THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Inside the Gate
In 1988, after twenty-one years of being governed by a hearing president and board of trustees, students and faculty of Gallaudet University — a campus specifically created for deaf people — protested the hypocrisy of maintaining a hearing “insider” at the helm. Their efforts and achievements — among them Gallaudet’s first deaf president, I. King Jordan — are the subject of Evonne Bilotta-Burke’s new documentary script, Insight the Gate. Tonight, the University of Minnesota Theatre, Minnesota North Star Academy, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, and Eden Prairie High School, will come together for a collaborative staged reading of Bilotta-Burke’s script, using a unique blend of ASL and English to educate us about the 1988 protests, as well as the 2006 protests following Jordon’s retirement.
7-9 p.m., Stoll Thrust Theatre, Rarig Center, West Bank Arts Quarter, University of Minnesota, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-625-4001; free.
DANCE
Ooh La Lounge
Often time, as I put together the Secrets of the Day, I really have to do my research, dig for details, and settle on the best way to convey what an event is all about. But every now and then, my frustration comes at having to find an alternate way to present a perfectly accurate description. Not today. Their own description says it all: “An egotistical cowboy, a mourning lip-synching private dick, overzealous water ballerinas, a sexy beat poet grandma, fainting and fawning milkmaids, and feline-ish backup dancers. What do these have in common? They are all characters in Ooh La Lounge: An Evening of Dance and Jazz. You may be wondering what this Ooh La Lounge thing is all about. The show features a phenomenal live jazz combo and silly, crazy choreography by Erica Pinigis. Come early, get good seats, order some drinks. Pink Martinis, Burgundy, Tequila, and Champagne are recommended. Have fun! Bring a date! Dress up! Spend an evening “ooh la lounging” in style! It all adds up to a fun, fabulous, fancy, fashionable, farcical, feast of frolicking foibles.” (An excess of exclamation points, perhaps, but it’s certainly enticing.)
7 p.m., Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; $10.
MUSIC
How Big Is Big?
They’ve been around for two and a half decades. They’ve sold over four million records. They created the music for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They created the “Doctor Evil” song from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. They won a Grammy in 2002. And frankly, I think this all pretty much proves that They Might [indeed] Be Giants. Brooklyn alt-rockers John Linnell and John Flansburgh will be performing in town this evening with Irish electronic popsters Oppenheimer.
8 p.m., First Avenue, 701 1st Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-332-1775; $22.
FILM
A Sneak Peak into The Kingdom
When Americans get killed in a bombing incident on a U.S base in a foreign country — first of all, we call it terrorism. Then, we send in the covert operators to “get to the bottom of it,” or whatever else mission they concoct. We flex our muscles. And we make a movie about it. That pretty much sums it up. And this pretty much sums up director Peter Berg’s new film, The Rundown and Friday Night Lights, Berg brings together an all-star cast in this dramatic thriller. Watch Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, and Jeremy Piven get together on a quest for justice in The Kingdom.
7:30 p.m., Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis; $8 (seniors $6, members/students $5).
BOOK
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
” target=”_blank”>Drown, appeared ten years ago and drew the kind of attention usually reserved for writers with more established résumés. A big part of that was the cool intensity of the prose, which chronicled the lives of adolescent boys living in hardscrabble communities in the Dominican Republic, or transplanted to equally challenging environments in New York and New Jersey. The stories were alternately grim and funny, and Diaz never condescended, making liberal use of native dialect and slang. So enthused were editors at the New Yorker that they named Diaz one of the twenty top writers for the twenty-first century. Something happened on the way to literary superstardom, however; a novel, A Cheater’s Guide to Love, was scheduled for release in 1997, but never appeared. Perhaps The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao has been salvaged from that earlier project, but who knows. Early indications are that this debut novel–a multicultural, multilingual tale of epic bad luck–more than justifies the decade-long wait. –by Brad Zellar
On the shelves today at Barnes & Noble Booksellers Galleria, 3225 W. 69th, Edina; 952-920-0633.
FOOD
See Breaking Bread for “The Week in Eating.” Apparently, the Campus Club at the University of Minnesota will host a KBEM Jazz Dinner this evening.
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