Local Art Seen: Opening Reception for Art On The Plaza Generates Buzz

Last Friday the opening reception for Art On The Plaza attracted two television news teams and Wisconsin State Senator Janet Bewley. Pretty big little party. All the usual suspects were there, people central to the local Wisconsin art scene like Patricia Lenz, Laurie Kempton and Kat Senn, among others. The acoustic duo Similar Dogs performed a variety of covers and original compositions, creating a generous welcoming background vibe. The space itself was packed, front to back and side to side with art, guests and friends of the young gallery.

According to Kempton, the only thing that could have made this a better space would be to have also had a stage, a natural response coming from a playwright and member of Twin Ports Stage.

For more details about Art On The Plaza you can visit and "Like" their Facebook page.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Check it out.

Lori Kempton Talks About Twin Ports Stage and Its Upcoming Show: Sealed For Freshness

Last week I heard rumors about things happening in Superior, a city that is waking up to once again get on the track toward reaching its full potential. One important feature of any serious community is a vibrant arts culture, which is nicely fermenting here. One of the players in this fermentation is Twin Ports Stage, a non-profit professional theater company. A primary distinction between theater companies and general community theater is that the actors are paid.

In three weeks Twin Ports Stage will be taking to the stage for their first major production, Sealed For Freshness. I spoke with Lori Kempton about their upcoming show.

EN: This is a big step for Twin Ports Stage. What's the grand vision for your production company?

Lori Kempton: While I agree it's a "big step" in terms of time and money, it's really the natural progression that we always intended. It is our inaugural stage production and so for us it is important in that sense. The broader vision and purpose of Twin Ports Stage encompasses a lot of different aspects. We intend to build a multi-purpose art facility that provides a much needed stage for our community and fellow artists. We intend to give voice to original material by regional/national writers and musicians and provide gallery space to visual artists. Eventually we intend to expand to provide pre/post production facilities for film projects. Our presence in downtown Superior will also serve as an anchor to revitalize the downtown area and provide a much needed impetus to other businesses to occupy Tower Avenue.

EN: Tell us a little bit about this first show. Who wrote it? What's it all about?

LK: It's a fun show about a Tupperware Party gone astray. As the Samuel French description notes: "Sealed for Freshness" is a play by Doug Stone. Directed by Merry Renn Vaughan, this play is set in 1968 during the heyday of Tupperware parties. Hostess Bonnie invites a group of neighbors over for a party. The guest list: perky, rich Jean, Jean's cranky and very pregnant sister Sinclair, ditzy-blonde Tracy Ann, and new neighbor Diane, who's made quite a career selling Tupperware, but at the expense of her marriage. The mix of personalities and the number of martinis consumed lead to a great deal of absurd high jinks plus revelations of an equal number of secrets and insecurities.

EN: When and where is it playing? Where can people buy tickets?

LK: The show is playing at the Manion Theater in Holden Fine Arts on the UWS Campus September 4 -14. Tickets can be purchased electronically at brownpapertickets or at the door at each performance. Ironically Twin Ports Stage, a project of the John D. Munsell Legacy Fund, is doing their first stage production on the stage that John D. Munsell loved, Returning to Manion Theater is a homecoming for many of the UWS Alumni featured in the show as well as our director Merry Renn Vaughan.

Cast:
Cathy Podeszwa as BONNIE KAPICA
Nick Elias as RICHARD KAPICA
Victoria Main as JEAN PAWLICKI (alum)
Bridget Ideker as TRACY ANN McCLAIN
Sharon Dixon Obst as SINCLAIR BENEVENTE (alum)
Cheryl Zupec as DIANE WHETTLAUFER (alum)

EN: Why is it important for Superior to have its own playhouse?

LK: Superior currently has no public performance space. The community desperately needs a space dedicated to the performing and visual arts. In addition, there are also local theatre companies, touring companies and a number of area events -- such as the Duluth/Superior Film Festival -- that could utilize the space. We feel the our presence in downtown Superior will also serve as an anchor to revitalize the downtown area and provide a much needed impetus to other businesses to occupy Tower Avenue.

EdNote: If you’d like to keep up with everything else Twin Ports Stage is doing, go to their Facebook page and “like” them. And maybe I'll see you at the show.

Oh, and one more thing, if you don't have any plans tomorrow night, you might enjoy checking out Episodes 7 & 8 of of the Twin Ports Stage live radio theater program "Twin Ports." 

That is, only if you're not already planning to attend Amy Lynn's book release party at the Prove. The book is titled, Remnants of the Disappeared.

A Few Northland Happenings for the Week of February 21

"Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet." ~Plato

I don't think the Plato quote has all that much to do with this blog entry other than I thought it interesting, as I think several of this week's Twin Ports events look interesting. Have you ever wished you had a few clones so you could do it all? (I mean, part of me wants to just stay home so I can read, write and paint.)

Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra: Chamber Music at the Underground
One of the strong memories from my youth was my dad's habit of reading the Sunday paper while listening to his albums of classical music. Most memorable of these were Dvorak, Beethoven, Tschaikovski and Echoes of Offenbach, among others. Tonight there will be a special performance of chamber music by the DuSu Symphony Orchestra at the Underground (inside the Depot). At 5:30 there will be a social time in advance of the 6 p.m. music. Erin Alridge will be playing a piece with two percussionists and another piece with a string quartet (Dvorak). In addition, Betsy Husby has organized Villa Lobos, an 8-cello piece with a singer, and the symphony's brass section will be featured on Poulenc Trio Sonata for trumpet, trombone and French horn.

The Explorers Club @ the Zinema
The Zinema's weekly Tuesday night series is designed to stimulate new perspectives and give you a chance to venture off the beaten path of cinema. UWS Philosophy Professor Dr. Sarah LaChance Adams will guide us through one of the great minds of modern thought, Slavoj Zizek in "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology." Cultural theorist Slavoj Zizek is once again teamed up with director Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert's Guide to Cinema) for a romp through the crossroads of cinema and philosophy. Zizek essentially dissects a number of epochal films in order to explore and expose how they reinforce prevailing ideologies.

What appeals to me here is the invitation to see films I've experienced analyzed from an alternate angle. According to the invitation: As the ideology that undergirds our cinematic fantasies is revealed, striking associations emerge: What hidden Catholic teachings lurk at the heart of The Sound of Music? What are the fascist political dimensions of Jaws? Taxi Driver, Zabriskie Point, The Searchers, The Dark Knight, John Carpenter's They Live ("one of the forgotten masterpieces of the Hollywood Left"), Titanic, Kinder Eggs, verité news footage, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and propaganda epics from Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia all inform Zizek's stimulating, provocative and often hilarious psychoanalytic-cinematic rant. Dr. LaChance Adams will give a small talk after each film and then lead a discussion with anyone in the audience who wants to explore the ideas brought up in the film further.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, psychoanalyst and cultural critic. He is a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. No matter your ideological bent, it can be an interesting and often enlightening experience to see perspectives beyond the confines of one's own established convictions. The show begins at 7:00 and is $9 for adults, $7 for students, and $6.50 for seniors.

Art Openings @ the DAI
Thursday, February 20, from 5-7pm the Duluth Art Institute celebrates two new exhibitions: The Space Around You featuring photographs by Kristen Pless & First Spark, the annual K-12 art show featuring the work of regional students

AAMC Dance Party
This Friday… Why the Armory Matters Winter Dance Party. MUSIC, DANCING, FOOD and MORE! Here's another creative fund-raiser to help the Armory Arts and Music Center and its program the Music Resource Center commemorate the 1959 Winter Dance Party featuring Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Dion and the Big Bopper that was held at the historic Duluth Armory. Rock-a-Billy Revue will provide 50's music to dance to. There will be a brief demonstration of 50s dancing at the beginning of the night for those interested in learning a few steps. There will also be hors d'oevres, cash bar, and a silent auction. Event to be held in the Greysolon Ballroom, 231 E Superior St. in downtown Duluth.

The Winter Dance Party will feature ROCK-A-BILLY REVUE playing the biggest hits of the 50s.

Tickets available online NOW - see Get Tickets above. $30 General Admission - $20 Student with valid ID

FIFTIES ATTIRE NOT REQUIRED - BUT WILL BE ADMIRED

Have a good time and get your dacing shoes on. It's a throw back to the '50s including live music, cash bar, hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction with some very special items.

ALL PROCEEDS GO TO benefit the Armory Arts and Music Center and its music resource center program. The historic Duluth Armory was the site of the 1959 Winter Dance Party concert featuring Buddy Holly. Get Tickets Here.

Some of the businesses that have donated items for the silent auction: Rosewood Music, Superior Ballroom Dance, Adeline Inc., Bent Paddle Brewing Co., AJ's Tanning, Lizzards Art Gallery & Framing, Self Discovery Adventures, Country Inn & Suites, Cascade Lodge, Schmitt Music, The Tent Guy, Shannon's Stained Glassery, Lynnette's Portrait Design and more. Thank you.

READ "Making a Case for Preserving the Armory" HERE

MORE REMINDERS
Twin Ports Stage and Wisconsin Public Radio will present Episode 5 of their live radio soap opera "Twin Ports" at the Belknap Lounge, 130 Belknap Street near the campus of UWS.

Next week, on Thursday the 27th, the Two Harbors Public Library is having an opening reception in recognition of the fabulous installation by Tonja Sell and Nancy Miller. Here's yet another example of the value and power of public art. If you are able, Two Harbors is just a hop, skip and a jump from the northeast end of Duluth on one of the most scenic highways in America.

The soon to be dedicated installation at Two Harbors Public Library.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Engage it!

Radio Soap Opera Invites Public To Its Superior Premiere Next Week

Last night, as I reflected on the various plays and musicals I've attended since arriving in the Twin Ports in 1986, it dawned on me that I could not recall a single dud. Not only have the selections be super, their execution is repeatedly exceptional. My biggest problem is that I can't take them home and watch the darn things on DVD.

Nevertheless, I do try to get out when something catches my eye and this announcement did just that:

Twin Ports Stage and WI Public Radio present a live recording of the premiere episode of the radio soap opera "Twin Ports" at the Belknap Lounge in Superior. Featuring a cast of well-known local actors, the show will take place Wednesday, June 19th at 6:00pm (130 Belknap St., Superior). The show is the debut performance of the new Superior-based theatre company Twin Ports Stage, a project of the John D Munsell Legacy Fund.

I contacted managing director Victoria Main to do an email interview so that I could share a more complete picture of what to expect. The answers came back quickly, but with a caveat. "Lori (Kempton) and I both contributed to these answers." Initially I considered picking up the phone to get clarifying identification, but chose a different route instead. We're artists, and sometimes we write our own rules.

There is certainly a precedent for this kind of interview, established during the Cubist period when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braques created paintings with no identifying features to enable viewers discern who did what. Hence, my designation VM/LK.

EN: Who are some of the players in this soap opera?

VM/LK: The cast (so far) for the soap opera is: John Munson, Barbara Reyelts, Julie Ahasay, Lee Gundersheimer, Victoria Main, Chris Nollet, Brian Matuszak, Pat Castellano, Cathy Podeszwa, Jean Sramek. We will continue to cast locally as the storyline develops. There are many other roles that will appear in future episodes.

EN: Radio drama has a long history that precedes television and Garrison Keillor employs it a lot on his Prairie Home Companion program. What is it that makes radio drama so fun?

VM/LK: The soap opera is more of a comedy than a drama. There will be dramatic moments, as in all soaps, but much of it is very tongue-in-cheek and really plays up a lot of the quirky people and things about the Twin Ports. Sort of our weird little 'culture' which I love. Although it is set roughly in the contemporary, the style of it is very much a throwback to the old-time radio shows, with the commercials and the musical stuff that we've written to go along with the script. That's a big part of what we want to capture. The sort of sound and feel of the old shows. And, of course, we'll be taping episodes with an audience in locations in Superior and Duluth, so that interaction will be fun, too. A lot of the fun also comes from the inherent weirdness of the characters. Which is very much like reality. LOL

EN: What is the story line for “Twin Ports” and is it a contemporary drama or a step back in time?

VM/LK: The story line, like all soaps, has to do with what happens to the characters in the town. I don't want to give too much away, but there are some characters that are classic soap characters. Rich socialite lady, town stud, the couple that runs the tavern, there's kind of a wacky old lady who's very quirky... The story opens on a night when there's a terrible blizzard. So people get stuck in places they wouldn't ordinarily be and... stuff happens.

EN: Sounds fun. Tell me more about the new theater company you’re starting?

VM/LK: The radio soap opera is the maiden voyage of the new theatre company Twin Ports Stage. Lori and I have been working to put together a new theatre company for quite a while, and then after the death of John Munsell from UWS, we started talking to John's wife Suzie and other UWS alums, about creating a theater in John's name. And that's why Twin Ports Stage -- and the radio show -- is a project of the John D. Munsell Legacy Fund. Our primary mission once we're established is to provide live quality theatre in Superior, introduce the material of new local and regional playwrights, provide a stage/home for other performing groups, and most importantly, to pay our actors. It was very important to John Munsell that artists be paid for their work and we share that belief. We are determined to make that happen as well as honoring John by establishing a theatre in his name in Superior.

* * * *

EdNote: For what it's worth, a great way to stay in touch with what's happening in our local arts and theater scene is to follow Twin Ports Arts Align on Facebook. Vicki and Lori: thanks for filling in the details. Rain or shine I will be there. Thanks for the eVite.