Theater

Local Choreographers Dustin Maxwell and Jessica Briggs come together to create a collaborative movement experience at the Bryant Lake Bowl May 2nd, 5th, and 9th. Dustin and Jessica aim to challenge one another in creating a stream of conscious experience that will satisfy a person’s desire to people watch, if people watching were happening on acid.

We all indulge in people watching, it’s why reality TV is such a huge hit, and artists, Dustin and Jessica are no exception. Intrigued by the process of observation, Dustin and Jessica are challenging themselves by creating an environment in which they invite the audience to observe layers of events and images that unfold before them. These abstract images come like streams of consciousness, influenced by ideas of disconnection and navigating togetherness. This new collaboration will not only satisfy the dark in us it will also bring an alternative view of dance.
Dustin Maxwell's work is unapologetic and uninhibited in its exploration of gender, sexuality, and spirituality. With striking, dark imagery and original movement he describes otherworldly events and creature-esque transformations. Like the great justice scale, Dustin’s art is weaved harmoniously, leaving the observer with a sense of having discovered something fierce and vulnerable; not only in him but also in themselves. Jessica Briggs often finds herself creating work that plays with mathematical patterning and is attracted to strong visual experiences. To her, art is a moment that shouldn’t repeat the same results, it is always observed as an ever changing experience. The intention is to be abstract but to also create an environment in which the audience feels a sense of familiarity while also a paradox reality.

Dustin Maxwell completed his BA in Dance from the University of Minnesota in 2008. He is a movement artist as well as a visual artist. In addition to creating his own performance work, he works with Aniccha Arts and has had the honor of working with artists such as Catherine Wright, Jessica Briggs, Ferenc Feher, Max Wirsing, and Time Track Productions. He studies Subbody Butoh with Kats D Fukasawa and spends much of his time studying and teaching Yoga.

Jessica Briggs received her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota in 2008. She has presented her work in both choreography and dance theory at Patrick’s Cabaret, the Lowry Lab Theater, 2008 CORD Conference at Hollins University, 9x22 Dance Lab, 2009 UCLA Dance Under Construction Conference, guest choreographer for the 2009 Zenon Scholarship Program, Foot in the Door 4, Red Eye Theater, Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, and the 2011 Choreographer’s Evening.

Wednesdays and Saturday May 2, 5 and 9 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

"Never hit a man with glasses; use a bat." Mark Sieve (Puke & Snot's PUKE) and Pat O'Brien (Saved By The Bell's MR.DEWEY) are The Odd Couple of coaches. Their sons' Little League team is in for a raucous season.

Thursdays and Fridays April 26, May 3, May 4, May 10 & May 11 at 7:00 pm (doors 6:00)

"Never hit a man with glasses; use a bat." Mark Sieve (Puke & Snot's PUKE) and Pat O'Brien (Saved By The Bell's MR.DEWEY) are The Odd Couple of coaches. Their sons' Little League team is in for a raucous season.

Thursdays and Fridays April 26, May 3, May 4, May 10 & May 11 at 7:00 pm (doors 6:00)

Local Choreographers Dustin Maxwell and Jessica Briggs come together to create a collaborative movement experience at the Bryant Lake Bowl May 2nd, 5th, and 9th. Dustin and Jessica aim to challenge one another in creating a stream of conscious experience that will satisfy a person’s desire to people watch, if people watching were happening on acid.

We all indulge in people watching, it’s why reality TV is such a huge hit, and artists, Dustin and Jessica are no exception. Intrigued by the process of observation, Dustin and Jessica are challenging themselves by creating an environment in which they invite the audience to observe layers of events and images that unfold before them. These abstract images come like streams of consciousness, influenced by ideas of disconnection and navigating togetherness. This new collaboration will not only satisfy the dark in us it will also bring an alternative view of dance.
Dustin Maxwell's work is unapologetic and uninhibited in its exploration of gender, sexuality, and spirituality. With striking, dark imagery and original movement he describes otherworldly events and creature-esque transformations. Like the great justice scale, Dustin’s art is weaved harmoniously, leaving the observer with a sense of having discovered something fierce and vulnerable; not only in him but also in themselves. Jessica Briggs often finds herself creating work that plays with mathematical patterning and is attracted to strong visual experiences. To her, art is a moment that shouldn’t repeat the same results, it is always observed as an ever changing experience. The intention is to be abstract but to also create an environment in which the audience feels a sense of familiarity while also a paradox reality.

Dustin Maxwell completed his BA in Dance from the University of Minnesota in 2008. He is a movement artist as well as a visual artist. In addition to creating his own performance work, he works with Aniccha Arts and has had the honor of working with artists such as Catherine Wright, Jessica Briggs, Ferenc Feher, Max Wirsing, and Time Track Productions. He studies Subbody Butoh with Kats D Fukasawa and spends much of his time studying and teaching Yoga.

Jessica Briggs received her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of Minnesota in 2008. She has presented her work in both choreography and dance theory at Patrick’s Cabaret, the Lowry Lab Theater, 2008 CORD Conference at Hollins University, 9x22 Dance Lab, 2009 UCLA Dance Under Construction Conference, guest choreographer for the 2009 Zenon Scholarship Program, Foot in the Door 4, Red Eye Theater, Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, and the 2011 Choreographer’s Evening.

Wednesdays and Saturday May 2, 5 and 9 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

Celebrate the release of Dave Olson’s second full-length album No October. Olson’s direct, conversational songwriting style blends with drummer and producer Richard Medek’s atmospheric aesthetic to create an album with a distinct personality. Join us for an evening of great live music with some very special guests.

Sunday May 6 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

The country boy meets the city girl or it is the big city
storyteller meets the country road singer? Either way, Jim May,
who grew up on an Illinois farm but now tells tales of travels
throughout the world, will share stories, poems, songs and
conversation with songbird and raconteur Claudia Schimdt in
an exploration of the “the very merry month of May”.

Tuesday May 8 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

"Never hit a man with glasses; use a bat." Mark Sieve (Puke & Snot's PUKE) and Pat O'Brien (Saved By The Bell's MR.DEWEY) are The Odd Couple of coaches. Their sons' Little League team is in for a raucous season.

Thursdays and Fridays April 26, May 3, May 4, May 10 & May 11 at 7:00 pm (doors 6:00)

"Never hit a man with glasses; use a bat." Mark Sieve (Puke & Snot's PUKE) and Pat O'Brien (Saved By The Bell's MR.DEWEY) are The Odd Couple of coaches. Their sons' Little League team is in for a raucous season.

Thursdays and Fridays April 26, May 3, May 4, May 10 & May 11 at 7:00 pm (doors 6:00)

Dylan Hicks and the Toughies celebrate the release of Hicks’s fourth album, “Dylan Hicks Sings Bolling Greene,” a companion piece to Hicks’s debut novel, “Boarded Windows,” to be released on May 15 by Coffee House Press. On the album Hicks performs songs written, in some elusive sense, by one of the novel’s secondary characters, the underappreciated country singer Bolling Greene. Hicks will be joined tonight by the menacing but essentially good-hearted Toughies: guitarist Terry Eason, bassist James Everest, and drummer Erik Mathison, as well as various guest singers and instrumentalists. The group will perform all of the new album, but in a jumbled and wildly effective order, as well as songs from Hicks’s releases of the ’90s and early ’00s.

“Boarded Windows” page: http://www.coffeehousepress.org/2012/01/boarded-windows/
Dylan Hicks website: www.dylanhicks.com
“West Texas Winds” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HO2LXv7duY
“City Lights” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9G5OWk6cTE&feature=related

Duluth singer-songwriter and former Alrights frontman Toby Thomas Churchill has teamed up with ex- Roma di Luna rhythm section The Grave Trio to perform songs from his acclaimed debut CD "Death". The record is a brilliant concept album, and Churchill's clear, soulful voice delivers his witty, honest lyrics in a dance around the darkness of mortality with quirky, catchy pop-song genius.

http://www.tobythomaschurchill.com/

http://www.tobythomaschurchill.bandcamp.com/

Saturday May 12 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

YesLets Collective presents a multi-media event to explore how we use sounds, words, and movement to convey the stories that shape our shared experiences. We’ve asked unconventional storytellers to tell 7 turning points in 7 minutes from 7 diverse perspectives. You’ll have a chance to craft your own story during this interactive event with puppeteers, visual artists, musicians and more.

Sunday May 13 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

The Bell Museum's Café Scientifique is a happy hour exchange of ideas about science, environment, and popular culture featuring experts from a variety of fields on diverse and often provocative topics. For more information visit www.bellmuseum.org

May topic: Fire Ecology of the Northern Forest

Tuesday May 15 at 7:00 pm (6:00 doors)

Everyone's favorite cat lady returns with a hilariously delightful "one-woman show" like no other…Live on stage! Freshly traumatized from her appearance on "America's Got Talent!" Mrs. Smith is back with a jazzy, snazzy evening of story and song about the heart-stopping highs and perilous lows of fame, fortune and superstardom. In what is sure to be a searing tour-de-force, Mrs. Smith and her famous “Broadway Boys” will delve deep into her soul (and the American songbook) to put her bizarre and indelible stamp on Great White Way favorites like "Cabaret," "There's No Business Like Show Business," and "The Ladies Who Lunch."

Creator David Hanbury has enlisted the help of innovative director/producer Andrew Rasmussen, whose productions of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (starring Don Shelby), RENT and THE WILD PARTY have put his production company, Cardinal Theatricals, on the Twin Cities theatrical map.

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays May 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

Join critically acclaimed comedian Joseph Scrimshaw (“the Cirque Du Soleil of Minneapolis Comedy” – The Onion) for the live recording of his new podcast, OBSESSED. Special guests Bill Corbett, Sam Landman, and Zoe Benston join Joseph for a special Star Wars themed episode!

Website address: http://jokingenvelope.com/live

Friday May 18 at 10:00pm (doors 9:30)

After selling-out the Bryant-Lake-Bowl in Feb, and with all the requests to do it again from people who were turned away at the door, we figured it would be INCONCEIVABLE not to do this again!

If you missed it the first time, here's your chance to see it! If you loved it the first time, you can love it again and we'd love to see you all.

Missing it again would be INCONCEIVABLE!

The Princess Bride-A Drinking Game-The Inconceivable Return-Minnesota Cast!

Hosted and Narrated by Heather Meyer!

Buttercup/The Princess Bride-Amy Bouthilette
Wesley-Topher Pirkl
Inigo Montoya-Matt Saxe
Fezzik-David Laux
Vizzini, the Impressive Clergyman, Brute-Nick Decker
Prince Humperdinck-James Napoleon Stone
Count Rugen-Charles Hubbell
Mother, Booing Lady, Valerie, and The Queen-
The Kid, Albino, and Yellin-Matt Kelly

With Patrick O'Brien (Mr. Dewey from Saved by the Bell and Saved by the Bell LIVE at the BLB, Pleasantville, Forget Paris, Intolerable Cruelty, and Minnesota Fringe Festival hit Underneath the Lintel) as The Grandfather, The King, and Miracle Max!

Charles Hubbell was seen on the stage of The Guthrie in "Charleys Aunt", and has performed around the Cities at The Gremlin-"The Homecoming", Walking Shadow-Dracula in "Drakul", and more. Matt Saxe has appeared in the films "Jarhead", "Pearl Harbor" and the CBS soap opera "The Bold and The Beautiful" and theatres around the Cities in, "Macbeth" with Theatre Coup D'etat, "Wash My Sin Away" with Theatre Terra Firma, and The Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Presented by Shadow Horse Productions in association with Embassy Jack. Screenplay by William Goldman.

Follow A DRINKING GAME: Minnesota on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adrinkinggamemn

Shadow Horse Theatre: http://www.shadowhorsetheatre.com/

The movie will NOT be shown. This is a staged reading of the classic script by an awesome cast. For those of you who have asked. :-)

Coming June 29th to the Bryant Lake Bowl-A DRINKING GAME: Minnesota presents BACK TO THE FUTURE! Check out the BLB website for more info. Thanks!

Saturday May 19 at 9:30 pm (doors 9:00)

Buddha and a Beer is the culmination of conversations in what is affectionately known as the Guru
Lounge. A simple bench in a Minneapolis park sparked five years of questioning, researching and
hacking the inner workings of the mind/body/spirit koan. Standing on the shoulders of not only
the obvious pioneers of philosophy, we find every person a mirror that provides us with the
reflection necessary to find a peace in the way life flows. It allows us to wean ourselves off our
historical programming via others. We learn to use the tools of reflection to operate the body-
machine with consciousness and intent.
The producers of Buddha and a Beer believe there is more to talk about than what is being talked
about. Cut through the noise of our current society and you find there are questions, answers and
an ultimate peace. The answers aren't always apparent. The peace isn't always, either. We learn
there are tools one can use to dance around these questions. It leaves the seeker with more
peace and more understanding. The experience becomes ecstatic. Electric.
Buddha and a Beer provides an interview forum for discussion, music and suds with hosts Jim
Walsh and Pete Christensen.

5/14- Topic: Energy Forum Guest: Rhonda Battisto Musical Guest: KO WordRhyme
5/21- Topic: Baggage of Pain Forum Guest: Beth Barron Musical Guest: Venus DeMars
5/28- The Bi-Polar Label Forum Guest: Nick Hanson Musical Guest: TBD
6/11- Nirvana in the City Forum Guest: Jay Walljasper Musical Guest: Marc Anderson
6/18- Topic: TBD Forum Guest: TBD Musical Guest: TBD
6/25- Topic: TBD Forum Guest: TBD Musical Guest: TBD

www.buddhaandabeer.com

Mondays May 14, 21, 28 and 28 June 11, 18 and 25 at 7:00pm (doors 6:00)

Named for the modest dimensions of the BLB stage, this exciting dance showcase features unfettered dance exploration. A discussion moderated by choreographer/curator Laurie Van Wieren follows each piece, giving audience and choreographer alike the opportunity to react and explore the work together.

May choreographers:
Anna Shogren
Eli Ebinnga
Chris Holman

Wednesday May 23 at 8:00 pm (7:00 doors)

In his first apartment in the new city, Brad Barr shared an adjoining wall with Sarah Pagé, a classically trained harpist from Montreal with a propensity for the experimental. As tender and visceral as she is virtuosic, her melodies would seep through the cracks of the wall and into the music Brad was writing. From this nebulous relationship, a friendship developed and the brothers, with Sarah, began recording and performing around Montreal. Soon, their friend and multi-instrumentalist Andres Vial was brought in to lend his wide array of expertise to the outfit, playing keyboards, bass, vibes, percussion, and singing. They called themselves The Barr Brothers. With Brad's songs setting the context for the agile imaginations of the other musicians, a unique sound was born, one reliant on interwoven string arrangements, wide open spaces, and a multitude of musical traditions.

Recorded in their makeshift studio in an old boiler room at the foot of Mount Royal, the ten song album “The Barr Brothers” was written over the course of the brother's time in a city full of strangers, lovers, old ghosts and new friends. Along with Sarah Pagé (harp) and Andrés Vial (Bass/Keys/Percussions/Vocals), the record also features Miles Perkin (Lhasa DeSela), Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk), Nathan Moore, Jocie Adams (The Low Anthem), Elvis Perkins and Emma Baxter. It reads like a dusty journal of a traveler at the crossroads of good and evil. Hushed Americana lonesome and future-primitive delta blues clear the path for West African polyrhythms and classical motifs. Its all tied together by the commitment to the sources of the styles and their inherent connections to each other.

Thursday May 24 at 10:00pm (doors 9:30)

Do you remember your prom? Of course you do! It was your first chance to overspend on a dress uglier than any bridesmaids dress you would ever wear. You had your first taste of spiked punch! You slow danced to songs like "Almost Paradise!" Relive one of the most demeaning parts of your youth with Vilification Tennis! It'll be cathartic. We promise!

Friday and Saturday May 25 and 26 at 10:00pm (doors 9:30)

Do you remember your prom? Of course you do! It was your first chance to overspend on a dress uglier than any bridesmaids dress you would ever wear. You had your first taste of spiked punch! You slow danced to songs like "Almost Paradise!" Relive one of the most demeaning parts of your youth with Vilification Tennis! It'll be cathartic. We promise!

Friday and Saturday May 25 and 26 at 10:00pm (doors 9:30)

Pleasure Rebel is a new seasonal performance series featuring artists working in dance, performance art and video, from the Twin Cities and beyond. Come see artists challenge the boundaries of queer art forms.

Presenting:
anemone
the black woman performance artist between windflower and sea.
moving through the tinny, post-metallic, into facing desire.
succulent thinking. an attempt at body. pleasure rebel how . . .

Gabrielle Civil is a black woman poet, conceptual and performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. Over the last decade, she has premiered over twenty original performance art works in the United States (Minneapolis, Chicago, NY), The Gambia, Puerto Rico and Mexico. The aim of her work is to open up space.

The Default Project practices the art of spectacle through aerobic repetition and synchronized movement. Their efforts often slip into absurdity, showboating and, frankly, something more comfortable. In Tight Moves, The Default Project performs variations on resistance and vulnerability through shadow boxing and exhausted hugging.

What happens when the body is called impossible? Moe Lionel’s new work, Posthumous, brews in the heartache and joy of nursing school physical assessments, the physics of tonicity, and letters he wishes he could (not) send. Moe Lionel is a writer and performance artist whose work focuses on the intersections between genealogies, disease, trauma, (queer) families, and the body. He yearns for and in moments, finds hope for a world where it is easier to breathe.

Photo by: Studio McCutch! a Patrick McCutchan studio

Wednesday May 30 at 8:00pm (doors 7:00)