Art Hounds: Glowing Dolls, Haunted Theater and Midwestern Folk Music

From MPR News Art Hounds are members of Minnesota’s arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are slightly modified from the audio heard in the player above.

Do you want to become an artistic hound? Send here.

Puppets meet science

Minneapolis musician Greg Herriges recommends a date night or family trip to see it Z Puppets Rosenschnoz’s performance of “Cellula”.

The show combines black light puppetry with live a cappella music by improv singers Mankwe Ndosi and Libby Turner, focusing on a story set on a cellular level.

Performances are held at the Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis. Show times are Thursday at 5:30pm, Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 11am and 7pm. Viewing is recommended for ages 5 and up.

Microscope activity stations will be available 30 minutes prior to each show.

Greg says: It takes the world you might see in a microscope and makes it glow in the dark. It’s educational, charming, funny.

I think Manquy and Libby’s live music is based somewhat on improvisation, but it also incorporates interwoven melodies and sound effects to create a beautiful soundscape of this wonderful fusion of art and science.

– Greg Herriges

Winona’s Haunted Theater Show

Author and playwright Kathleen Kinney Peterson of Winona plans to get into the Halloween spirit by attending “Mallory’s ghost” An original ghost story and murder mystery set in a haunted theater.

The play involves three heiresses and a ghost who has something to say.

It was written and produced by Margaret Shaw Johnson of Winona, who has written several plays and a book inspired by local hauntings. The offer runs from Friday, October 24 to Sunday, November 2 Great River Shakespeare Festival.

Kenny Peterson is also excited about the place.

Kathleen He says: The historic Masonic Theater here in Winona has been closed for two years for renovations, and this play will be the audience’s first opportunity to be in the building for over two years!

– Kathleen Kenny Peterson

Polka, anyone?

Folk musician Sarah Larson of Minneapolis plans to see Folk fiddlers of the upper Midwest Performance at Naseej Folk Dance Center In Minneapolis on Thursday at 7 p.m

Expect to hear – and dance, if you choose – polkas, scotch, waltzes and other traditional tunes.

Sarah says: I think a lot of people probably know folk music from Appalachia or the American South. But it turns out, of course, here in the upper Midwest—Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas—that there is folk music, too, dating back to the early 1900s and the mid-1800s.

What this group considers folk music from this region is all the music of the different immigrants from Europe during that era, as well as the indigenous communities.

—Sarah Larson