Masa with the Chicago Avenue Stilting Club
Our Teaching Artists and Staff are involved in a wide range of professional projects outside of their work with Upstream Arts. Each month, we post opportunities to see their performances, exhibitions, and other events around the Twin Cities and beyond. Click on the links below to learn more.
Michelle Barnes, together with fellow UA Teaching Artist Dylan Fresco, is performing What Grows Here, a story-filled guided walk along Chicago Avenue, as part of the Arts on Chicago initiative. Tours (made for neighborhood residents, but open to all!) are available periodically starting Friday, 5/3, through Sunday, 5/19. FREE, but space is limited – reservations recommended.
Jess Finney just wrapped up her second semester in the Marriage & Family Therapy Graduate Program at Saint Mary’s University. On May 4, she will direct some new plays hot off the press for TKO, a benefit for the Playwrights’ Center at the Uppercut Boxing Gym in Northeast Minneapolis.
Charles Fraser is serving as assistant stage manger for To Kill a Mockingbird at Park Square Theatre, through May 22.
Dylan Fresco, together with fellow UA Teaching Artist Michelle Barnes, is performing What Grows Here, a story-filled guided walk along Chicago Avenue, as part of Arts on Chicago. Tours (made for neighborhood residents, but open to all!) are available periodically starting Friday, 5/3, through Sunday, 5/19. FREE, but space is limited – reservations recommended.
Matt Guidry is acting in Once in a Blue Moon, the latest offering from the Chicago Avenue Project (CAP), at Pillsbury House + Theater. Performances will take place on Monday, 5/6, at 7pm and Tuesday, 5/7, at 4pm & 7pm. All FREE!
Rachel Jendrzejewski is heading to Poland for the first week of May to participate in a playwriting exchange through the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw. On May 28, she will be talking about her work at Salon Saloon, the infamous live-action arts magazine, produced by Works Progress and hosted by Andy Sturdevant, at the Bryant Lake Bowl.
Masanari Kawahara recently completed building 30+ pairs of stilts for the Chicago Avenue Stilting Club, his project for Arts on Chicago. Every Friday in May, you can find Pillsbury House + Theatre youth practicing their stilt-walking with local stilting teachers in the alley behind Pillsbury House. The work will culminate with an informal presentation on May 24 behind Pillsbury House.
Norah Long is starring in This Side of Paradise at the History Theatre through May 19, after which she will travel to Cuba to sing at two major concerts as part of Cubadisco 2013. At the end of May, she will begin rehearsals for the greater Minnesota tour of the History Theatre’s Beyond the Rainbow, reprising her role as Judy Garland ages 4-36.
Lindsey Samples is coordinating the Victory Benefit Concert for Breaking Free’s 2-day event Demand Change, bringing awareness to the human trafficking happening in the Twin Cities. The concert will take place on Saturday, May 4, featuring live music, dance, and poetry from survivors and professional artists. She’s also in rehearsals for Off Leash Area’s production of Psst!, opening at the Cowles Center this June.