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Visionaries, iconoclasts, shapeshifters: announcing a bold new performing arts season

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We have all been working very hard on putting together our next performing arts season for 2011/12, and are thrilled to share the details with you! This season features five premieres, six walker commissions, fresh global performance, and a  celebration of Merce Cunningham, as well as three mini-festivals: New Voices from the Congo, The Music of Vijay [...]

We have all been working very hard on putting together our next performing arts season for 2011/12, and are thrilled to share the details with you!

This season features five premieres, six walker commissions, fresh global performance, and a  celebration of Merce Cunningham, as well as three mini-festivals: New Voices from the Congo, The Music of Vijay Iyer, and our annual Out There festival of alternative performance. See the full season listed here.

Highlights from performing arts curator Philip Bither:

“More than ever, the coming season reflects our commitment to support the freshest, most timely works and ideas by commissioning boundary-pushing artists—from large-scale visions by master innovators such as choreographer Bill T. Jones (in his own kind of tribute to Cunningham/Cage) to dynamic new creations by mid-career artists Big Dance Theater, Young Jean Lee, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and including voices new to Minnesota and the Walker such as Rabih Mroué and Brooklyn indie folk heroes the Lisps. Fierce visionaries, iconoclasts, shapeshifters—the transnational and hyper-connected artists of the Walker’s 2011–2012 performing arts season boldly take us into the future.”

Want more in-depth, insider info?

We kick off our season this September with the annual insider preview: join Philip Bither in the McGuire Theater to hear about the details of each show, why it was selected, what you can expect, history on the artists, and behind-the-scenes info from the makers themselves. Afterward we chat in the Balcony Bar over a drink and share our enthusiasm for the upcoming projects. Good Times!

Click here to browse the full lineup on the Walker calendar.

Look for the full season brochure in July. Tickets for the 2011-2012 season go on sale July 19.

Puppet Cinema is free. Open all day Saturday and Th-F-Sa nights

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                          What is this key? Come to Puppet Cinema for Puppets this Saturday during gallery hours (11 AM-5 PM) to find out who’s who in Twin Cities puppets. The installation is also open one hour prior to all performances of The Devil and [...]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is this key? Come to Puppet Cinema for Puppets this Saturday during gallery hours (11 AM-5 PM) to find out who’s who in Twin Cities puppets. The installation is also open one hour prior to all performances of The Devil and Mister Punch (a Work-in-Progress) (tonight through Saturday).

Over 120 puppets made by over a dozen puppeteers have been installed in the McGuire Theater.  Watch a short film with the puppets or take advantage of the designated photo ops. When’s the next time you’ll get to watch a movie with a theater full of puppets?

Bedlam Theatre Director John Bueche explains how Puppet Cinema came to be:

All year the Walker’s been doing the Adventures in New Puppetry series. They approached Bedlam way back-a-when about co-presenting the final installment in the series: Improbable‘s Punch show. At first the answer was pretty straightforward – have it at BEDLAM – that would automatically wild it up, set the social tone for the art and the audience.

It was all set, but shazbang, then Bedlam goes and closes its venue last fall. The Walker said, hell, we STILL want you involved, wild it up, set a social tone OVER HERE.

The Devil and Mr. Punch it was felt, for numerous reasons, would be well served by a more intimate audience, to get you closer to the action, keep it tight. This drove the idea to seat the audience on the McGuire stage up close with the Mr Punch show. That left the CHAIRS in the McGuire empty. That’s a lot of space.

I started thinking about what a fantastic adventure it is to walk through the attic at Heart of the Beast, the basement at Open Eye, Mark Safford‘s living room or the garage of just about anyone from Barebones. And thinking about those empty seats. Julian C said, “hey, we’ve been groovin’ on the idea of puppets watching movies, you know, like, what KINDS of movies do puppets like to watch?”

[CLICK  HERE for a video PREVIEW of Puppet Cinema for Puppets with John Bueche]

It took an all star puppet crew to pull the install together. Alison Heimstead, currently heading up the Puppet Lab at HOBT, did the amazing work of inviting, curating, prodding, building the plan and envisioning the mix. Fellow Barebones co-Founders Julian McFaul and Mark Safford, with Chris Lutter of Puppet Farm and truly astounding puppet wrangler Duane Tougas rounded out the install team (along with Andrew Wagner and Kyle Waite from the Walker side.)

Next week, you’ll have to go back to enjoying puppets on stage or seeking out the storage and stashes in separate studios all over town. For now, enjoy Puppet Cinema for Puppets and celebrate the vast talent of the TC puppet scene.

 

A panoramic view of Rock the Garden

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It’s May 18, one month to go before the crowds assemble on the Walker’s field for Rock The Garden 2011. This image was made at last year’s event. Click here to download a QuickTime version. And here’s a link to last summer’s panoramic from the photo pit during Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ performance.

It’s May 18, one month to go before the crowds assemble on the Walker’s field for Rock The Garden 2011. This image was made at last year’s event.

Click here to download a QuickTime version. And here’s a link to last summer’s panoramic from the photo pit during Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ performance.

Peeking at Puppets in Process

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Most of the seats in the McGuire Theater are currently occupied by local puppets who have come to see a movie. Behind the screen they gaze upon, there is an entirely different set of puppets, envisioned and created by the British company Improbable Theatre and various collaborators from other corners of the world. This week-end, [...]

Most of the seats in the McGuire Theater are currently occupied by local puppets who have come to see a movie.

Behind the screen they gaze upon, there is an entirely different set of puppets, envisioned and created by the British company Improbable Theatre and various collaborators from other corners of the world. This week-end, the Walker will host the first showing of their latest work-in-progress The Devil and Mister Punch.

I had the good fortune to peek at a rehearsal for their newest theatrical adventure and I can’t wait to see more.

Mr. Punch speaks to Julian Crouch

Perhaps I should confess.  Even if I hadn’t had the opportunity to peruse the giant table of puppet heads, watch director Julian Crouch and performers work on a scene where Mr. Punch tosses his baby out the window and chat with costumers who were sewing charmingly tiny suits for puppets to wear, I would still be tremendously curious to see this piece.

Puppets from Amino

Improbable has a way of making stage magic from very simple materials.  70 Knotting Hill was the story of a haunted house created mostly with sticky tape.  In their piece Spirit, an ensemble of just three actors sometimes animated puppets with heads as absurd as bread, cameras or guns on the simplest of stages.  With Animo, Improbable recruited the help of local performers and improvised the entire show on the spot.

Spirit

They’ve also done work on a very large scale, Satyagraha was a collaboration that included opera singers and aerialists.

What’s exciting about Mr. Punch is that the audience gets to be close to the company (we’ll sit  in the space that is the McGuire stage) and we’ll watch a performance of a work that is not yet finished.  Though the team has been experimenting with ideas for over a year, the piece will undergo a more lengthy period of rehearsal in New York this summer.

And it seems fitting to get a glimpse of this particular piece as it is shaped.  Two of the main characters, Punch and Judy, have been featured in puppet shows since the mid-1600s, so they are part of a puppet conversation that has been happening for hundreds of years.  But on the hands of Improbable Theatre’s puppeteers we are sure to see them in a new light.

Have you ever wondered what movies puppets like to watch?

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We did too! So we asked Bedlam Theatre and more than a dozen local puppeteers to come hang out in the McGuire and create a wild puppet world populated by 150 of the Twin Cities’ weirdest, most arresting puppets, large and small. They’re all sitting in the theater (or hanging from the ceiling) and watching a mash-up of their [...]

We did too!

So we asked Bedlam Theatre and more than a dozen local puppeteers to come hang out in the McGuire and create a wild puppet world populated by 150 of the Twin Cities’ weirdest, most arresting puppets, large and small. They’re all sitting in the theater (or hanging from the ceiling) and watching a mash-up of their favorite puppet films, created by filmmaker Ragnar Freidank, a collaborator of Julian Crouch from the UK troupe Improbable.

We are calling it – Puppet Cinema for Puppets – An Unlikely Installation, and it’s presented in association with Improbable’s The Devil and Mister Punch, May 19-21.

Join us at two free open house events, where more than a dozen featured local puppet creators will be on hand to meet and talk all manner of puppet subjects.

When:

Thursday Evening May 19,  7-8pm

Saturday Afternoon May 21, 11am-5pm

Open prior to all the Devil and Mister Punch performances and for one full special day on Saturday May 21, 2011 during gallery hours (11am – 5pm).

Copresented with Bedlam Theatre and the National Performance Network (NPN).

WACTAC chats with Tunng

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  Marielle Foster of WACTAC recently interviewed Mike Lindsay, one of the founding members of the band Tunng, based out of London. Tunng will be performing tomorrow, Saturday May 7th at the McGuire Theater. W= WACTAC M= Mike Lindsay, one of the band’s founding members. W: The extremely reliable Wikipedia calls you “an experimental folk [...]

photo Paul Heartfield

 

Marielle Foster of WACTAC recently interviewed Mike Lindsay, one of the founding members of the band Tunng, based out of London. Tunng will be performing tomorrow, Saturday May 7th at the McGuire Theater.

W= WACTAC

M= Mike Lindsay, one of the band’s founding members.

W: The extremely reliable Wikipedia calls you “an experimental folk band.” What sort of things (musically) do you experiment with?

M: Well, it’s a very broad term “experimental” and it can mean different things to different people. I guess in the early Tunng days we experimented with glitch electronica and unusual percussion (sea shells , bears toe nails, bells, bits of wood, keys) and we still very much use these elements. However, now we have expanded our sound with live drums and vintage synths which to other bands are perhaps the more usual line up. To us and to me as a producer it felt more experimental to be using electric guitars and synths because we never really had before.

W: What would you classify as “epic folk disco”?

M: Actually my friend coined that term the first time he heard the new album and I kind of liked it. I think its fairly self-explanatory, although I’m not sure any other bands are taking up the genre.

W: Snooping on your cover art and website I couldn’t help but notice the prevalence of sea horses… Is that your band mascot/an inside joke?

M: Hmmm. Well it’s only on this album and a single I think. The album is called “And Then We Saw Land” so there’s a nautical theme running through the record. And sea horses are amazing!! Especially the child-bearing men.
W: Where do you find inspiration for lyrics, tunes, etc?

M: Places we’ve been, people we’ve met, journeys accomplished, relationships failed, books read, drinks drunk with escapades to follow in the early hours. Hmmm well at least that’s where I get inspiration for lyrics. Everyone has their own method. I find with the music side of things that sitting in an armchair late at night with the TV on whilst playing guitar gives me “chordal inspiration” and then a dark basement studio lets me jigsaw puzzle it all together.
W: Have you ever been to Minneapolis (or Minnesota) before?

M: Yes, we came in 2007

W: If so, what was your impression? (fun fact: we had snow on Tuesday morning and by 4 o’clock it was all gone and about 15 degrees Celsius. I’m sure by the time mid-May rolls around the April snow will not be bringing May woe, no worries.)

M: It was cold!! I think it was March, so I’m sure we got a fairly good deal weather-wise, but I remember seeing overground tunnels between buildings so that in the winter people don’t need to step  outside. Very cool. Also an amazing record shop with a huge sign saying “applause.” Actually my desktop photo was me outside that shop in an “arms in the air” pose.

W: Where is the most exotic/unusual place you have played?

M: Tiranna island in the Arctic circle in the far north of Norway. 24 hour sunlight…whale meat… bands playing in caves. Some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.

W: Any funny stories about audience members?

M: We just played in Melbourne Australia in February and there were two girls about 18 years old right at the front of the stage singing along to every song SOOO loudly and out of tune that we could barely hear ourselves. The rest of the audience hated them. Then they did a mini stage invasion which was a little scary because they were kind of crazy. But man, we never have stage invasions so hats off to the Aussie young hot crazies. Afterwards they wanted us to write something on their arms and they said, “whatever you write we will get tattooed”!! This was worrying because my writing looks like a 3 year olds. I wrote something crap like “happy tunng night” and drew a dodgy face of a woodcat. There’s no way they got that tattooed
(I hope).

W: People always talk about what they look for in performing bands. What do you look for in audiences?

M: Well I guess enthusiasm is always great, fast nodding heads, true smiles. I guess it’s a two way thing. If we are sounding sweet and really feeing the wonky epic folk disco, then so will an audience. So then they should be head nodding and bouncing/beaming back at us. Oh, and loud applause when we come on stage is always a welcome feeling.

W: What are you looking forward to about the Twin Cities?

M: Well hopefully our old sound engineer from the 2007 tour called Matt Freedman will come and say hi. He lives in Minneapolis.

W: Thank you!

Tunng play Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 pm in the McGuire Theater, with special guests Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt of Sea and Cake

Twin Cities National Dance Week photo 2011

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Fourth annual Twin Cities National Dance Week photo includes: April Sellers (choreographer, performer), Theresa Madaus (dance maker, performer), Tim Cameron (ideator, composer), Erin Thompson (dance educator), Edna Stevens (choreographer, performer), Lisa First (dance artist, administrator), Lisa Heliniak (dancer, administrator), Chris Holman (sometime performer), Sally Rousse (dance maker), Megan Mayer (choreographer, dance artist), Sarah LaRose-Holland (choreographer, [...]

Photo by Deborah Meyer, courtesy Walker Art Center


Fourth annual Twin Cities National Dance Week photo includes:

April Sellers (choreographer, performer), Theresa Madaus (dance maker, performer), Tim Cameron (ideator, composer), Erin Thompson (dance educator), Edna Stevens (choreographer, performer), Lisa First (dance artist, administrator), Lisa Heliniak (dancer, administrator), Chris Holman (sometime performer), Sally Rousse (dance maker), Megan Mayer (choreographer, dance artist), Sarah LaRose-Holland (choreographer, presenter), Laurie Van Wieren (dance artist), and Michèle Steinwald (curator).