October 24, 2013 - On the agenda this week: Four gifted landscape painters, a celebrated composer's Minnesota premiere and a play that has it all: zombies, cannibals and a Buddhist backbone.
September 29, 2011 - On this edition of Art Hounds, a look at Jon Hassler Theater's production of "Pinocchio;" the Weisman Art Museum re-opening; and poet Seamus Heaney visiting Minnesota.
June 25, 2010 - One of Minnesota's most famous sons gets a lifetime achievement award this weekend, and I know what you're thinking but it's not Bob Dylan. Prince will be honored by the cable tv station BET as part of its annual awards show Sunday night at 7pm. Chris Roberts gathered two prominent Prince watchers and his former drummer to talk about Prince's relationship with his hometown.
April 9, 2010 - The world of smackdowns and body slams is being transported from the ring to the stage in a new production that's opening at Mixed Blood Theatre. The play, called "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" is a local playwright's exploration of the underbelly of a sport he loves- professional wrestling.
November 20, 2009 - At a lot of Twin Cities theaters, gray haired patrons are becoming the norm, reflecting an ageing population with more time and disposable income. They also represent the challenge theaters face in attracting younger, non-theatergoers. Chris Roberts reports on a company that's meeting that challenge better than most-- the Minneapolis-based Workhaus Collective.
October 12, 2009 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles August Wilson’s last play “Radio Golf.” Roberts talks with Lou Bellamy and Quentin Skinner about the play.
October 1, 2008 - St. Paul residents now need to be more careful when they go for a walk or they might trip over a poem. For the last few months the city has been implanting verse penned by St. Paulites in sidewalks all over town. The public art project is designed to bring more poetry into everyday life.
July 31, 2008 - The 15th annual Minnesota Fringe Festival, the midwest's biggest performing arts festival, opens today. For the next ten days actors and dancers will perform in over 150 shows throughout Minneapolis. Covering the event seemed an impossible task for one reporter - so we sent out four to see what's in store for Fringe-goers this year.
November 28, 2007 - Misfits. Rebels. Anti-rock stars. Those are just some of the descriptions of one of Minnesota's most notorious and influential rock bands, The Replacements. The group became synonymous with the Twin Cities' music heyday of the 1980s. Now, more than 15-years after its break-up, the band has achieved near myth status among many fans and critics. Writer Jim Walsh has assembled an oral history entitled "The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting." Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts sat down and read it.
July 20, 2007 - A "Puppet Rampage" has overtaken the Twin Cities this week. Members of the organization Puppeteers of America are holding their national festival in St. Paul and Minneapolis. One of the festival keynoters is Obie Award-winning performance artist Paul Zaloom. During the 90s, Zaloom starred in the cable TV series "Beakman's World." He's performing his latest puppet production tonight at In the Heart of the Beast Theater in Minneapolis. It uses an ancient Middle Eastern shadow puppet tradition to lampoon 21st-century America. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts reports.