commonweal Theater. Plus, keep your eyes peeled for a timely feature on the legacy of Jeune Lune in the Minnesota theater community, a micro-history of Franconia Sculpture Park penned by raconteur and writer Andy Sturdevant, as well as Julie Caniglia's review of the WPA artwork currently on display at the Weisman. New for the week of July 28, 2008: ESSAY: Otherworldly Realms in Your Own Backyard
For the lead feature in the most recent issue of access+ENGAGE, artist, raconteur, and gentleman scholar Andy Sturdevant offers a mini-history of one of Minnesota's most exciting and quietly revolutionary public art projects: Franconia Sculpture Park. (Not getting mnartists.org's twice monthly free e-mag? Click here to sign yourself up.) FEATURED COLLECTION: Franconia Sculpture Park
"Creating art and community:" Browse through a collection of some of the Minnesota artists working this year in Franconia Sculpture Park, as well as a sampling of artists who'll be collaborating with the park for special Franconia events, like the Iron Pour coming up August 2. VISUAL ART: Story's Triumph
Art critic Ann Klefstad reflects on the victorious return of story to art, a triumph evidenced by the narrative-rich work of the four McKnight Visual Arts Fellows on view at the MCAD Gallery through August 10. What Light: This Week's Poem: Sandy Beach
This week's winning What Light poem, Preface (a scavenged poem) by Sandy Beach, was selected by Lightsey Darst. Look for winning poems from the summer quarter of What Light to begin next week!
