Year: 2006

This year’s lineup of fresh Minnesota dance includes inspired moments like the pairing of the gorgeous music of Spaghetti Western String Co. with Live Action Set, an inventive company of clowns, dancers, and stage performers. Their piece is titled “Percussionist,” even though, yes, Spaghetti Western is a string quartet; it’s the bodies in movement that provide the thump. Other standouts in the series include a hip-hop dance piece, an amalgamation of video and live performance, and “Tiny Town,” in which New York transplant Karen Sherman offers a meditation on the Midwest’s expansive flatlands (pictured). 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; www.southerntheater.org; www.walkerart.org

While taking tango lessons from an Argentine national, local choreographer Gerry Girouard became interested in the famous Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo—a group whose mission since 1977 has been to track down missing Argentine children, many of whom were born to political prisoners. By teaming his own dancers with Off-Leash Area Productions, a theater troupe adept in physical performance styles, Girouard’s piece evokes the ominous Junta environment that the Grandmothers braved to rescue dozens of children. Expect an imposing and virile spectacle involving wall dancing and impressive upper-body strength. 1940 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-724-7372

These days, Stockholm, Wisconsin, is a sweet daytrip for retirees looking to buy Amish quilts or decorative objets from discerning folks who’ve escaped the big-city rat race. But in 1854, this town was the promised land for two hundred Swedish settlers; their compatriot, Eric Peterson, had left Bjurtjärn for America with his two brothers, who then went back to spread the good news to their former neighbors. These brothers must have been highly persuasive—can you imagine your neighbor inspiring you to go anyplace other than perhaps the new Trader Joe’s? Anyway, a good chunk of Bjurtjärn decamped for Wisconsin. After 152 years, the descendants of those who stayed in Sweden have now crossed the Atlantic to present a musical version of a play based on the exodus. As many as fifty members—not counting the animal actors—of this eighty-person troupe appear on stage at a time, a true feat of stage direction. 2600 Park Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-871-4907; www.americanswedishinst.org

What Momentum does for choreographers (see above), Fresh Ink does for playwrights. Among our top picks is Boldly Going Nowhere, a one-man, five-character study put on by Theatre Latté Da veteran Tod Petersen. As wear-tested at the Minnesota Fringe Festival two years back, it demonstrated Petersen’s uncanny ability to pick up the speech patterns and mannerisms of, say, a debutante dabbling in lesbianism or a television addict who exiles himself to his parent’s basement. Also on the docket is a tribute to Gene Pitney, who penned the classic “Only Love Can Break A Heart,” performed by Gary Rue, a musician who was once a roadie for Pitney; a stand-up routine by ex-Twin Citizen Amy Anderson; and more. 528 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-339-4944; www.illusiontheater.org

The Great Gatsby is a notably contemporary choice for a company best known for its Shakespeare. But by honoring both the spirit of St. Paul’s favorite son and the opulent Jazz Age epitomized by his classic novel, the company is making quite the symbolic statement for christening its glamorous waterfront playhouse. A second Minnesota son-made-good figures into the production, as well: It’s directed by David Esbjornson, the veteran Broadway director who grew up in Wilmar, and now serves as artistic director for another regional company, Seattle Repertory Theatre. An attractive cast serves to plum things up—West Coast actor Lorenzo Pisoni has the floppy hair and Gallic good looks necessary to play Jay Gatsby, and local songstress Christina Baldwin has the role of car-crash victim Myrtle Wilson. 818 2nd St. S., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; www.guthrietheater.org

Backyard wrestling, eating contests, re-enactment play, Halloween hijinks—Cameron Jamie takes inspiration from some of contemporary mankind’s most primitive social pastimes. While they may not be great showcases of civility, these subjects do make for grotesque, amusing, and ultimately thought-provoking study in this artist’s first solo museum exhibition. Through film, video, performance, photography, sculpture, and drawings, Jamie presents the strange fruits of suburban boredom—focused around California’s San Fernando Valley, where he grew up—as “social theater.” His collaborations with street performers, celebrity impersonators, and musicians (including the Melvins and Japanese guitarist Keiji Haino) add dimension to these fascinating takes on socially acceptable absurdity. 612-375-7622; www.walkerart.org

Whether it’s sunny or sleeting, any day is a nice day to drive to Hudson for a brick-oven-fired pizza. With thin, chewy, Neapolitan-style crust, fresh-pulled mozzarella, and San Marzano tomatoes, every Brick’s pie has the sassy personality of Pulcinella, the beak-nosed Commedia dell’arte character. Smartly grilled paninis and a round of satisfying salads fill out the menu at this sleek eatery. Even better, your indulgence in this fare is actually an act of altruism: One hundred percent of the profits from Bricks go to Compassion Now, a charitable organization that provides aid to children and communities in developing nations. 407 2nd St., Hudson, WI; 715-377-7670; www.eatbricks.com

Judy Blume wrote books about teenagers who felt like freaks in their changing bodies; Francesca Lia Block writes about the kids who truly are freaks, and proud of it. Block writes for adults with the same hazy sense of unreality and suspension of propriety as she did in Weetzie Bat, her story of an adventurous girl and her gay sidekick in Los Angeles. In Ruby, the title character comes from an abusive home but has a sixth sense that allows her to be at one with nature and to know her own destiny (her namesake jewel is believed to ward off evil spirits). Ruby travels to England to meet the actor she knows will be her soul mate, but struggles with escaping her past and surviving life’s obstacles.

Gautam Malkani has been called a male Zadie Smith and a Muslim Irvine Welsh, but the six-figure advance this debut novel reportedly earned him should temper any pique these burdensome labels may raise for the Financial Times reporter-turned-novelist. His tale about London’s “Rude Boys,” a breed of young Muslim men jockeying for respect in their ethnically divided neighborhoods, is loaded with the colorful slang that helped name these chaps, making for an engrossing and enlightening glimpse into a cultural phenomenon that is part of Britain’s new face.

Charles Darwin’s two-hundredth birthday is coming up, and in celebration comes a flurry of books about his life and work. This biography is an absorbing exploration of the life of a man who never allowed himself to be blinded by that which consumed his life—science. Quammen, a nature and travel journalist, who wrote Outside magazine’s witty “Natural Acts” column for fifteen years, humanizes the infamous Darwin with details of his personality and anecdotes about the endless and odd experiments that helped to develop and prove science’s most scrutinized theory.