On the Town Briefly, August 3, 2022

Music

Djembe Joy, a class in hand drumming for beginners, will be offered from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 10, at the Women’s Drum Center, 2242 University Ave. The cost is $15. Drums are provided. Masks are required. Visit womensdrumcenter.org.

Summer Nights in Rice, a free concert series, continues with a performance by the Twin Cities Latin Band from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, August 11, in downtown Saint Paul’s Rice Park. Visit landmarkcenter.org.

Music in the Parks, free con­certs in Mendota Heights’ Mendakota Park, will continue with Funktion Junction from 6:30-8 p.m. Friday, August 12.

The Native American band Bluedog will perform live from 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, August 12, on the Klas Overlook at Historic Fort Snelling. Admission is free. Bring a lawn chair or blanket for seating. Refreshments will be available. Parking costs $6. No alcohol or pets are allowed. Call 612-726-1171.

Exhibits

“Journey to Space,” a traveling exhibit built with the support of NASA, is being displayed through September 5 at the Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W. Kellogg Blvd. Learn of the journeys people are taking into space and imagine a future when earth is no longer the only planet we call home. An accompanying exhibit will test visitors’ space knowledge and engineering skills with the aid of a NASA model. Tick­ets should be purchased in advance. Visit smm.org.

The history of plastic and its beauty and diversity as a design material are explored in “Plastic Rapt: A History of Designing Forever,” on view through September 25 in the University of Minnesota’s Goldstein Gallery on the second floor of McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Ave. It includes objects made from celluloid, the earliest semi-synthetic plastic, and Bake­lite, the first true synthetic plastic. Admission is free. Call 612-624-7434.

Walking tours of the historic areas in and around downtown Saint Paul are offered from 10-11 a.m. on Wednesdays in August. Led by Landmark Center volunteers, the tours are free with pre-registration. The sche­dule includes It Happened Right Here: Saint Paul’s Origins Tour beginning at the Robert Street entrance to Kellogg Park on August 3, the Rice Park Tour beginning at Landmark Center on August 10, and the Great River Tour beginning at Upper Landing Park on August 17. The Rice Park and Great River tours are also available virtually. For reservations, visit landmarkcenter.org or call Sydney at 651-292-3063.

“Genocide and Justice: From Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court,” an exploration of the Holocaust of World War II and the more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, the former Yugo­slavia and Darfur, is being displayed through September 30 on the main floor of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, 875 Summit Ave. The free exhibit includes highlights of the international tribunals and domestic prosecution of the perpetrators. Hours are 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Dog Days and Art, an art crawl for people and their four-legged friends, will be held on Saturday, August 6, on Harriet Island. Artists will be showing and selling original works from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in their studios in Warehouse 2, 106 W. Water St. Dogs that are leashed and well-behaved are welcome at the outdoor portion of the festival, which runs from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. There, people may commission a portrait or photograph with their pet, purchase gourmet treats for their dogs or order delicious edibles for themselves at any of several food trucks.

Theater

Minnesota Fringe Festival, the 29th annual celebration of the dramatic arts, will return from August 4-14 with 119 plays in 595 perfor­mances at 11 different Minne­apolis venues. The shows were selected in a lottery, though 10 percent of the slots were reserved for BIPOC applicants and 10 percent for applicants from outside the metro area. Tickets are $15 per show ($7 for children); $65 for five shows; and $110 for 10 shows. A $5 festival button is required. Reservations cost an additional $3. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is also required. Visit minnesotafringe.org.

The young acrobats of Circus Juventas take a death-defying journey through circus history in Confetti, running through August 14 under the big top at 1270 Montreal Ave. The time travelers juggle with minstrels in Renaissance Italy, visit Phillip Astley at the dawn of the circus ring, witness the invention of the flying trapeze and rub shoulders with P.T. Barnum. New acts as the fire jump rope, extreme unicycle and 90-foot wire walk will be executed alongside old favorites as the flying trapeze, teeterboard and wall trampoline. Show times are 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $25-$50, free to children age 2 and under on the lap of an adult. Visit circusjuventas.org.

Classics Lost ’n’ Found Theater will present four short plays and two staged readings in the fundraiser, More of a Good Thing: An Evening of Theater, at 7 p.m. Friday, August 19, at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church, 1620 E. 46th St. in Minneapolis. The plays include Cock and Bull and Queen Enid by Steven LaVigne and Woman’s Work is Never Done and The Man Behind the Man in the Cape by Noreen K. Brandt. The staged readings are Ghoulies and Ghosties: Tales of Horror and Suspense and The Cozy Tea Party Murders. Admission is by donation, and reservations are not necessary. Call 612-724-4539.

This Show Is Cheaper Than Gas: America on Empty, the Brave New Workshop’s latest comic revue, will be performed from August 19 through November 5 on the stage at 824 Hennepin Ave. in Minneapolis. The collection of sketches satirizes the current landscape where every day the media give us something new to be terrified about, the economy is in freefall, a C-note barely covers a fillup at the gas station, and nine people whom nobody elected have rewritten 50 years of U.S. history. Tickets are $38 and $43, or $23 for the previews on August 11, 13, 17 and 18. For reservations, visit bravenewworkshop.org.