If you don’t have St. Patrick’s Day plans yet, get thee over to the Landmark Center for their annual celebration of music and dance heritage from Ireland. Traditional Irish dancing troupes from all around the region convene at the center for the event, and there’s an array of different styles of Irish music, and other cultural forms as well. Read about it below, where you’ll also find out about a new partnership between Lakeshore Players and Phoenix Alternatives Inc., which has fostered theatrical storytelling driven by people with disabilities. Also this week, Century College gallery hosts an opening reception for Mary Bergs’ exhibition, the Twin Cities Ballet brings back its production of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” to the Fitzgerald for the last time in a while, and Nightclub Gallery welcomes composer and visual artist Geneva Skeen. Early next week, Tommy Orange visits Prior Lake Library, and Cyrille Aimée performs at the Dakota.
Thoughts Like These
The finished product isn’t the main focus in Benton, Wisconsin-based artist Mary Bergs’ exhibition on view at Century College Art Gallery, called “Thoughts Like These.” Bergs instead investigates the process of art making itself, by assembling ideas in different configurations as a way of illustrating the considerations the artist goes through in formulating work. Found objects and mixed media pieces explore patterns, color and movement in this show.
The gallery hosts an opening reception for the work on Thursday, March 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the exhibition running through May 1. That last day, Bergs will give an artist talk from noon to 1 p.m. (free). More information here.
Every Drop Counts: The Journey of Mr. Hot Sauce and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
For over a year, The White Bear Lake-based community theater Lakeshore Players Theatre has had a relationship with Phoenix Alternatives Inc., an organization that supports artists with developmental disabilities. The collaboration has earned PAI, a 2024 Choice Award from The Minnesota Organization for Habilitation and Rehabilitation.
Recently, LPT has invited PAI community members to take backstage tours of the costume, make-up and prop facilities at the theater, and it has offered job tours as well. Eventually, the plan is to hire one of the adults with disabilities at the theater— currently, they have someone there working in a tryout opportunity. Lakeshore has also partnered with PAI on creating an original performance. They’ll be performing that work, called “Every Drop Counts: The Journey of Mr. Hot Sauce,” this Friday, before Lakeshore’s performance of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.” Individuals with developmental disabilities from PAI helped create the show, and are performing in it as well. The play is a comedic mystery about a stolen hot sauce recipe.
It takes place Friday, March 15 at 5 p.m., at Hanifl Performing Arts Center (free). Afterwards, stay for LPT’s “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.” The latter show is about a young neurodiverse person who aims to figure out who killed his neighbor’s dog. That show’s remaining performances are Thursday, March 14, at 10 a.m. (sensory friendly) and 7:30 p.m., Friday March 15 and Saturday March 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 17 at 2 p.m. at Hanifl Performing Arts Center ($15-$42, pay what you can on Friday. More information here.
Nightclub Gallery: Geneva Skeen
This weekend, Nightclub Gallery in downtown Saint Paul opens a new solo exhibition featuring Philadelphia-based artist and composer Geneva Skeen. If you go you’ll experience Skeen’s video essay, audio installation and images in an installation called “I can see a little further ahead.” The work draws material from Skeen’s research in the Alps last year, as it ponders liminality. The show opens Friday, March 15 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and runs through April 28 (free). More information here.
Pink Floyd’s The Wall: A Rock Ballet
Twin Cities Ballet brings its ballet adaptation of Pink Floyd’s iconic album, “The Wall,” to the Fitzgerald this week, joined by local Pink Floyd tribute band Momentary Lapse of Floyd, who perform on the scaffolding that’s part of the set. Created by co-artistic directors Denise and Rick Vogt, the ballet highlights major themes from the music, like alienation and isolation. The work has been a popular part of TCB’s season for a number of years, but the company has said this will be the last year they’ll perform it for a while, so if you haven’t seen it, now is your chance.
Friday, March 16, Saturday and Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 17 at 2 p.m. ($38.50-$53.50). More information here.
Irish Celebrations at the Landmark Center
Get your St. Patrick’s Day Fix at the Landmark Center, which has two days of Irish music and dancing planned this weekend. Saturday is the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and Sunday is Day of Irish Dance, but both days have plenty of both dancing and music, plus storytelling, history lessons, dramatic presentations, and more. Saturday, March 16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, March 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. ($9). More information here.
Cyrille Aimée
French/Dominican jazz singer Cyrille Aimée, born in a village outside of Paris and now based in Costa Rica and New Orleans, returns to the Dakota as part of a tour publicizing her new album, “à Fleur de Peau.” The new album features Aimée’s original compositions and arrangements, made with co-producer and multi-instrumentalist Jake Sherman. Drawing on her jazz manouche style with layers of African dance rhythms and European folk sensibilities, Aimée carves out a niche for her light and dancing voice with the new album, celebrating her mixed heritage and her diverse musical background. Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. ($35, $40). More information here.
Club Book: Tommy Orange
Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange will be at Prior Lake Library on Monday, as part of a series called Club Book, run by the Metropolitan Library Service Agency. I’m personally very excited about this because I loved Orange’s 2018 novel, “There, There” so much. The vivid novel navigates trauma, spirituality and care with grace and gripping prose, and I learned quite a bit about the history of the American Indian Movement’s occupation of Alcatraz Island from reading it. Orange’s most recent book, “Wandering Stars,” follows a similar format, where he weaves together multiple narratives, this time addressing the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, as told across three generations.
The event is free and no registration is required— so I’d recommend getting there early. Monday, March 18 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Scott County Library (free). More information here.
Sheila Regan
Sheila Regan is a Twin Cities-based arts journalist. She writes MinnPost’s twice-weekly Artscape column. She can be reached at sregan@minnpost.com.
