State of the Arts

State of the Arts: September 20, 2010 Archive

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And the winner is...

Posted at 9:00 PM on September 20, 2010 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Events, Theater

Ivey-Awards.jpg
Some of the winners from previous Ivey Awards, an event which gives Twin Cities theater companies an opportunity to celebrate their achievements.

How do you make sure the top honoree of your awards ceremony shows up?

Ask her to host the event.

The Twin Cities theater community honored actor Wendy Lehr tonight at the Ivey Awards with its highest accolade: the Lifetime Achievement Award. Lehr also served as co-host for the evening with longtime friend Bain Boehlke, Artistic Director of the Jungle Theater.

Lehr is having an exceptional year; just recently the Lowry Theater in downtown St. Paul was renamed the Lehr Theater in her honor. The re-naming was in recognition for her years at the helm of the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists.

Lehr is currently starring in The Glass Menagerie at the Jungle Theater.

Other awards were as follows:

Emerging Artist: Costumer Kalere Payton

Individual recognition for exceptional work:

Aaron Gabriel: Music, Madame Majesta's Miracle Medicine Show (Interact Theater)
Katie Guentzel: Acting, My Antonia (Illusion Theater)
Allison Moore: Playwright, My Antonia (Illusion Theater)
Joseph Stanley: Scenic Design, Mulan, Jr. (Children's Theatre Company)
Tulle & Dye: Costumes, Beauty & The Beast (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts)
Regina Marie Williams: Acting, Ruined (Mixed Blood Theatre)

Outstanding Productions:

Mary's Wedding by the Jungle Theater
Ruined by Mixed Blood Theatre
Othello by Ten Thousand Things Theater

The Ivey Awards recognize achievements in the Twin Cities theater scene for the past year. The awards are based on evaluations completed by the general public and more than 150 volunteer theater evaluators who saw more than 1000 performances in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area from September 2009 through August 2010.

MN Poetry: Philip Bryant's "Wade in the Water"

Posted at 9:47 AM on September 20, 2010 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Poets, Poetry

Philip S. Bryant is the author of several collections of poetry, including Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day, which was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award in 1999. Most recently his work appeared in Where One Voice Ends Another Begins: 150 years of Minnesota Poetry. Born and raised in Chicago, Bryant is currently a Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Here's a poem from Bryant's collection Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: a jazz memoir in verse. The book is accompanied by a cd, which features Bryant reading some of his poems to musical accompaniment by pianist Carolyn Wilkins.

Wade in the Water

I wanted to say
Honey chile, let's dance!
but didn't move
from my place
in that dark corner.
She was a big black girl
with a small round face
and thick wide glasses.
She waited alone
on the other side of the room
as dancers moved
between us
graceful as small minnows
swimming through blue
shallow waters. I wanted to
wade right into the water
come up and make a big splash for her
on the other side of the room where
she'd stood all night staring
across the vast empty spaces
- as if peering across a big wide sea -
to pull her in up to her knees.
I knew the others would laugh
but so what.
We'd hold each other tight
and slowly wade out farther
until the water lifted us up
and carried us out on a crystal
blue tide of music.

- "Wade in the Water" by Philip S. Bryant, as it appears in his collection Stompin' at the Grand Terrace: a jazz memoir in verse, published by Blueroad Press. Reprinted here with permission from the publisher.

Interested in hearing more from Philip Bryant? Check out one of his recent commentaries for MPR.

(2 Comments)
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