LOCAL BRIEFS
'Curtains' opening Friday at Pequot Lakes
PEQUOT LAKES - Pequot Lakes Community Theater's "Curtains," a sparkling musical comedy, will open Friday at Pequot Lakes High School Theater.
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Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Nov. 20-21 and at 2 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 22.
Tickets are $12, adult; $10, seniors age 60 and older; and $8, age 18 and younger. Through an opening-night-only special sponsored by Frandsen Bank and Trust, buy one ticket at regular price and get a second for half price. Reservations can be made at Pequot Lakes Community Education office, calling (218) 568-9200; or information is available at www.glapa.info.
The show is set in 1959, before the era of instant communication. A new musical, "Robbin' Hood," is playing in Boston when somebody is murdered on stage. A Boston police lieutenant, sent to solve the murder, quarantines the entire company to the theater and sets about solving the crime as well as fixing what's wrong with the show. Scenes alternate with rehearsals of numbers from the show within the show.
The cast of "Curtains" rehearses "Show People," a highlight of the musical.
Involved in the show are director Michael Sander, Pine River; choreographers Wendy DeGeest, Brainerd, and Amy Borash, Baxter; vocal director Lauren Nickisch, Pequot Lakes. The cast: Tim Leagjeld, Pequot Lakes, who also designed the sets, as Lt. Frank Cioffi of the Boston Police; Nickisch as brassy producer Carmen Bernstein; Jenny Kiffmeyer, Baxter, and Brad Wallace, Crosslake, as the estranged couple writing the show; Bob Spear, Brainerd, as the flamboyant director; and Katie Anderson, Pine River, as a wide-eyed young actress who may know more about the crime than she admits. Also in the company are C.J. Anderson, Dylan Cuffe, Kate Davis, Tina Grewe, Peter Herzog, Roger Latimer, Halle Strausser, Nathan Tuttle, Erika Tweed, and Jordan Voges, all of Pequot Lakes; Cheyenne Syvertson, Pine River; Deb Binda and Eddie Binda, Crosslake; Anna Gardner, David Allan Pundt and Stephanie Stine, Baxter; DeGeest; LaRee Garland, Nisswa; Roseanne Reed, Deerwood; and Nancy Waller, Breezy Point. Meredith Bjorkquist, Crosslake, is the stage manager; Jenny Moon, Pequot Lakes, technical director; Andrea Besnett, Breezy Point, orchestra director; Pat Dullum, Pequot Lakes, and Annette Koch, costumes; and Renee Anderson, Pequot Lakes, rehearsal accompanist and pianist in the orchestra.
CLC sponsors free Mixed Blood Theater performance Wednesday
Mixed Blood Theater brings "Theory of Mind," its new play about a young man with autism, to Central Lakes College in Brainerd for a free performance at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Chalberg Theater.
The college is sponsoring the event in recognition of Disabilities Awareness Month.
Health providers think of autism as a spectrum disorder, a group of disorders with a wide range of related features. This spectrum, known as autism spectrum disorders, includes the milder disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome.
Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder of development that lasts throughout a person's life. It is sometimes called a developmental disability because it usually starts before age 3 and it causes delays or problems in many different skills that arise from infancy to adulthood. The main signs and symptoms of autism involve language, social behavior and behaviors concerning objects and routines.
Mixed Blood Theater's "Theory of Mind" featuring Skyler Nowinski and Taj Ruler will perform a play about autism Nov. 18 in the Chalberg Theater at Central Lakes College.
"Theory of Mind" is a sensitive yet unsentimental portrait of Bill, a college-bound 17-year-old with Asperger's Syndrome. He is equipped with scholastic brilliance but low emotional intelligence; keen self-awareness, but an inability to read social cues; and a charming directness.
He also is uncertain about relationships, anxious about dating and prone to taking everything he hears literally. His outing with a girl from his school becomes a memorable, insightful look at the tugs, shifts and about-faces found in the autism spectrum.
"Theory of Mind" is written by Ken LaZebnik, a veteran Mixed Blood company member whose other writing credits include "Touched by an Angel" and Mixed Blood-produced plays "Calvinisms," "League of Nations" and "Vestibular Sense," also about a young man with autism.
Famous Irish piper to perform
NEW YORK MILLS - Paddy Keenan, a world-famous Irish piper, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cultural Center in New York Mills.
Admission is $12 in advance and $15 the night of the concert.
Keenan has been called dark, enigmatic, a massive presence, the long rider, moody, quiet and deep.
Fall band concert at CLC Tuesday
Central Lakes College will present its fall concert' "Reflections in Music" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Chalberg Theater on the Brainerd campus.
The concert features the CLC Community Band and the CLC Jazz Band in a range of moods and images, from Sousa marches to a tribute to Stephen Foster, to a piece written to commemorate the Columbine School tragedy. Dixieland, swing, '60s rock-'n'-roll and L.A. Latin rock will be represented.
The Community Band is gearing up for its planned 2011 European Tour with concerts, small group performances and fundraisers. Money raised will help defray the cost of the trip for the musicians.
Admission for the concert is $3 for adults. CLC students with identification and children 12 and under are admitted free.
The Community Band: Flute/piccolo, Marie Gordon, Aitkin, Kyann Shamp, Pine River, and Robin Myers, Brainerd; oboe, Angie Hins, Brainerd; bassoon, Andrea Del Zoppo, Aitkin, and Kate Huppler, Onamia; clarinet, Shaun Kobbs, Pillager, Cathy Dens, Barb Stokke, JoAnn Norman, Ashley Mallard, Jennifer Jansen, all of Brainerd, Frank Milo, Pine River, and Dick Gunderson, Deerwood; alto clarinet/bass clarinet, Sarah Jo Armstrong, Pine River, and Jennifer Jansen, East Gull Lake; alto saxophone, Chris Bolstad, Pine River, Joe McGown and Barb John, Brainerd; tenor saxophone, Mike Bender, Crosby, and Isaac Armstrong, Pine River; baritone saxophone, Nathan Bollig, Brainerd; trumpet, Mike Pontius, Dave Borash and John Raboin, Baxter, Chris Fogderud, Brainerd, and Pat Ryle, Staples; French horn, Bonnie Groneberg, Baxter, Nicole McGillis, Deerwood, Claudette Kitzman, Lake Shore, and Jessica Dieter, Nisswa; trombone, Jim Anderson and Jerry Swanson, Brainerd, Bob Allan, East Gull Lake; euphonium, Judy Swenson, Brainerd; string bass, Dan Armstrong, Pine River; percussion, Katie Torbert, Little Falls, Patricia Anderson and Anton Switajewski, Brainerd, and Michelle Miller, Swanville.
Jazz Band: Saxophone, Isaac Armstrong, Pine River, Lachelle Brinks, Pierz, Shawn Kobbs, Pillager, Mike Bender, Crosby, and Nathan Bollig, Brainerd; trumpet, Sue Kavanaugh, East Gull Lake, Laurie Savage, Pequot Lakes, Claudette Kitzman, Lake Shore, Rustin Fitzpatrick, Crosslake, and Cole Pagnac, Forest Lake; trombone, Jerry Swanson, Doug Durant and Rick Fellman, Brainerd, and Steve Anderson, Merrifield; piano, Scott Tetrault, Baxter; guitar, Sheila Litke, Brainerd; bass, Joe Day, Brainerd; and drums, Michelle Miller, Swanville, and Ellis Mahala, Brainerd.
Rosamunde String Quarter to perform in Staples
MOTLEY - Violinist Marion Judish will lead the Rosamunde String Quarter in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the United Methodist Church in Motley.
The concert, part of the Staples Motley Area Arts Council's Concert Series, will include music of Beethoven, Puccini, Schubert and Piazolla.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students in advance or $15 for adults and $7 for students at the door. Tickets are available from the Centennial Auditorium Box Office at (218) 894-5416 or (800) 213-6877.
Anyone purchasing six or more advance-sale tickets to any event or series of events will receive the special season price of $10 per ticket. Any student with proper identification may purchase a student rush ticket one hour before the show for $1.
The Rosamunde String Quartet includes violinists Judish and Sarah Dahl, violist Jennifer Wildeson and cellist Greg Nelson.
Judish is professor of violin and viola at St. Cloud State University. An avid performer, Judish has performed on Minnesota Public Radio in recital and throughout Minnesota and in concerts in Colorado and New York City. Judish is an avid supporter of new music and has performed for the Composer's Forum in Minneapolis, having presented several world premieres.
Dahl was concertmaster of All-State Orchestra three consecutive years and was the only violinist from Minnesota chosen through audition to perform with the National Symphony in Washington D.C. She won the St. Cloud Symphony concerto competition twice and the SCSU concerto competition in 2003. She is currently freelancing throughout central Minnesota and the Twin Cities.
Wildeson, a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, studied violin and piano performance at Dalhousie University and Wheaton College, Ill., with Ivan Galamian students Philippe Djokic and Sonja Foster. She also studied two summers with Juilliard teacher Sally Thomas at Meadowmount Music School. For 10 years she co-owned a free-lance chamber ensemble business in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She has lived in St. Cloud the last 11 years and plays violin and viola with the St. Cloud Symphony and other central Minnesota and Twin Cities ensembles.
Nelson has held the position of cello instructor at St. Cloud State University since 2007 and maintains a private studio in Minneapolis. He has made an appearance as soloist in the Mixed Blood Theater production of Bahala Na and a performance of Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time at the University of Minnesota. He also is an active chamber musician and is a founding member of the Urthema String quartet in Minneapolis.
For more information on the concert or the concert series, go to the Arts Council's Web site at www.staplesmotleyarts.org.
Wines for the Holidays event set
AITKIN - Wines for the Holidays is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Beanery Cafe in Aitkin, sponsored by the Northern Lights Wine Club.
Participants will explore several wines that will maximize their holiday season, including sparkling wine, Riesling, Zinfandel, dessert wine and more. Participants also will celebrate the arrival of the 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau.
The Beanery Cafe will serve an assortment of appetizers with the wines. You do not have to be a member of the Northern Lights Wine Club to attend and no purchase is required. Cost is $20 for members and $25 for non-members.
For more information on the event, go to the Beanery's Web site at www.northernlights wine.com/beanery_wine_20091119.htm or call at (218) 927-7811 or Ross Otto at (218) 343-4410.
Holiday comedy show set Nov. 21 at Green Lantern
A holiday comedy show featuring three Minnesota comedians is scheduled at 8 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Green Lantern in Brainerd.
Performing will be Minnesota comedians Darlene Westgor, who is called Nick@Nite's funniest mom in America; Tom Steffen, who was featured in the 2009 CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival; and Shannon Paul, a semifinalist on NBC's "Last Comic Standing."
Dinner and the performance cost $22 or $15 for just the performance. Reservations may be made by calling (218) 764-2323.
Little Falls High School band concert scheduled
LITTLE FALLS - The 33rd annual Little Falls Indoor Marching Band Concert is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23-24 in the Charles D. Martin Auditorium at Little Falls Community High School.
Tickets are $3 for children and $6 for adults and are available by calling (320) 616-2207 or at the high school activities office.
Come hear the music of Clapton, Osbourne, Metallica, Green Day, the Blues Brothers and Michael Jackson.
Mother and son team publish children's book
Ellen Baumgartner and her son, Dr. Joel Baumgartner, have written "The Gift," available at Book World in Baxter, the St. Joseph's Medical Center gift shop in Brainerd and Rainy Day Book Store in Nisswa.
Ellen Baumgartner is the author and Joel Baumgartner was the illustrator of the book that talks about the true meaning of Christmas.
Heartland Poets to meet
Heartland Poets, an area chapter of the League of Minnesota Poets, will meet at 6 p.m. Friday in the large room of the Brainerd Public Library.
After a short business meeting, poets will receive information regarding "One Poet's Sources," which was the topic of keynote speaker Norita Dittberner-Jax, at LOMP's recent fall meeting in Minneapolis.
Following this program, Heartland Poets will share poems that won prizes in the 25th annual LOMP Contest. Poets also will have the opportunity to workshop a poem in progress by bringing a poem and distributing copies to those present.
Refreshments will be served and the program is free and open to the public.