by Elizabeth Weir

by J.P. Johnson

by Paulette Corona

by Brian Orndorf

vivacious Coya convinces as an independent woman politician, who breaks down sexual barriers and makes non-party choices that will add to her undoing. She captures Coya’s small-town girl straightforwardness and her intelligence, but her singing voice falls short of Coya’s Red River Valley reputation as a songster.
Coya marries Andy, a weak man, who eventually conspires with Minnesota Ninth District Chairman, L.J. Lee (Philip Callen) to bring Coya down. Fred Wagner doubles as Andy, a dull-witted alcoholic, and Harold Cooley, the sexist chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
Coya and Andy adopt a son, Terry, and both Ryan McCartan and Steven B. Young give nicely turned performances as the child Terry and the young adult Terry. Young triples up well as Coya’s enthusiastic campaign manager, but is too youthful to carry the heavy-handed weight of Congressman Keating in the congressional hearing.
Julian Bailey quadruples up as Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, who is half in love with Coya, state politician Walter Turgeon and farmer Mr. Gunderson. But not until the second act do we have the three politicians clearly distinguished. Although she’s a fine character actor, the same is true for Nancy Marvy’s five roles.
This production of “In Coya’s House” catches the pre-feminist prejudices of the period and does a good job of telling Coya Knutson’s story; but the ribs of producing a large-cast play on a budget do show. Zark’s script, with its multiple characters and screenplay-like flashbacks, is a natural for television. pulse

Willam Scott: Searching
@ Icebox Gallery
by J. P. Johnson

In the days of the great union disputes there was an executive who bargained with the union workers in an unprecedented manner. He would give them one reasonable first and final offer and allow no further haggling or reasoning as to how he came to his position. This type of bargaining became famous and later controversial. The paintings of William Scott bring to mind this type of offer for they, too, seem to make one non-negotiable statement. The messages of his photos will either strike you as consoling and infinitely tranquil or as nice, non-descript pictures. Scott’s softly lit photos are meant to be digested by the searching, somewhat lost souls of the world and as such will make little sense to those who would describe themselves as complete or solved. It may well be that the less sure you feel about the going-ons around you, the more you’ll like “Searching.” Just as the aforementioned executive said little about his work, Scott, when asked about his photos, commented only briefly, saying, “photography becomes a search for insight and meaning…[it] fulfills the human need to find answers.” Each one of Scott’s pictures seems to be a little answer or, if nothing else, the manifestation of a soothing word. Each photo in his exhibition is distinctly separate from its counterpart and carries a different mechanism to invoke thought and calm in its onlooker. All of his photos possess simple names “Eroding Rock,” “Burned Grove,” “River of Candles,” and my favorite, “Trees in the Zocalo.” All of Scott’s photos are contemplative pieces and all of them show grace and candor in their composition. Through Feb. 23. Icebox Gallery, 2401 Central Ave. NE, Minneapolis, 612-788-1790.