Toy Theatre After Dark

Open Eye Figure Theatre opens up its stage to a variety of local and visiting puppet theater artists through a series called Toy Theatre After Dark. In addition to work from veteran Chicago artists and Open Eye impresario Michael Sommers, the latest evning featured work from local artists Daniel Polnau and Liz Schachterle — both featured in this episode of 3-Minute Egg.

Write of Spring: Killing in Print

More than 60 local authors took turns greeting fans and signing books Saturday at the seventh annual Write of Spring event at Once Upon a Crime bookstore in Minneapolis. 3-Minute Egg met with a handful of them — some escapees from the St. Paul Pioneer Press newsroom — to discuss motive, method and tips for killing people in print.

Ethnic Dance Theatre turns 35

Donald LaCourse grew up in a German folk dancing family, and those folk dances never left his blood. He formed Ethnic Dance Theatre 35 years ago, in Minneapolis, to introduce the Twin Cities to the folk dances of Europe and elsewhere. LaCourse’s company is still thriving, staging dances from cultures and countries from virtually everywhere in the world (LaCourse points only to the dances of Native Americans and the people of sub-Saharan Africa as beyond his reach of authenticity). 3-Minute Egg spoke with LaCourse as Ethnic Dance Theatre celebrated its anniversary with performances of Hungarian music and dance at the Fitzgerald Theater.

Writer to Writer

Years ago, SASE: The Write Place developed a mentorship program to provide more intimate, comfortable and focused settings and relationships for emerging writers to further their craft. Writer-to-Writer is still going strong under the roof of Intermedia Arts, which merged with SASE two years ago. 3-Minute Egg met with a mentor, a couple of mentees and the program’s founder, Carolyn Holbrook, during a reading of poetry and prose at Intermedia Arts. Another reading from the program’s participants is 7:30 pm March 30.

Playwright in the making

Graham Gremore spent much of his teens on the stage of SteppingStone Theatre. Even then, he wrote his own plays. Now a college student in Los Angeles, Gremore returned home a couple weeks ago for the premiere of Streetcar! — the second show he authored for SteppingStone — a musical penned with a Los Angeles friend and composer, Sasha Smith. At a dress rehearsal, 3-Minute Egg talks with Gremore about his methods and future as a playwright. Performances continue through March 29.

Choreographers Renovate

Two years ago, Lisa Conlin auditioned for the Walker Art Center’s Choreographers’ Evening but wasn’t chosen. Undaunted, Conlin built a choreographers’ evening of her own. The second running of Renovate, at the Ritz Theater, featured work from more than a dozen Twin Cities dance makers. 3-Minute Egg met with several of them and peeked into a performance.

April Sellers: Beyond Nudity

While teaching her final class of the 2008 spring semester at St. Cloud State University, April Sellers slipped on the dance floor and fell over a bench, separating her left shoulder. The injury was so severe that she had to have her shoulder immobilized for months. She couldn’t dance or teach, and a specialist told her to look for another profession. She turned her adversity into new work that, she says, has broken new ground for her artistry and revitalized her commitment to dance. 3-Minute Egg caught up with Sellers at Rogue Buddha Gallery, in Northeast Minneapolis, where the April Sellers Dance Collective performs Transcendental Biology nightly through March 27.

WARNING: Brief nudity.

Eggs on the shelf / Take a poll

3-Minute Egg is taking this next week off and will return with fresh Eggs Monday, March 23.

In the meantime, please take a moment — literally, a moment — to answer this informal single-question poll. It’ll help us get a little better picture of the Egg’s audience. Thanks, and we’ll see you next week!

Experimental and Media Art at the U

More than 20 faculty, grad students and alum of the Experimental and Media Art program of the UofM’s art department show off their takes on the here and now in a new exhibition at the Nash Gallery. 3-Minute Egg takes a peak and talks with associate professors Diane Willow and Ali Momeni about the state of experimental art.

Made at MCAD

Last Friday brought about a schizophrenic evening at Minneapolis College of Art and Design — the openings of four separate exhibitions under one roof. 3-Minute Egg met up with two honored artists in the annual Made at MCAD exhbition and caught up with former Low bassist Zak Sally, who left the band to focus on his comic art — featured in the newest issue of the comics quarterly Mome.