Hi Internet-land!
 
Amber asked me to write something about Care Enough, but I just thought I would tell you in person instead. Or as "in person" as it gets on the web when we're not tweeting at eachther in real time (using the #CareEnough hashtag, natch). Plus, I've been writing a lot for and about the show and it's good practice for me to talk about it, since I'm going to have to for the talkback on June 8th anyway. So this is a little video about why you should come to see Care Enough and the point is, you should come because you choose to - but if you come because a friend or family member or loved one makes you, I'm not going to fight that.
 
Looking forward to talking with you actually in person "in person",
 
Carl

We’ve got just nine days until opening Care Enough! We wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about some of our community events around the show. Plus, a bonus silly Q&A with the cast! - Laura & Amber

Friday, June 1 – OPENING NIGHT PARTY with post-show music by FORT WILSON RIOT
Saturday, June 2
Sunday, June 3 – Sundae Sunday – Pre-Show Ice Cream Social!
Thursday, June 7
Friday, June 8 – Pre-show Happy Hour/Post-Show Panel Discussion *
Saturday, June 9 – Post-Show Live Music
Sunday, June 10 – Sundae Sunday – Pre-Show Ice Cream Social!
Monday, June 11
Thursday, June 14
Friday, June 15
Saturday, June 16– CLOSING NIGHT PARTY

* The panel includes: Eleanor Hall, post-Jungian psychotherapist and author; Ben Egerman, theater artist and community organizer with Occupy Homes MN; Alex Cleberg, consultant with Intercultural Collective and Carl Atiya Swanson, playwright.

All events are open to the public - please join us!

And now the Q&A with these quirky cuties...

Anna Carol (Sophia)

What’s your middle name?
Carol

Do you like watching musicals or dramas?
Ambivalent

Santino Craven (Sebastian)

Starbucks, Caribou, or Foldgers?
Starbucks!!

Describe Savage Umbrella in three words.
Dangerously fearless theatre, or engage through (the) core

Kathryn Fumie (Company of Participants)

Rollercoasters or Tilt-a-whirl?
Rollercoasters

Skittles or M&Ms?
M&Ms

Sarah Hollows (Company of Participants)

Describe your Savage Umbrella experience in three words.
Hole-lee shit

Skittles or M&Ms?
M&Ms

Mason Mahoney (Company of Participants)

What’s your signature move?
The scorpian

What’s your middle name?
Ray

Nora Sachs (Company of Participants)


Favorite rehearsal moment?
Spelling our names with our own bodies for each other

Describe your Savage Umbrella experience in three words.
Yippe-Ki-Yay!

Adam Scarpello (Stephen)

Favorite rehearsal moment?
The Jesus carry

Skittles or M&Ms?
Skittles

Guest blogger this week is T. Martin Crouse, one of the brains behind local publisher Sic Semper Serpent. I asked Crouse about what brought him (back) to the Minneapolis and Saint Paul arts scene. Here’s his love letter to Twin Cities theatre, new work, and The Story. Publishing opportunities included! - Amber

Minneapolis is a publisher’s dream. We have enough opportunity to draw skilled writing talent from around the world, but not enough to keep everyone busy. There’s all sorts of undiscovered fiction, non-fiction and poetry to be found in our Small Town Metropolis. Some of it is really, really good. But what excites this modest Editor-in-Chief, and the publishing house he represents, is the wealth of dramatic literature that saturates the very pores of this city.

As an actor turned writer turned publisher, I harbor a deep fondness for my first Fine Art love: live theater. The active performance community of Mpls/St. Paul is one of the many qualities that drew me back to this region to begin my publishing house, Sic Semper Serpent. What I found here amazes even me.

One-off small-time productions inundate the area like spontaneous theater is commonplace. If only every city could be like this; a hotbed of talent running so thick it overflows into the bowling alleys, converted warehouses and community spaces of each and every vibrant neighborhood. There’s at least two centers devoted just to playwrights, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beyond the stage, writers and poets of the land tell tall tales that could stretch the imagination of Nostradamus himself. Words are cheap around the world, but the stories are priceless in Minnesota.

That’s the motto at Sic Semper Serpent, anyway. In a time when language is changing, when doorbells are text messages and laughter is lol, it is important to remember the art of The Story. Linguistics can (and will) transform to match society and technology; its rules are transitive and subject to change. But the reason to swap our words will never change: to communicate thoughts and ideas with narrative. This is still done in many ways today, i.e. stand up comics, television, film, literature, and (certain parts of) the internet, etc.

We are dedicated to preserving The Story. Unlike more conventional publishers, we don’t fear the changing state of language. We embrace it. Theater will always be a great way to tell a story, and to theater Sic Semper Serpent is thusly bound. (publishing humor).

We want to support the fine practicing creative talent of the greater metro area, and give potential patrons more reason to leave their homes and exercise their freedom of expression. Art is beauty and beauty is alive. Will you help us breathe life into the beauty that walks these streets? If yes (especially if hell yes!), then add your voice to the growing din of The Fugue.

We're having a wicked awesome, totally free magazine release party on June 20th. Please join us!




T. Martin Crouse has trained as an actor, self-realized as a writer, and only recently found his calling as an independent publisher. Ask him about space, dinosaurs, books, music or theater. Go on, I dare you. Tom wants all Savage Umbrella-ers to know that thespians excite him.

This week on the blog, Savage Umbrella company member Amber Davis looks at the labor roots of May Day and weighs in on The Mill, Workhaus Collective's new play.

May Day is such an awesome time of year.

“Oh yeah, May Day! Like with all the puppets and stuff?”

Nope. That’s not what I meant.

May Day has green (pagan) traditions, sure, but I feel like all the artists in the Twin Cities, especially south Minneapolis, forget about the red tradition. The labor tradition.

May 1st is International Workers’ Day. So forget the puppets for a bit.

It surprises me that our community ignores May Day’s red roots, because wait; aren’t a whole bunch of our friends apart of Actor’s Equity Association, the Stage Manager Association, the Stage Director’s and Choreographer’s Society, or United Scenic Artists, and other similar organizations?

This year, one of the many ways I chose to celebrate International Workers’ Day was to see Workhaus Collective’s new play, The Mill by Jeannine Coulombe, at the Playwrights’ Center on Monday April 30th.

With May Day in mind, I’d like to share some thoughts about The Mill and hear your thoughts, too.

So I know the play is gonna be awesome even before I see it. It’s from Workhaus (heck yes), Katharine Moeller is in it (an SU friend and collaborator), and the play brings up worker’s rights issues. Bam! The play is a perfect fit to my May Day week.

There was just one thing that has stuck with me and made me think (and of course, I like it when new plays do that).

The play is set in northern Minnesota and is centered around a town where many of the residents work at the local paper mill. The mill has a chance to expand its company, but there’s one catch: The workers must vote to sign a new (and unimproved) contract to continue working.

One character, Case, (played beautifully by Eric Webster) is the play’s most vocal character about labor issues and the right to strike. He insists to the other characters that striking is a good idea and is the most direct way to move forward with negotiations. And if you ask me, of course that’s the most direct action! Case is right. We have power in numbers. That’s why SU works as a co-operative.

Here’s the thing. Throughout the course of The Mill, Case is revealed to be a sexist and racist working class man. He also happens to be interested in organizing workers.

He slaps a female character (Luce, played by Jodi Kellogg) on the butt in act one. Sure, it was playful, but it was not consensual. Case then commits acts of violence against strikebreaker workers, many of whom speak English as their second language. To add fuel to the fire, Case exchanges cold words and even icier stares with El Salvadoran neighbor Ignacio (played by the strong James Rodriguez).

I’ve been thinking. Why did the playwright choose to show an character sympathetic to the worker’s cause, while coloring him as a sexist and racist?

Doesn’t this make the play seem anti-union?

I don’t think The Mill is an anti-union play, but this character almost made it feel that way. To me, the subtle coincidence portrayed something deeper than intended.

Did you see The Mill? What did you think? How do you think the play portrayed union workers and labor voices?

Here’s what Lisa Brock at the Star Tribune thought. And Ed Huyck at CityPages.

For the rest of the week I’ll be wearing red and black in solidarity. Happy May Day!

(Yeah, okay, okay.... go enjoy the puppets too. Will I see you Sunday?)