We are getting a super big jump on spring cleaning and wanna invite you to our weird!

THIS SATURDAY!
2:00 PM - 6:00 pm on January 21, 2017
550 Vandalia St, Suite 306, St. Paul, MN 55114

Help us celebrate and say goodbye (for now) to SPACE!

Come buy our stuff... our set pieces, props, costumes, and (BONUS) original art! Help us lighten our moving load while supporting bold, vital new works of theater. (Sneak peeks of what's for sale on the Facebook Event!)

You could soon be the owner of awesome items like, the blood sink from SWEET DREAMS, ALFIE! Set dressing ceramic wash basin from RAIN FOLLOWS THE PLOW! The sexy black storage cube rehearsal blocks first seen on the THESE ARE THE MEN set! Also tons of clothes, a vintage lighting board, costumes, and MORE.

All proceeds go to help Savage Umbrella bring more awesome art to our community.

Together is better, and we're better together with you. See you Saturday!

It's Creative Climate time, where we shout out friends, collaborators, and inspirations who are making work in the Twin Cities, our creative home. There's so much goodness going on this week that we couldn't just contain ourselves to theater! Check out some of the awesome performances, places, and... playlists that are on our mind this week. 

Okay, this is cheating the Creative Climate theme a bit. However, how cool is this playlist? The cast of THE AWAKENING came in with songs that remind them of the show. Take a listen, and plunge into a sonic world when Queen meets Icona Pop meets Laura Mvula meets Bach. 

"America has one great mythical figure lodged deep in its heart: the Rugged Individual. We celebrate the lone wolves who buck institutions, who are faster, better, smarter than everyone else. We love the idea that a scrappy underdog can beat The System. But is it that simple – work hard and get ahead? The truth is much more complicated. In Big Money, we’ll unpack the myths, explore the truths and ask ourselves what it really means to win in America." - Sandbox Theatre

Sandbox Theatre's new show at Park Square follows the story of Michael Larson, who spent a year devoting his life to studying the Press Your Luck! game board — he quit his job, he filled his living room with televisions and video cassette recorders, he pored over thousands of hours of episodes convinced he could crack the code… And then he did.  On May 19th, 1984, Michael Larson shocked American audiences by winning an unprecedented $110,000 in a single game. As a long time game show fan, I'm stoked to see how Sandbox translates this story to the stage. 

Big Money
Park Square Theater 
January 12-28, 2017
Tickets

I've been excited about Can Can Wonderland for ages, and after six years of making, creating, and waiting, the artist-created mini-golf course is opening its doors tomorrow! Located in St. Paul’s Hamline Midway neighborhood and the Creative Enterprise Zone, Can Can Wonderland combines art and play to create a one-of-a-kind arts immersive environment for people of all ages to enjoy. I personally am pretty excited about the drinks... as the Star Tribune says:

"Expect liquor-infused slushies, malts and snow cones, as well as sober varieties for underage drinkers and a list of creative housemade sodas. There are malts made by blending the drinker’s choice of cereal and another featuring Fig Newtons. There is Cheddar cheese ice cream. There is a cocktail celebrating wild rice. There is a drink that arrives with a beach scene and another that is served in a flower pot topped with edible dirt and actual carrots. Then there is the Happy Birthday cocktail, which can be ordered regardless of whether it’s one’s birthday, and a drink that mimics confetti cake that will arrive with song and a popper. And of course there are other, less adventurous concoctions, wine and beer." 

Woof. 

January 12, 2017
$12 – 12 years of age and up
$9 – Under 12 years of age, 62 years of age and up, Veterans
Get more information on mini-golf here 

The first version of THE AWAKENING took place in 2010 at The Gremlin Theater in St. Paul. Though this time around, most of the performers in the room (there's 14 of them!) are new to the show, there are a few collaborators who took part in the old version. I talked to director/writer Laura Leffler-McCabe, and performers Emily Dussault, ​Russ Dugger, and Amber Davis about what's exciting them as they return to THE AWAKENING a second time. 
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Two years ago, with the help of a $20,000 golden ticket on Give to the Max Day (thanks GiveMN and The Bush Foundation!), we embarked on a big-scary-awesome-crazy experiment called SPACE. Today, we announce our departure from SPACE's current location. (You can read the press release here.) When we started, we hoped that SPACE could be a home: a place for Savage Umbrella to take more risks in process, content, and programming, and for other artists and companies to share, collaborate, make, and thrive. And you know what, it worked!

Since opening in January 2015, SPACE has served as a performance, rehearsal, and workshop space for over 50 individual artists and small companies totaling over 1,700 hours of art-making (not including countless hours of Savage Umbrella rehearsals, performances, workshops, and parties)! Performances in SPACE included Underdog Theater’s inaugural performance of Baltimore Is Burning, Theatre Coup d’Etat’s Ivey Award winning performance of Equus, Off-Leash Area’s epic installation performance of Afterwind, Mission Theatre Company’s Everything’s Free!, and Raw Sugar’s staged reading of RED.

Well, friends, here we are in our last few weeks of 2016. And what a year it has been.

There have been some wild successes, many challenges, and a whole lot of experiments along the way. I would be lying if I said I wasn't pretty excited to kick ol' 2016 to the curb on December 31st (I think we can agree that it's been a pretty rough one, right?), but that doesn't mean I'm not so, so thankful for the beauty, learning, and conversation that has come out of this tumultuous year.

As for 2017, we've got big plans. We're bringing back some old favorites like THE AWAKENING (an original adaptation of Kate Chopin’s landmark feminist novel), EX-GAYS (a scathing socio-political camp satire), and THE RAVAGERS (a site-specific and haunting version of Aeschylus’ THE SUPPLIANTS). We're continuing our commitment to supporting the voices of emerging ensemble makers through NIGHT OF NEW WORKS. We're digging into a brand new workshop with VELVET SWING (inspired by the notorious tale of Evelyn Nesbit). And on top of all that, we've got some new experiments up our sleeves!

All of these works open up conversations of who we are, how we are, where we come from, and how we all exist together in this complicated, messy, beautiful thing called life. In times that feel ever-changing and uncertain, we are committed to sharing stories that ask important questions, tickle funny bones, haunt dreams, and transform hearts. We feel energized, excited, and ready to get to work. But we can't do it alone (nor do we want to). We want to do it with you.
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Together, with your generous support, we're able to make theater that engages, reflects, and inspires. We're excited to make this work. We're excited to have you be a part of it. Thank you for contributing the resources it takes to create new theater and keep Savage Umbrella going strong.

​Together is better... and we're better together with you.

​We'll be making some exciting announcements over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, here are 10 of our favorite moments from 2016 (in no particular, though mostly chronological, order):

Happy Friday afternoon, cuties!

We took a little break on the blog last week to spend much needed time with our loved ones, but now we're back because there are a few exciting things happening this weekend that we wouldn't want you to miss...

Today. is. the. DAY!  Check out what's going on under the umbrella:
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All day long, we'll be releasing sneak peek videos (#MannequinChallenge style! ... or at least we tried, ha!) of shows in our upcoming season. Make sure you check out our social media, so you don't miss them! We've already released a couple this morning, so here they are for your viewing pleasure:
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As you probably know by this point, Give to the Max Day is tomorrow: Thursday, November 17. GTMD is like the Holidays, New Years, AND your birthday for Minnesota Nonprofits, so we're getting pretty excited!

On the subject of birthdays, this year, Savage Umbrella is celebrating its tenth birthday! That’s right, we’ve been making bold, adventurous, conversation inspiring new works for ten whole years. And you make it all possible!

Feeling like your wallet is a bit light right now, but you still really want to support Savage Umbrella? We'll be posting some cool photos (like the ones below) and some awesome videos on Social Media throughout the day -- a like and a share are priceless. :-)