thern
@ The Sou
WINTER 2017
Friends, Welcome to 2017 at The Southern! This year’s season is chock full of incredible art and entertainment. The Southern brings dance, theatre, and music to the stage in a unique blend of genres and styles - all in our intimate 165 seat house. There’s no better space in the Twin Cities to experience the arts. With the help of the wonderful presenting companies, The Southern continues to refine the quality of our programming -- and we’re so excited about what we have in store! Nearly all of the art on our stage is local, created by artists who live and work in the Twin Cities. From playwrights to choreographers, dancers to actors, directors to designers, the faces and voices of The Southern are made up of Twin Cities denizens who bring their stories to our stage to share with you. Our partnership with Altered Esthetics continues into 2017, bringing local visual arts to The Southern as well. Thanks to the ARTshare program, members are taking advantage of this diverse array of performances whenever they want, as many times as they want. At The Southern we believe that seeing the performing arts should be as simple as showing up. If you aren’t a member yet. we encourage you to consider adding yourself to the member community - you can find out more about becoming an ARTshare member at southerntheater.org, at the kiosk in the lobby, or by speaking with any Southern staff member or employee. We hope you enjoy our 2017 season: whether you see a single show from your favorite company or try out a plethora of new work from our roster with an ARTshare membership. There is so much to enjoy! Warmly yours, Southern Theater Board & Staff
J F M
WINTER
Ja n Fe b Mar 20 17
Main S tre e t Sch o o l o f P e r f orm i n g Art s M y t h & Lor e Jan 19—21
P h i p p s Da n ce Th e at e r B l ack b i r d
Jan 26—28
Labrador
A L if e-Sized Dia logue Wi t h T h e M oon Feb 2—4
L a u r i e V an W i e ren S ev en
Feb 10 & 11
F ou r Hu mors
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People Feb 17—25
SHOW TIMES
Tues—Fri • 7:30pm
Sat • 2pm & 7:30pm Sun • 7:30pm
Sa v a ge Um brel l a Th e Awak eni ng Mar 3—11
L i v e Act i on S e t U ns et
Mar 21—26
T r a n s a t l a n t i c Love A ffai r Mar 31—Apr 8
John Mark Co-Director
Aeysha Kinnunen Co-Director
the directors John Mark is a Choreographer, Art Director, and Educator in the Twin Cities. In addition to choreographing for Lizzo, Har Mar Superstar, and Tickle Torture, John Mark is the Arts-Editor-at-Large for Lavender Magazine and regularly produces print & media content for Ignite Models, Hotrocity, and the Main Street School of Performing Arts. To learn more about John Mark visit www.johnmarkcreative.com Aeysha Kinnunen is an artist, actor, and storyteller in Minneapolis. Her work is centered around imaginative, task-oriented play. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Guthrie Actor Training Program, Aeysha has performed with TigerLion Arts, The Guthrie, Theater Latteda, Walking Shadow Theater, Park Square Theater, and The History Theater. In addition to her work as an actor, Aeysha writes, refurbishes clothing, and makes toys. msspahs.org
Main Street School of Performing Arts
the show
Myth & Lore Jan 19—21 History’s greatest legends come alive in this multi-disciplinary evening of theatre and dance, featuring original work by John Mark and Aeysha Kinnunen. Audience members can expect an evening of highly physical work, breathing new life into ancient stories. Main Street School of Performing Arts is a tuition-free performing arts charter high school located in Hopkins, Minnesota.
Main Street School of Performing Arts
@msspahs
@msspahs
Phipps Dance Theater Blackbird
the show
Jan 26—29 Blackbird will feature the work of one of the most influential Jazz and Musical Theater choreographers in dance history, Bob Fosse. Original choreography, remounted and performed by The Phipps Dance Theater will showcase famous pieces in a three act production featuring: Chicago’s: All That Jazz”, “Cell Block Tango,” “We Both Reached for the Gun,” “Nowadays,” and “Hot Honey Rag;” Damn Yankee’s: “Whatever Lola Wants,” “Who’s Got the Pain,” and “Shoeless Joe;” and from Fosse the musical: “Bye, Bye Blackbird, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Dancin’ in the Dark,” and “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Audiences will be amazed by the intricate work, attention to detail, original choreography, and all the amazing show stopping aspects of this production.
Mackenzie Lewis Director
the company Phipps Dance Theater is based out of The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin. The company is made up of fourteen dancers, performers, actors, and vocalists from Hudson, WI and the Twin Cities area: Chris Adam, Talya Dozois, Kathy Hanson, Melissa Huber, Doug Melroe, Christina Leines, Kevin Leines, Greta Lewis, Mackenzie Lewis, Bre Poliak, Kyra Scanlan, Elly Stahlke, Regan Saunders and Ed Williams. The Phipps Dance Theater prides themselves as being a well rounded dance and theater company bringing in dancers and performers with a wide variety of training and talents, they are known for their re-creation and re-staging of classic Jazz and Musical Theater work, as well as original work by Artistic Director Mackenzie Lewis and choreographers Melissa Huber and Christina Leines. Artistic Director, Mackenzie Lewis has been directing the company for six seasons and is thrilled to bring The Phipps Dance Theater to the Twin Cities. thephipps.org
LABRADOR A Ne w M a k e r s T h e a t e r a n d T r a i n i n g P r o g r a m at The Southern Theater LABRADOR is a new performance training and apprenticeship program for young artists. Based at The Southern Theater and focused on the creation of new work, LABRADOR fosters the performers, directors and makers of tomorrow. In collaboration with The Southern Theater and Jon Ferguson.
@labrador.southern http://labradorsouthern.wixsite.com/labradorsouthern
“
Ferguson has the courage to take the audience-performer relationship very seriously, to illuminate the fact that audience members are, in an important sense, CO-CREATORS THEMSELVES.
“
- The Tangential Review
LABRADOR A Life-Sized Dialogue With The Moon
the show
Feb 2—4
The inaugural production, A LIFE-SIZED DIALOGUE WITH THE MOON, explores themes of personal bafflement and wonder underneath the universe - what’s out there and what’s inside us? What is our purpose here and how do we find meaning and connection on the journey? A LIFE-SIZED DIALOGUE WITH THE MOON promises to be playful, poetic, inventive and deeply moving.
“
On ARTshare:
VIBRANT, EXPERIMENTAL, RAW, BEAUTIFUL
“
- ARTshare Member
Holo Lue Choy Pramila Vasudevan Anat Shinar Deborah Jinza Thayer Megan Mayer Laurie Van Wieren Charles Campbell Seven Feb 10 & 11
the show Seven Artists: A collection of new works. Seven independent dance artists with varying experiences and backgrounds go beyond the ordinary by combining and creating work together within a week of rapidfire experimentation culminating in three nights of uninhibited performance.
thern
@ The Sou
ARTshare Memberships: $18 a month ($9 for students) for access to all applicable performances on the season $216 for a full year ($108 for students) of access to all applicable performances on the season
Memberships are available for purchase at www.southerntheater.org
Performance Minded People Support The Arts In the course of serving people Courtyard will donate 10% of your food and beverage purchases back to the Southern Theater helping to support today’s local performing community.
Join us in the
Bistro before or after a performance, show your playbill and we will take care of the rest.
“Arts are essential to a community’s well-being, because they remind us that life has a higher purpose than the mundane” ~ Ron Zeigler.
Four Humors The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People Feb 17—25
the show Four Humors is going to bring you The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People in a way that has never been seen before; both honest and funny. Jason Ballweber Director
the company Four Humors strives to create art that celebrates the humor, stupidity, and beauty of our world by letting the artist connect with the audience in a vulnerable and honest way.
Four Humors
@fourhumors
fourhumorstheater.com
@fourhumors
“
GORGEOUS, FUNNY, and CUTTING...
“
- CityPages
“
POWERFUL, MOVING...
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- Fresh Fruit
Savage Umbrella The Awakening Mar 3—11
the show Edna Pontellier has zero effs left to give. Nothing is really wrong, at all, except for the inconvenient fact that she’s slowly dying inside. Here we have one woman’s struggle to become her most authentic self, amidst a society unwilling to see her for who she is. Music, waves, and sexual tension thick as the humid New Orleans air. Adapted freely from Kate Chopin’s landmark feminist novel.
the company Savage Umbrella creates new works of theater striving to engage artists and audiences in critical conversation. With lust for the uncharted and the unknown; Savage Umbrella embraces and dissects the familiar. The company believes that theater is a vehicle for important and complex conversations about who we are, how we are, where we come from, and how we connect with each other. Together is better. Get under the umbrella.
Savage Umbrella
@savageumbrella
savageumbrella.org
@savageumbrella
“
...PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES of what theater can be... Noah Bremer Joanna Harmon Co-Producing Artistic Directors
“
- Cherry and Spoon
the company Live Action Set creates devised performances rooted in dance and physical theater. Their ability to infuse narrative into expressive movement and poeticism into narrative storytelling produces a blend of performance that often defies categorization. With a vision to expand the possibilities of what live performance can achieve, they currently focus on improvised dance that empowers audience members as cocreators of the movement score.
Live Action Set
@liveactionset liveactionset.org
@liveactionset
Live Action Set Unset
the show
Mar 21—26 You can dance (if you want to)! Unset invites YOU to play: expressively, significantly, with the company, as part of the company. Each evening consists of a series of improvised dances scored by live music in which Live Action Set invites you to be co-creator as a guest star of the company. You choose how you want to engage: the performance is as much for the audience-participant on stage as it is for the audience members in the seats. Unset redefines the set of ensemble members, the set of movements rehearsed, and the set division between performer and audience.
“
NO ONE CASTS A SPELL LIKE TRANSATLANTIC LOVE AFFAIR, as they tell a story and create an entire world with nothing but their BODIES, VOICES, and SOULS.
“
-- Cherry and Spoon
Transatlantic Love Affair
the show
Mar 31—Apr 8
A new work from the creators of Ballad of the Pale Fisherman, Ash Land, Emilie/Eurydice, and 105 Proof. Transatlantic Love Affair productions use no sets, props, or pre-recorded sound cues, meaning the ensemble literally embodies and creates the entire world of the play, from characters to landscapes to animals and sounds, shifting roles with great fluidity. The narrative, script, and physical “choreography” of the play are created entirely by the performing ensemble in the rehearsal room, in collaboration with the director and a live musician/ composer. This makes for an imaginative and playful style where the audience is invited to imagine the world with the ensemble and be swept away by the story.
the company Transatlantic Love Affair is a physical theatre ensemble specializing in collaboratively created original work and theatrical storytelling. Transatlantic Love Affair was founded in 2010 with their inaugural production, Ballad of the Pale Fisherman. Since then, they have created eight original works with their core ensemble of Isabel Nelson (Artistic Director), Diogo Lopes (Artistic Associate), Heather Bunch, Derek Lee Miller, Adelin Phelps, and Allison Witham, as well as numerous collaborators.
Transatlantic Love Affair
@TLATheatre transatlanticloveaffair.org
@TLATheatre
Tickets Ticket Prices Walk-Up $24 Presale $20 Students (walk-up and presale with ID) $12 ARTshare members: Free
$18/month + benefits $9/month for students
For more info, please visit our website.
Box Office Info website: www.southerntheater.org
phone 24/7: 612.326.1811 On-site hours: 1 hour before all performances
Address
1420 Washington Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55454
Located blocks from the Green & Blue line, and multiple bus lines.
Parking located around the corner, on the street, and surface lots on the south side of Washington. Board of Directors Mike Grosso Chair
Sheldon Wood Vice Chair
Eric Herron Treasurer
Leslie Ball Michelle Winchester Craig Espelien Jessica Herfurth Scott Rehovsky
Southern Theater Staff Suzanne Cross Community Relations Manager
Jerod Greenisen Digital Media Specialist
Galen Higgins Graphic Designer
Jenny Moeller Production Director
Dan Norman Resident Photographer
Jamie Schumacher Development Director
THE SOU T H E RN’S M I SSION is to FOST E R a community of E XC E P T IONAL ART I STS.
T HAN K YOU for your support
2017 Find us on FaceBook!
@southerntheatermn
@southerntheater
1420 Washington Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55454 | southerntheater.org