Thanksgiving break: The Egg returns Dec. 1

3-Minute Egg is incubating during Thanksgiving week. Keep your subscriptions active — we’ll return with a fresh Egg on Monday, December 1.

In the meantime, please consider donating to 3-Minute Egg this holiday season. Like Minnesota Public Radio, 3-Minute Egg operates as a nonprofit media company. The difference: 3-Minute Egg is truly nonprofit, bare bones, grassroots, a one-man band. When you contribute to the Egg, you know exactly what you’re getting for your money. You see it here every weekday. I thrive on making discoveries in local dance, theater, music, literature and art, and taking you, the viewer, along with me.

The DONATE button in the right column takes you to IFP-Minnesota, the fiscal agent that processes all tax-deductible donations to 3-Minute Egg. There, you can make a quick contribution through PayPal. No amount is too small.

Thank you for your ongoing support — viewing, subscribing and, when you can, donating. It means a lot to me, personally, and keeps independent arts journalism in the Twin Cities alive and strong. I’ll see you after Thanksgiving weekend.

- matt

Zenon at the Southern

Zenon Dance Company premieres new work from Twin Cities choreographers Wynn Fricke and Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner in an energetic, eclectic fall program at the Southern Theater. At Wednesday’s rehearsal, 3-Minute Egg spoke with the choreographers and percussionist/composer Peter O’Gorman, who collaborated with Fricke, on their working processes. Performances of this must-see concert are Friday through Sunday, through November 30.

TU Dance

Toni and Uri Sands are the wife/husband couple behind TU Dance, which has established itself, in just a few years, among the dynamic modern dance companies in the Twin Cities. At a rehearsal, on the eve of performances Friday through Sunday at The O’Shaughnessy, Uri and Toni talk about how their chemistry feeds their art.

Quickies

Five small, indepedent theater troupes in the Twin Cities have banded together to stage an evening of Quickies — a smorgasbord of scenes and slices of upcoming productions — at Bryant-Lake Bowl. 3-Minute Egg found out why five heads are better than one. Quickies continues at the BLB at 7 pm this Friday and Sunday.

Nancy Donoval: Unscented

Nancy Donoval is a Twin Cities storyteller who has stamped a name for herself locally through the Fringe Festival and nationally on the storytelling festival circuit. She suffers from a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, and she has spent the past year and beyond working to make her living environment scent-free. 3-Minute Egg dropped into a benefit for Donoval last Friday and spoke with her about maintaining her artistry during her health crisis.

Book Arts Fest

Photographers, poets and illustrators are among the many who have steered their work toward book arts. A couple dozen of them showed off their work over the weekend at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts’ seventh annual Book Arts Fest. 3-Minute Egg introduces you to four of them.

arts journalists wanted

3-Minute Egg wants to broaden the egg basket in 2009 to begin featuring work from other Twin Cities arts journalists keen on expanding into the video realm (after all, too much Matt Peiken is never a good thing). This gig doesn’t pay in cash, but instead offers training in the fundamentals of reporting, editing and storytelling through online video, along with the opportunity to expand your portfolio beyond the printed page.

Email matt(at)3minuteegg.org with the subject line FREELANCE. Attach a resume, mention the artistic disciplines you’re most interested in covering and whether you own or have access to a high-definition video cam. This is an open-ended call for applicants, and there is no deadline.

John Munger is dance

A researcher for Dance USA by day, John Munger has been producing his own dance works and participating in the dances of others locally since the 1970s. This past Wednesday, as part of his occasional series at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, Munger invited a handful of other local dance-makers to perform an evening of solos. 3-Minute Egg went there to speak with Munger about his life in dance.

Remembrance and Hope

It might seem a strange time to produce an hour-long piece of choral music dedicated to the Holocaust, but Vocalessence founding artistic director Philip Brunelle says the subject is timeless. 3-Minute Egg attends a rehearsal for Kaddish: Music of Remembrance and Hope at Ted Mann Concert Hall. The premiere performance is 8 pm Saturday.

Deer Camp

Shanan Wexler built her comedic resume through the Brave New Workshop. Now she’s directing a musical comedy, Deer Camp, through the Actors Theater. 3-Minute Egg talked with Wexler and two cast members about how improvisation fed into this scripted show. Performances run through December 28 at the Lowry Theater in St. Paul.