Friday, January 11
Actors Unleashed
WHAT: The Method Gun
WHERE: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
WHEN: 8 p.m.
This first act in Out There 25: Reality/Identity/Myth, marking a quarter-century of the Walker Art Center’s exploratory theater festival, is a vigorous, sometimes absurd, and occasionally uneasy exploration of a notoriously extreme acting coach in the anything-goes 1960s. She didn’t exist, of course, but perhaps she should have, as this portrayal commands attention like few other things onstage. Learn more at www.walkerart.org/calendar/2013/out-there-25-rude-mechs
Friday, January 11
Disco Down Under
WHAT: Priscilla Queen of the Desert
WHERE: Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis
WHEN: 8 p.m.
The Broadway show based on the Australian cult movie is beginning its national tour in Minneapolis. And for good reason: we loved the movie, long the late-night show at the Uptown Theater. If the Broadway version leans more on the movie’s infectious feel-good energy (with dance numbers to songs like “It’s Raining Men” and “I Will Survive”) than its nuanced emotions, it works as a kind of sing-a-long soundtrack performance. Learn more at hennepintheatretrust.org.
Saturday, January 12
Cool Cats
WHAT: The Terra-Gatto Warriors
WHERE: Flanders Gallery, Minneapolis
WHEN: 6 to 9 p.m.
While the Chinese Terra-cotta Warriors are displayed a few blocks east, Flanders opens a show of Denise Rouleau’s elaborate and charming collection of “terra-gatto” warriors — 2-feet-tall erect cats as well as smaller pieces, like a drawer stuffed with tiny cat sculptures, a reference to cats’ mystical appeal over the centuries. Learn more at flandersart.com.
Saturday, January 12
Paradise Lost
WHAT: Tabu
WHERE: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 and 7:30 p.m.
The third feature film by Miguel Gomes opens in modern-day Lisbon for a series of parables about three women of differing ages but similar disillusionment. Then it flashes back to a romanticized colonialist era of dashing men and alluring women, all of it referencing the silent-film era in its black-and-white palette and sound effects. Learn more at www.walkerart.org/calendar/2013/tabu.
Sunday, January 13
Funny Business
WHAT: The Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival
WHERE: Sabes Jewish Community Center, Minneapolis
WHEN: 7:30 p.m.
Emmy-winning journalist and storyteller Gary Gilson closes the first weekend of this fourth-annual festival, which celebrates the not-inconsiderable contributions of Jews to American humor. Gilson mines his unconventional family history for laughs and poignant memoir, while others in the festival bring stand-up comedy, a laughter-yoga workshop, and local storytelling (courtesy of Temple Israel’s “Inappropriate Rabbi” Sim Glaser). Learn more at www.sabesjcc.org/humor-fest.php.
Sunday, January 13
How Sausage is Made
WHAT: Butcher & The Boar’s Beer Bash
WHERE: Butcher & The Boar, Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 to 10 p.m.
Dan Israel and Aaron Berdofe provide the musical accompaniment (from 6 to 8 p.m.) for this festival of house-made sausages, Surly beer (seven varieties on tap), and the joys of consuming them in cold weather. Simple as that. Plus, in a nod to the tradition of some less upscale establishments, a meat raffle once an hour. Learn more at butcherandtheboar.com.
