James Sewell “Ballet”

Every year, James Sewell invites his dancers to choreograph pieces on the company, but this is the first time Sewell is wrapping these new, diverse dance works into an evening of public performances. 3-Minute Egg went to Wendesday’s dress rehearsal to look at new works from Sally Rousse, Nicolas Lincoln, Penelope Freeh and guest choreographer Morgan Thorson. Performances of the Ballet Works Project began Thursday and continue through Sunday at the Southern Theater — James Sewell Ballet’s first appearance at this venue.

Workhaus Collective

A small band of Twin Cities playwrights takes matters into its own hands through the Workhaus Collective — developing, critiquing and producing each other’s works. The next offering comes from Jeannine Coulombe, whose Planting Shelly Anne hits the stage this weekend at the Playwrights’ Center. Step into the creative process and a rehearsal through this 3-Minute Egg. Performances continue through February 14.

Snowman at Open Eye

Michael Sommers was a cutting-edge in the Twin Cities long before the term came into vogue. Today, he and his partner, Susan Haas, are devoted to turning their Open Eye Figure Theatre into a home for their own interdisciplinary work and that of others. 3-Minute Egg steps into a tech rehearsal for Open Eye’s new show, Snowman, and finds out how Sommers and playwright Kira Obolensky meld human and puppet theater. Performances begin Friday and run through the entirety of February.

Jerome Artists at Northern Clay

3-Minute Egg takes you to the opening reception for the 2009 Jerome Artists exhibition at the Northern Clay Center, featuring diverse work and approaches from Twin Cities ceramic artists Jan Bilek, Mike Helke and Jennifer Rogers and New Yorker Jackie Rines. The exhibition is on view through March 1.

Kenwood Symphony competition

Each year, the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra invites local vocalists and musicians to compete in its annual Masters Concerto and Aria Competition. Winners of the 11th annual competition performed this past Saturday at Church of the Annunciation in Minneapolis. 3-Minute Egg went to the rehearsal earlier in the day.

Down in Mississippi

The Guthrie is supporting local playwrights through the Ruth Easton New Play Series — a collaboration with the Playwrights’ Center to develop 10 works over two years. Part of that development comes in the form of staged readings of works in progress. 3-Minute Egg attended one such reading on Martin Luther King night — Carlyle Brown’s Down in Mississippi, a piece of historical fiction inspired by the fight in the Deep South to register black college students to vote.

Holiday in the Sun

Andrea Stanislav, a sculpture instructor in the art department at the University of Minnesota, has made a quick reputation in the Twin Cities as a dynamic artist in her own right. A year after her well-received show in the MAEP Gallery of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Stanislav opened Holiday in the Sun this past weekend in the Burnet Art Gallery of the Chambers Hotel, in downtown Minneapolis. 3-Minute Egg was there to capture the glitter. The show is on view through February 2.

The Gypsy and the General

The Minnesota Fringe Festival can no longer be contained to the actual festival. Successful shows have spun off into independent runs and tours. The Southern Theater is getting in on the trend this weekend by staging and evening of “Fringe Favroties” — The Nosdrahcir Sisters and The Gypsy & the General. 3-Minute Egg was intrigued by the latter — a collaboration between a small theater company, a musician/composer and a dancer/choreographer.

Rooms of Disquiet

Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater takes its name literally — Pimsler calls on his performers as actors as much as dancers. Illustrating that is the company’s remount this weekend of Rooms of Disquiet, a work Pimsler premiered six years ago as a shorter work and then revitalized in August 2008 in site-specific performances at the Tofte Lake Center, in Ely, Minn. 3-Minute Egg eavesdropped on a rehearsal leading up to performances January 23-24 at the Playwrights’ Center.

Art Shanty Projects

Six winters ago, Minneapolis artist and art activist Peter Haakon Thompson teamed with David Pitman and other artist friends to construct ice houses and place them for a few freaky, frigid weeks on Medicine Lake, west of Minneapolis. The Art Shanty Projects has since become a January tradition — 20 teams of artists, designers and architects to turn their whimsy into three weeks of reality on the tundra. 3-Minute Egg poked around Saturday’s opening festivities, braving gthe Arctic winds so you don’t have to. Of course, if you care to, the Shanties remain up through February 14.