Bankrupt City Ballad

Could the origins of reality TV be traced back to Depression-era dance marathons? These events played out as grueling contests, in which curious onlookers watched young, desperate couples compete for prize money by bopping, literally, til they dropped. Bankrupt City Ballad recalls those days as Peter Rothstein, the brains behind Theater Latte Da, and Mathew Janczewski, ARENA Dances mastermind, hook up to transform the Southern Theater into an old-time dance hall. With a penchant for pretty music and bittersweet plot lines, Rothstein’s singers promise to unearth any tenderness that might be flickering among those Darwinian foxtrots. Southern Theater; 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; www.latteda.org