Theater arts has been at the center of the creative atmosphere within Minnesota for decades. The varied array of local venues have both fostered talent through the years and brought world-renowned individuals to present their artistic approaches to our Minnesota stages. The theater scene has also been integral in social dynamics within our communities…from social issues, race, to gender.
The likes of The Guthrie, Mixed Blood, Penumbra, Park Square, Stages Theater, History Theatre, Theater in the Round, Duluth Playhouse, and so many more have drawn audiences in and left an indelible mark.
Collected here are a selection of interviews, performances, critiques, and profiles of those behind and in front of the curtains.
February 1, 1996 - Joe Dowling, Guthrie Theater's new artistic director, visits the Minnesota Public Radio studios to discuss the new season of Guthrie plays and the theater world in general. Dowling also answers listener questions.
April 15, 1996 - MPR’s John Rabe talks with Lou Bellamy, artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, about the arts organization celebrating its 20th season.
April 19, 1996 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on a potent mixture of visual arts, drama and jazz form at a Penumbra Theatre production of Portrait of the Artist as a Soul Man Dead.
May 30, 1996 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles playwright Rebecca Rice and her play Everlasting Arms, which is being performed at The Penumbra Theatre.
September 12, 1996 - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and Nobel Prize winner, speaks at Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis for the annual Global Voices Lecture series. Heaney reads numerous poems during speech.
February 17, 1997 - On this Midmorning, a Voices of Minnesota with the perseverance of two families in facing racial discrimination. Barbara Cyrus tells of her family's move to escape discrimination in the south only to encounter it in the north. Then, Archie Givens Jr. tells how his father's commitment to education led him to donate African American art and literature to the University of Minnesota.
February 17, 1997 - Midday presents a rebroadcast of a Fresh Air program of debate on racial politics between playwright August Wilson theater critic Robert Brustein. The event was entitled On Cultural Power.
March 28, 1997 - A Midday broadcast presentation of playwright Arthur Miller, appearing at the Guthrie Theater's "Global Voices" lecture series. Miller talks with Guthrie’s Joe Dowling about playwriting. At time of lecture, Miller’s play The Price, was having a run at the Guthrie.
May 14, 1997 - For the first time in it's 20-year history, St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre Company will perform August Wilson’s Fences on the stage of the region's best known theater, the Guthrie, in Minneapolis.
December 19, 1997 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on Penumbra's Black Nativity. Every family has their holiday traditions, but few are as complex as one Minneapolis family, whose season revolves around the Penumbra Theatre's annual production.