EXPLORATION
A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City
Imagine your country is at war. No, not the way you know war. Not overseas. In your own country. Right here. On your own land. Perhaps you take up arms. Perhaps you don’t. It doesn’t matter. You’re losing. It’s stay and fight (and die), or flee. Imagine you have a family. Imagine you are now “among the 33 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge.” Do you have any idea what that’s like? Any idea at all? Hopefully not from personal experience. But look next door. It might do to understand the plight of others. Today, Doctors Without Borders opens its Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City exhibit in Loring Park. Get a guided tour of the camp exhibit and learn about the challenges of building shelter, finding food and clean water, handling waste disposal, controlling epidemics, and … surviving what may come. Educate yourself, and at the end of the day thank whatever god(s) you have for your well-being. Then have yourself a drink, and toast to the the well-being of those around you. But don’t stop at that…
9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Loring Park, 1382 Willow St., Minneapolis; 612-370-4929.
BOOKS
Per Petterson
It’s been a huge year for Norwegian writer Per Petterson. The acclaim for his latest novel ranged from Thomas McGuane’s front-page rave in the Times Book Review (“A gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life”) to the $135,000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Award-winning author Richard Ford even chimed in with a ringing endorsement, and if you threw in a hosanna from Cormac McCarthy you’d have a pretty good idea of the sort of literary territory Petterson is exploring in Out Stealing Horses. It’s a quiet, spare, ruminative novel, in which the stoic protagonist wrestles with memory’s powerful undertow while enduring a sort of solitary confinement in a remote cabin. Petterson will spend a busy couple of days on the Minnesota leg of his tour, appearing as part of the Minneapolis Public Library’s Talk of the Stacks series tonight, and at the St. Olaf College Bookstore (4 p.m.) tomorrow. –Brad Zellar
7:30 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-630-6000; free.
STYLE
Collage Fashion Show
Two of my favorite local boutiques are participating in this three-way of a runway event: the refined, and yet funky, Ivy and super-girly Stephanie’s. The third boutique, Bluebird, isn’t a fave, but I have found fabulous vintage jewelry there in the past. However, I’m quite excited about Bluebird’s contribution to this year’s (the third annual) Collage Fashion Show. They’re planning to show clothes by Loeffler Randall, the shoe designer – a favorite of the shop’s owners – who only recently introduced a line of apparel. –Christy DeSmith
7 p.m., Nicollet Island Pavilion, 40 Power St., Minneapolis; 612-253-3099; $25.
DANCE
Explorations in Flamenco
Time for a little Spanish flair tonight, with the opening of Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre’s Explorations in Flamenco: An Evening of New Choreography by Sachiko and Deborah Elias. And in keeping with the current trends, we’re not just talking dance here; we’re talking dance, live music, and multimedia work. Explorations in Flamenco features two works. Inspired by the stories of Japan’s Hibakusyas (atomic bomb victims), novels by Masuji Ibuse, and poems by Toge Sankichi, Hiroshima tells intimate stories of WWII destruction through flamenco, Japanese traditional dance, martial arts, and Butoh-inspired movements. Tía, on the other hand, celebrates the power and beauty of imagination — to transform, to empathize, and to envision a different future.
8 p.m., Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis,; 612-871-4444; $15 (students and seniors $13, members $10).
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
City Ceased
In this case, the play itself isn’t the thing, although they are certainly some clever, and even touching, vignettes about the afterlife–the best of which concerns pet foster care for dogs gone to heaven. The best reason to see City Ceased is to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Lakewood Cemetery at night, to stroll its winding roads and circle its tiny lake. By the end of the show, sadly, the material of this site-specific play will have devolved into sap, but not before the audience is treated to some lovely, flashlight-lit images of, for instance, a dramatic weeping willow, a tiny s&eacure;ance, and actors dancing in the moonlight. –Christy DeSmith
8 p.m., Lakewood Cemetery , 3600 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; $12.
Pillowman Review
Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman focuses on Katurian (Lichtseidl), a writer of grisly tales in which children are tortured and killed. When a number of child murders resembling his stories take place, Katurian is detained for questioning by the totalitarian state in which he lives. He is interrogated by detectives Ariel (Chris Carlson) and Tupolski (Seifert), who have also detained Katurian’s mentally disabled brother, Michal (Grant Richey), as a way of baiting Katurian into confessing. Lichtseidl gives Katurian what depth he can, and his big-brother relationship with Michal is sweet and sincere. But the plot itself gives Lichtseidl little to work with, and as a result he is underused. Seifert and Carlson are wonderful as the good-cop/bad-cop team of Ariel and Tupolski. Carlson’s Ariel is high-strung and constantly enraged; Seifert’s Tupolski is docile but menacing — together they are mean and unfair and completely engrossing. Seifert is so deliciously nasty that you can’t help but laugh. Grant Richey also succeeds in the role of Michal, uttering even the most disturbing of lines with innocence and vulnerability. Pillowman is heavy — it discusses child torture and highlight’s the importance of Art with a capital A. Sometimes it sounds more like a debate in a college literature course than a play. –excerpts from review by Danielle Kurtzleben
7:30 p.m., Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $18-$34.
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