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Intermedia Arts’ third “Absolute
Originals” festival takes bold leaps with nine eclectic performers.
“The core of a one-person show is a great story that needs telling and a gifted
artist who wants to get it across,” says festival curator Dean J. Seal, most known
for founding the Fringe Festival, which introduced many of these performers.
Multidisciplinary performance powerhouse Heidi Arneson stuns with her newest piece
responding to post-Sept.11th
American life, “Homeland Security,” showing Feb. 8,13 & 23. The characters
range from a 19th century black slave to a present-day prisoner to a 13-year-old girl and
how they look at freedom in the 21st century. Arenson’s bawdy humor, passionate
poetry and eloquent acting are backed up by blues guitarist Ron Brown.
Stand-up comedy fans can rejoice at the return of Ken Bradley in “The Gigantic
American Saga,” on Feb. 7, 9 & 11. His character is hurling through an irreverent
coming of age as a suburban teenager on “the fine line between mischief and
criminality,” corrupted into whiskey and cigarettes by his first girlfriend.
It’s also an “insiders view” of the Highway 55 battle and “a letter to
my future ex-wife.” Bradley’s recent years of political activism have only
sharpened his wit.
“Everybody knows Gloria,” says Janelle Ranek of her recurring alter-ego in
“Scrawl,” on Feb. 10, 16 & 21. Letters are the medium used to transmit nine
characters, including a street junkie, an 8-year-old Lois without Ritalin and a “cat
lady.” The audience participates by asking advice from the indomitable,
martini-drinking and chain-smoking Gloria. Prepare for laugh-bruised ribs as this
improvisational tornado channels hilarious humanity.
A Southdale mall wedding launches Tom Scott on an amazing journey in “The Zimbabwe
Tapes,” Feb. 9, 17 & 22. The drummer for Greazy Meal reclaims threatened roots
with his unique “meeting the in-laws” story. Scott says “It’s a crash
course in another culture—sink or swim!” features Shona tribal proverbs,
laughter, love and music that Scott recorded in Africa.
A first for the festival is a dance: Miriam Colvin’s “Sometimes it’s about
you,” showing Feb. 8, 17 & 22, which explores seeing and being seen. Flavia
Mueller Mendeiros’ “The Portuguese Lesson,” Feb. 15, 22& 24, is a
multidiciplinary encounter of identity politics made personal through ten daily
stereotypes seen with rebellious eyes.
Jeremiah Gamble disputes fundamentalist misconceptions in “The Rough and the
Holy,” showing Feb. 10, 14 & 18. Juliana Pegues marshalls street theatre, spoken
word and calisthenics to confront “unspeakables” such as racism, lockdown,
sexism, imperialism and the U.S. ‘just us’ system. It’s performance art as
an act of resistance.
Narrated by an aging debutante, “Love Life: Comedy of Eros,” on Feb. 6, 15 &
23, showcases Melissa Birch’s range of talents in a comic Valentine to love and lust
with torch songs, B-side ballads and country classics.
Admission is $10, $5 for members. Show times vary. Located at Intermedia Arts, 2822
Lyndale Ave S, Mpls. For program schedule call 612-871-4444 or check out www.intermediaarts.org . pulse |
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