The ever-changing landscape of Dinkytown shifted again last week when the owners of Burrito Loco bought local bar Bobby Z's. Bobby Z's closed on July 12, and the owners have no current plans of re-opening...

ODB stormed the ring to a barrage of cheers from the zealous crowd at First Avenue last Wednesday night during Downtown Championship Wrestling's "April Apocalypse." Her black spandex shorts, embroidered...

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, or HOBT, is a frenzied workshop just one week and a day before the beloved May Day parade, ceremony and festival. The event is known in the Twin Cities...

Akaky Akakievich, (whose name is a scatological pun) adores the simplest language. Phrases such as "we regret to inform you" leave the aging clerk snickering and quivering in orgiastic delight. "Isn't...

Ironically, the first performance of "The Seagull" in 1896 was a disaster and almost resulted in Chekhov's complete disillusionment with playwriting. Just two years later, however, a revival of the work...

The principal characters in John Guare's "Six Degrees of Separation," now playing at the Guthrie Theater, are obsessed with money and notoriety. So much so that they fall for the ruse of a young man who...

All work and no play make Margaret Cho Ö something something (incredibly funny and rich). She doesn't like parties. There is no time in her life for hobbies. Yet somehow, Margaret Cho manages to be one...

Serene Madeline Adams, or Granny as she is better-known, holds her family together with an unwavering sense of morality, a selfless commitment to family and an incredible recipe for a traditional Guyanese...

Playwright Kenneth Lonergan was born in the Bronx to a couple of psychoanalysts. This might seem like a dismal plight to some. Yet there is some indication it was the catalyst that imbued Lonergan's writing...

Sheherazade, a character of Middle Eastern mythology, saved the lives of other women by telling stories to distract a malicious ruler. The title of the contemporary art exhibit by Muslim women, "Sheherazade:...

Sun Hee loves reading books and filling her teenage mind with knowledge, but her mother forces her to do chores instead. Living in Korea prior to World War II, she clashes with her mother and is conflicted...

Director and choreographer Martha Clarke envisions a pre-World War I Vienna, Austria, in a wash of beauty and eroticism. In her dance-theater production, "Vienna: Lusthaus (Revisited)," inspired by the...

It seems natural that Theatre de la Jeune Lune, a company so devoted to physical theatrics, would incorporate aerialist performers in a production. The company's founders were trained in the circus arts...

Sure, you probably already have plans for your month away from the hectic drudgery that defines our lives as college students. I, for one, plan to spend oodles of time getting reacquainted with one of...

The theater scene in the Twin Cities is constantly expanding, with new theater companies emerging at a rapid pace. At least once per week I get an e-mail or phone call from an artistic director, publicist...

The Twin Cities' theater scene definitely has a future, and with any luck Nathan Keepers will stick around for it. The actor has made himself known for his adept physicality in multiple roles at Theatre...

Widely deemed to be ballet's greatest living choreographer, Yuri Grigorovich originally planned to stage his interpretation of "Swan Lake" for Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet in 1969. But the Soviet Minister of...

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 in the state of Chihuahua as peasants reacted to elevated food prices and exploitation by affluent landowners. Revolutionaries elected Pancho Villa as their First Commander,...

If you have seen one puppet show, or if you have seen 1,000, this is a show that you cannot justify skipping. Puppetry aficionados around the country have discovered the artistry of Michael Sommers. Now...

Innovative pianist, technology entrepreneur and pioneer of jazz-funk fusion, Herbie Hancock surges musical invention. His last tour promoted his Future 2 Future album and featured electronic manipulation,...

The last few Guthrie productions have fallen short of their potential, so a dramatic recovery for their current production, The Comedy of Errors, could not have been anticipated. However, with Theatre...

Moe Flaherty was in New York City on Sept. 11. She lucidly recalls the horrific sight of a giant cloud of dust and debris as it hurled around a building. She describes in a phone interview that she captured...

Here's a refreshing image: a gently flowing river surrounded by grass, trees and furry little animals. A deer stands in a shallow spot. His tail twitches. The camera moves in on his fuzzy, lightly-colored...

Hashirigaki begins with a nearly pitch black stage. Three female performers - incidentally the show's entire cast, consisting of Marie Goyette, Charlotte Engelkes and Yumiko Tanaka - dressed in black stroll...

Of Hope and Courage, the new play by Theatre Mu, is only vaguely about hope and courage. More precisely, I would say it is about terror and soul-searching. Two unique folk tales compose this two-act show:...

When I try to imagine the severe climate in Antarctica, I think back to one of the coldest winters I can remember in Minnesota, during 1996: After an ice storm, temperatures suddenly plummeted below zero....

Until this past season's production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the Outward Spiral Theater Company seemed to be in decline. This 6-year-old company had a string of non-hits, including David's Redhaired...

Few things in life genuinely terrify me. But when the possibility of missing a traveling circus enters my mind, my heart palpitates and I develop an unsightly rash.My mind races, as I compare my calendar...

Are parents fully responsible for their child's actions? Or, more specifically, is a father guilty when he fails to prevent his son from shooting his classmates? These are the knotty questions raised in...

In my mind, going to the circus should transcend the marvels of fantasy. The circus is at once an opportunity to be dazzled by the talents of circus performers and a chance to be inspired to refocus one's...

Here's the buzz on Monique the Mosquito Takes First Runner Up: It is a one-act play about a striking young mosquito named Monique (Connie Ross) whose entire first few days on earth have been devoted to...

After spending an entire week crammed into tiny spaces to watch Fringe Festival artists present brief (albeit alluring) shows with tight budgets, I found it peculiar to dress-up, get lost in a massive...

  Another year, another Fringe Festival (nine years running now!), and how are we to choose which of the 135 shows offered this year might be worth the $8 student ticket price? (For those who plan...

It is Thursday night, and my mother and I arrive at the Bryant-Lake Bowl theater just minutes before Women Who Drink is scheduled to begin. It is a popular show, having played on and off for quite a few...

It's getting hot in here. The fans blow, but do not assist in cooling us. From behind a clear plastic curtain decorated with rubber hospital gloves, performer John Francis Bueche saunters in. He wears...

In this age of mindless entertainment, much of which flaunts indistinct humor as superior, it is refreshing to witness the rare and rich comedy of one of the most unique characters in the Twin Cities. The...

  Shawn McConneloug, inspired by the intriguing history of American vaudeville and the unique tales behind Minneapolis vaudeville houses (the Heights Theater in particular), decided to explore the...

  The temporary union of two theater companies gives birth to one of the most daedal interpretations of Alice in Wonderland. The Jeunelunization of The Children's Theatre ñ by director Dominique...

It is a few minutes prior to the start of Theater Mu's production of Temple of Dreams, and the audience, including myself and my companion, numbers ten. Initially, I am astonished at how few people are...

  I am speechless. The play I saw his past Friday, if you can call it a play, was among the most unusual and awe-invoking experiences I have ever encountered in a theater. The show caters to those...

  Carson Kreitzer's new script, currently produced by the Frank Theatre has a jokey title that is unexpectedly similar to the bipartite titles created for shows at the Brave New Workshop: SELF-DEFENSE,...

  Despite massive amounts of water invading the ancillary areas of the Guthrie Theater on January 2 from a leaky city water line, Antony and Cleopatra opened on-time and proceeded seamlessly, but...

  Andrew Kim is preparing to leave Minneapolis for Vashon Island, just outside of Seattle. To the uninitiated, this statement might seem like nothing special, but to Andrew Kim devoteesñconsisting...

    Last week, I saw an episode of Dateline in which a man who was supposedly possessed by demons received an exorcism. This man appeared to be heavily influenced by the power of suggestion....

  Every January 6, Italian children rise from their beds in expectation of finding that La Befana had been in their homes during the night. Just as children in the United States anticipate discovering...

  I am grateful not to have my mother in search of my future husband. I cannot even image who she would bring homeñprobably some poor sap in a Mr. Roger's cardiganñbut no doubt someone more suitable...

What did you do this past Saturday night? I witnessed a man singing songs about fratricide and animal husbandry, a toy theater act performed by the editor of The Lens, a hip hop dance routine performed...

  You know how gossip gets around: The story always changes a little from one person to the next. The same is true with storytelling: After many years of oral tradition, a story gets warped and bent...

After seeing the Guthrie Lab's production of Merrily We Roll Along, I was reminded of a passage in The Catcher in the Rye. J.D. Salinger's caviling antihero, Holden Caulfield, wanders into a bar. The bar's...

Have you met women who get so desperate to meet a good man that they become irrational, seething wretches? Now you have, in the character of Libby in The Maiden's Prayer, currently playing at the Directors...

  For a man of 747 years, Marco Polo has aged well. Revealed as the subject of a circus sideshow in the Theatre de la Jeune Lune's The Description of the World, the decrepit Polo is short on both...

Since practice began in mid-August, Minnesota's football team subscribed to the same defensive strategy - first and foremost, stop the run. But so far, the Gophers - ranked 10th in the Big Ten in rushing...

The decision Minnesota men's golfer Simon Nash made to leave his native Australia and play for the Gophers was an easy one. One of four international players on the 12-man roster, Nash first came to the...

After breaking out of an offensive drought last weekend, Minnesota's soccer team is looking to correct additional problems before taking on Indiana and Purdue this weekend. The Gophers (3-5, 2-2), whose...