Theatre Arts & Dance in partnership with The Moving Company present LITTLE DICKENS, Dec. 13-16 at Open EyeTheatre

Minneapolis, MN -Striking clocks, surprise midnight visitors, imagine what A Christmas Carol might look like set in a contemporary New York penthouse. Writer Steve Epp re-tools Dickens' Victorian tale as an edgy, media-saturated comic mash-up in a little one-act experiment Want and Ignorance present: Little Dickens advised and directed by Dominique Serrand and Nathan Keepers of The Moving Company. Conceived over a year ago, the original idea for this comic sketch grew from a discussion by Marcus Dilliard and his Master of Fine Arts graduate students in Design/Technology at the University of Minnesota, when they began studying the screen adaptations and twentieth century spin-offs of Dickens' text. The goal was to illuminate the "outdated" notions of Want, Ignorance and the Common Good. For this resulting production, they designed the visual environment by weaving together vintage film clips with videos excerpted from modern retellings of A Christmas Carol to sharpen the send-up. Seating is limited for this experimental dark comedy to be performed live on stage December 13-16 at the Open Eye Figure Theatre, 506 East 24th Street Minneapolis, 55404. Free parking available at S.E. corner of 24th and Portland. Recommended for ages 12 and up. This production is a Reimagining Community and Arts Partnerships Program(RiCAP) project in collaboration with The Moving Company.

For tickets and information about Little Dickens visit openeyetheatre.org/dickens or
call the Open Eye Figure Theatre ticket office at 612-874-6338. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general admission; a small ticketing fee appplies.

Epp, Keepers and Serrand are founding members of The Moving Company, a theatrical company, based in the Twin Cities. Formerly, they were company members and directors of the celebrated Tony Award-winning Theatre de la Jeune Lune which disbanded four years ago.
Dilliard is a long-time collaborator with both theatre companies.

Dominique Serrand (Advisor/ Director) Paris native Dominique Serrand was one of the co-founders of Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Artistic Director of the company from 1978 to 2008. He studied at the National Circus School and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Serrand has been knighted by the French Government and inducted into the Order of Arts and Letters.His directing credits include Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, and the Guthrie Theater among others. In 2005, Theatre de la Jeune Lune received a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre.

Marcus Dilliard has designed for theater, opera and dance across North America and in Europe, including numerous productions for Theatre de la Jeune Lune, The Guthrie Theater, The Minnesota Opera and The Minnesota Orchestra. He has also designed the lighting for productions at the Children's Theatre Company, American Repertory Theater, The Intiman, Penumbra Theater, Dallas Theater Center, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Athens Festival, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Minnesota Dance Theater, Flying Foot Forum, Katha Dance Theater, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, The Spoleto Festival (Italy), Flanders Opera, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Pacific, The Ordway Music Theater, Pittsburgh Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Vancouver Opera, Le Opera de Montreal, Canadian Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, and Boston Lyric Opera. He is the recipient of an Ivey Award, a Sage Award and two McKnight Theater Artist Fellowships. He is the Head of the Design and Technical Theater Program at the University of Minnesota and is a member of United Scenic Artists, the U.S. Institute for Technical Theater and is a graduate of Boston University's School for the Arts.

Steve Epp (Adaptor /Playwright) - Steve Epp was an actor, writer, director and co-Artistic Director at Theatre de la Jeune Lune from 1983-2008. In his 25 years with Jeune Lune, Steve collaborated in the creation and performance of over 50 productions. He was the winner of the 1993 Outer-Critics Circle award for best new play. Most recently Epp co-authored a new one-person play, The House Can't Stand, and Come Hell and High Water for The Moving Company. Epp holds a degree in Theatre and History from Gustavus Adolphus College. He was a 1999 Fox Fellow, and a 2009 McKnight Playwrights Center Theatre Artist Fellow. He currently appears in Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters produced by the Yale Repertory Theatre and Shakespeare Company now playing at the Guthrie Theater.

Nathan Keepers (Advisor/Director) is Artistic Associate of The Moving Company, where he's co-conceived, created and performed in Come Hell and High Water, Werther and Lotte and The War Within/All's Fair. Nathan was with Theatre de la Jeune Lune for 11 seasons and performed in various productions including, Fishtank, The Deception, The Miser, Tartuffe, The Little Prince and others. Locally he has been on stage at The Jungle Theater (Waiting for Godot, Fully Committed, The Swan), the Guthrie Theater and Children's Theatre Company. Nationally, Keepers has worked at Playmakers Repertory, American Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Alley, La Jolla Playhouse and The Folger Theatre in Washington, DC. He's studied with Pierre Byland in Switzerland, and Philippe Gaulier in London.

Dance Revolutions opens Dec.6 features works by Byrd, Jones, Shapiro & Smith, and Zane

Minneapolis, MN - University Dance Theatre's Dance Revolutions presents some of the most stunning work by celebrated American choreographers of the '80s and'90s: Donald Byrd, Bill T. Jones, Shapiro and Smith, and Arnie Zane. Dance Revolutions takes center stage December 6-9 at the Rarig Center's grand Whiting Proscenium Theatre on the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus. The program features four powerful pieces performed by students under the guidance of director Toni Pierce-Sands and Cowles Visiting Artists Rosalynde LeBlanc Loo, Germaul Barnes and Brian Harlan Brooks. Opening Thursday, December 6, Dance Revolutions continues December 7 and 8 nightly at 7:30pm and concludes on Sunday, December 9 with a 2:00 pm matinee performance. A question and answer session with special guest Donald Byrd and U of M's Director of Dance Ananya Chatterjea immediately follows the opening night performance.

What can audiences expect? "An evening of engaging, inspired and breath-taking pieces by
masters of modern choreography," says Dance Revolutions director Toni Pierce-Sands, "Donald Byrd's finger popping, totally hip Jazz 1 (1997) with musical accompaniment by legendary Max Roach invites you in with its beat, then Shaprio and Smith's Family (1988) explores life in and around your living room's favorite armchair-- amusing, and touching. The evening concludes with Arnie Zanes' powerful The Gift/No God Logic (1987) paired with Bill T. Jones' joyous D-Man in the Waters, Part 1 (1989)." The four-part fully produced program has been shaped and set according to the rigorous standards of the original choreographic creators by their chosen professional representatives. Through these Visiting Cowles guest artists and their exacting attention to form, content and spirit, the piece is recreated. As these artists teach, choreograph, rehearse repertory and lecture in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Twin Cities community at large, the Cowles Land Grant Chair provides support.

For tickets and information about Dance Revolutions call the U of M Arts Ticket Office at 612-624-2345 or visit dance.umn.edu Customer parking is available at the 21st Ave Parking Ramp is located across the street from the Rarig Center, on the University of Minnesota West Bank Campus.

"The Rover" directed by Joel Sass & performed by the senior class of University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater's BFA Actor Training Program, opens this week!

Part sex farce, part revenge drama, part romantic comedy, Aphra Behn's The Rover, staged by guest director Joel Sass opens the University of Minnesota's Theatre Arts & Dance season with laughter, sword play, and the provocative question "Should not women do as men do?" Presented at the Rarig Center's Stoll Thrust stage on the West Bank Campus, The Rover will be performed by the senior class of University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater's BFA Actor Training Program and play November 1 through November 11, 2012.

Director/adapter Joel Sass observes, "In The Rover, love is a bullfight - raging hormones, and the thrill of seduction edge ever so close to impending danger...that's where the glamorous gets ugly, even violent." Playwright Behn undercuts the double standard says Sass, "This is the work of a self- actualized individual willing to explore beyond women's social confines of the 1600s. Her women are caught in a clash of strict social roles, and their own recognizable modern I-want-this-now impulses." During Behn's own time she was suspected of plagiarism and accused of lewdness because of her gender. Only recently has Behn been recognized for her influence; as Virginia Woolf admonished in A Room of One's Own (1929) "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn."

The Rover opens tomorrow night! For the behind-the-scenes scoop, check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM0suBnODtc&list=UUYV2lVUpk5jmldOgAqtX4DQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Dance Faculty and Alumni Receive a Bouquet of 2012 Sage Awards

Joanie Smith, faculty member and choreographer of Shapiro and Smith Dance, was honored for Outstanding Performance recognized in a single work "Celebrating Our 25th Year," as were faculty member/artists/choreographers Toni-Pierce and Uri Sands for Outstanding Performance of "January(Part 1 and 2)" at the 2012 Sage Awards held at the Cowles Center in downtown Minneapolis. The yearly event celebrates the local dance community and highlights its top work, as judged by a panel of peers.

Dance Program alumni Andrew Lester and Eva Mohn both received Sage Awards for Outstanding Performer. Morris Johnson of UMTAD was named best dance educator for which he earned the 2012 Sage Award.

The evening was also filled with many nominees from the U of M's dance and design/tech programs and a striking performance by Ananya Dance Theatre. The awards, now in their eight year are named for Sage Cowles, arts benefactor, choreographer and dancer.
Kudos to one and all!

Nationally known playwright Lee Blessing workshops new play "Courting Harry" in first public reading with U of M Students

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/11/12) -Nationally known playwright Lee Blessing's new play Courting Harry will be given its first public reading on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. at the Rarig Center's Kilburn Arena Theatre, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis, on the U of M's West Bank.

Blessing, a Minneapolis native, has been on campus since Wednesday, Oct. 10 working with playwriting students and rehearsing with student performers in the U of M's Theatre Arts and Dance Department.

"We are thrilled to have a playwright of Lee Blessing's stature interacting and challenging our students," said Carl Flink, chair of the Theatre Arts and Dance Department. "We are so excited to join in this Reimagining Community Partnership with alumus Ron Peluso, of St. Paul's History Theatre, who will direct and produce Courting Harry in the spring as part of their season."

Blessing's residency will culminate in a workshop reading of Courting Harry which explores the lifelong friendship Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice Harry Blackmun, both natives of St. Paul. The friendship was put to the test in one of the most contentious cases of all time: Roe v Wade.

The reading is free and open to the public, however, seating is limited and reservations are required. Please email Jenna at frank585@umn.edu.

This reading is performed by theatre students under the guidance of Dominic Taylor, U of M Professor of Playwriting and the direction of History Theater Artistic Director Ron Peluso.

Carl Flink & Black Label Movement on TPT's MN Original, Sunday, Sept.30

This Sunday, September 30, Twin Cities Public Television's MN Original will feature Carl Flink, Theatre Arts and Dance, Chair and his Black Label Movement (BLM) in an exploration of "The Moving Cell Project." The program airs at 6:00pm on TPT's Channel 2 and the Life Channel at 10:00pm.

This new episode focuses on the scientific and artistic exchange between BLM, artistic director Carl Flink and his longtime collaborator biomedical engineer David Odde as they examine the latest findings on the turbulent interior of the cell resulting in a potential scientific modeling tool called "body storming" and the creation of Flink's ballistic quartet HIT.

The BLM story and the full episode will also be posted on TPT's companion website www.mnoriginal.org
Visitors to the site will find additional content, web exclusive videos and links to MN Original artists.

The Ivey Awards honor "Spring Awakening" for Artistic Excellence

Minneapolis -This week the 2012 Ivey Award for artistic excellence was presented to Theater Latte Da for its production of Spring Awakening, staged by artistic director Peter Rothstein, with musical direction by Denise Prosek and choreography by Carl Flink, chair of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota. The Ivey Awards at The Historic State Theater, downtown Minneapolis, featured a live performance of Spring Awakening's musical number, "The Bitch of Living " by cast members David Darrow, Tyler Michaels, Grant Sorenson, Jack Tillman, Ross Orenstein, Derek Prestly, James Kennedy, Charles Robison, James Person and Elander Rosser.

"I want to congratulate Peter Rothstein and his entire Theater Latte Da company," commented Carl Flink. "It was a joy to work with him and his creative team as the choreographer for this project. In my capacity as department chair, I am also deeply grateful to Peter for his clear artistic vision, and for reaching out to our Theatre Arts and Dance Department to join him in this extraordinary opportunity to partner with our faculty, student performers, designers, stage managers, and technicians. It is difficult to imagine a more perfect partnership that exemplifies the power of dynamic public engagement between the university and community partner. Thank you for joining us in making this possible."

Latte Da's unique production of Spring Awakening, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's dynamic rock musical hit celebrating the rebellious imperatives of youth, was produced in a partnership with the U of M's Theatre Arts and Dance department and combined the talents of theatre professionals and student performers to comprise the ensemble of twenty. Drawing enthusiastic crowds over its six week run April 12- May 6 to the U of M's Rarig Center, Spring Awakening earned rave reviews and critical acclaim from the Twin Cities press.

The Ivey Awards are based on evaluations performed by more than 150 volunteers who watched more than 1,000 performances in the past year. The eighth annual Ivey Awards presentation occurred September 24, 2012.