Books
Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., will host readings and discussions with author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and his debut novel, Chain-Gang All-Stars, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 9; author Jim Landwehr and his memoir, At the Lake, 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 17; poets Amie Whittemore, Allison Blevins and Melissa Cundeiff, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18; and sisters Sheri and Peggy Brenden and Sheri’s book Break Point, about Peggy’s 1970s Title IX court case, 6 p.m. Monday, May 22. Call 651-225-8989 or visit nextchapterbooksellers.com.
Literary Bridges on Sunday, May 7, will feature readings by Claire Wahmanholm and her book Meltwater, Lynette Reini-Grandell and her book Wild Things: A Trans Glam Punk Rock Love Story, Bryan Thao Worra and his science fiction poetry, and poets Marion Gómez and Moheb Soliman. The free program will begin at 2 p.m. at Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave. Call 651-225-8989 or visit nextchapterbooksellers.com.
Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport, a book about the 669 Jewish children who were rescued by Nicholas Winton in 1938-39 during the Holocaust of World War II, will be discussed by author Caren Stelson, on Sunday, May 7. A Minneapolis resident, Stelson will tell of how she first heard of this story and researched it. The free program will run from 10 a.m.-noon at the Talmud Torah of Saint Paul, 768 S. Hamline Ave. A social will follow. For reservations, visit tinyurl.com/bde5cnvp.
Poet Chaun Webster will discuss his book, Wail Song, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, at SubText Books, 6 W. Fifth St. Admission is free. Call 651-493-2791.
Author Elisa Bernick will discuss her new book, Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls (and Other Lies) with Rabbi Debra Rappaport at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at the Minnesota JCC’s Capp Center, 1375 Saint Paul Ave. Poignant and provocative, Departure Stories peers through the lens of recent history to reveal an intergenerational journey through trauma. Admission is free, but registration is requested. Visit minnesotajcc.org.
Dance
Our Stories Chapter 2, original choreography that tells the story of people who identify as LGBT or transgender, will be presented from May 7-14 by Collide Theatrical Dance Company. Directed by Jarod Boltjes, the cabaret-style performance will feature Grace Kidder, Javan Mngrezzo, Michael Mossucco, Ben Siglin and Connor Simone. Mistress Ginger will emcee. Show times are 2 p.m. Sunday, May 7, at Landmark Center; and 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 and 5 p.m. Sunday, May 12-14, at Collide, 755 N. Prior Ave. Tickets are $25. Call 651-395-7903, ext. 701, or visit collidetheatrical.org.
Theater
The Wanderers, a new play by Anna Ziegler about two couples from different worlds and their responses to the pleasures and challenges of commitment, is playing through May 14 on Six Points Theater’s stage at the Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Pkwy. Show times are 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 7 p.m. Sunday, May 14. Tickets are $15-$40. For reservations, visit sixpointstheater.org or call 651-647-4315.
The Defeat of Jesse James, a time-warping, nail-biting, side-splitting ride through Northfield in 1876 when the brave inhabitants of this small town stood up to the James Gang, is being performed through May 28 at the History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St. The drama by Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling is directed by Richard D. Thompson. Sasha Andreev, Jen Burleigh-Bentz, Suzie Juul, Jordan Leggett, Adam Qualls, Jim Ramlet, Randy Schmeling, Dane Stauffer and Angela Timberman star. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15-$70. Visit historytheatre.com or call 651-292-4323.
The classic American drama, Our Town is playing through May 28 at Open Window Theatre, 5300 S. Robert Trail in Inver Grove Heights. Directed by Kari Steinbach, the story about the Webb and Gibbs families of Grover’s Corners stars Pete Colburn, Katherine Kupiecki, Craig Johnson and Katie Kaufmann. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays, May 13, 20 and 27. Tickets are $18-$28. Call 612-615-1515 or visit openwindowtheatre.org.
Ghoulish Delights, a theatre that specializes in sophisticated suspense, will stage an expanded version of its 2014 Minnesota Fringe Festival production The Tourist Trap: A Midwestern Gothic, from May 5-20 at Crane Theatre, 2303 Kennedy St. NE in Minneapolis. Written and directed by Tim Uren, it stars Merit Burgett, Shanan Custer, Sean Dillon, Catherine Hansen, Jay Kistler, Alicia Lane and Ariel Pinkerton. The Tourist Trap is set in a sinister roadside attraction where tourists may peruse relics of a notorious 19th-century death cult that terrorized the people of South Dakota. Show time are 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Tickets are $20. Visit ghoulishdelights.com.
Coco’s Barrio will stage a parody of the classic “War of the Worlds” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 11-14, at Gremlin Theatre, 550 N. Vandalia St. Tickets are $12-$25. Visit tickettailor.com.
Antigonick, Anne Carson’s new translation of the Sophoclean tragedy about a daughter’s fight for justice against authoritarian rule, will be performed from May 17 through June 4 by Full Circle Theater. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays and Saturday, June 3, at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. Fourth St. in Minneapolis. Tickets are priced from $5-$35 depending on ability to pay. Visit fullcircletheatermn.org.
W;T, Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a brilliant English scholar who is forced to reassess her life and work upon a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, will be staged from May 18-27 at Theatre in the Round, 245 Cedar Ave. S. in Minneapolis. Kari Steinbach directs this collaboration with Hypnic Jerk Theatre. Show times are 7:30 p.m. May 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27 and 2 p.m. May 21. Tickets are $25. Visit theatreintheround.org or call 612-333-3010.
Exhibits
The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at Saint Catherine University is displaying two new exhibits through May 21. “When Women Were Girls” features portraits by artist Lissa Karpeh of Liberian-American women in Minnesota. “The Living Room” features the art of SCU students Mathis J. Edwards, Callie Korzeniowski, Maya O’Reilly, Dee Taropurua and Theo von Weiss. The five students will discuss their works from noon-1 p.m. Thursday, May 4. Admission is free. Visit gallery.stkate.edu or call 651-690-6644.
Film
Driver 23 (1999) and The Atlas Moth (2001), newly restored documentaries about aspiring Minneapolis rock guitarist Dan Cleveland and his band Dark Horse, will be screened at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, at Trylon Cinema, 2820 E. 33rd St. in Minneapolis. Director Bolf Belgum will take part in a Q&A after the screening. Tickets are $13. Visit soundunseen.com.
Music
Pianist George Li will perform Debussy’s Preludes, Book II, and Chopin’s Preludes in recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 7, in the Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Center at Macalester College. Tickets are $40. Visit chopinsocietymn.org or call 612-822-0123.
Violinist Ariana Kim and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute will present the Minnesota premiere of Maksimal by Daniel Tempkin in concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 7, in Sundin Hall, 1531 Hewitt Ave. Violinist Young-Nam Kim, violist Sally Chisholm and cellist Jane Cords O’Hara will then join the duo in Schumann’s E-flat Piano Quintet. Tickets are $15-$25. Call 651-560-0206 or visit chambermusicmn.org.
The Kanneh-Masons, seven siblings ages 13-26, will perform the music of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Vittorio Monti, Bob Marley, Florence Price and Jerry Bock at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 7, at the Ordway Music Theater. Tickets start at $36. Visit schubert.org or call 651-292-3268. The concert will also be streamed free of charge at 6 p.m. that Sunday on a 23-by-13-foot “video wall” in nearby Rice Park.
Bach Society of Minnesota will present a two-week Bach Festival beginning with a Bach & Friends Workshop from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 285 N. Dale St. The workshop will be led by associate artistic director Marco Real-d’Arbelles and soprano Carey Shunskis. The $35 fee includes lunch. The festival will also feature “Magnificat,” the music of J.S. Bach and his son C.P.E. Bach performed by the Bach Society choir and orchestra and guest soloists at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 19, at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 519 Oak Grove St. in Minneapolis, and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at the Church of Saint Thomas More, 1079 Summit Ave. Mini-concerts at outdoor venues throughout the Twin Cities and Minnesota will follow. For information about the time and location of mini-concerts, visit bachsocietymn.org.
The Saint Paul Civic Symphony will celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that gave women the right to vote with a performance of Stacy Garrop’s “The Battle for the Ballot” at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 14, in Landmark Center. Jeffrey Stirling will conduct the free program, which will also include Tower’s Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, Thomson’s Excerpts from “The Mother of Us All,” Farrenc’s Overture No. 1 and Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite. All ages are welcome.
“Walden Pond: The Earth Sings,” a concert by the Singers, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 20, at House of Hope Presbyterian Church, 797 Summit Ave., and at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 21, at Westwood Lutheran Church in Saint Louis Park. The program includes Argento’s Walden Pond, Runestad’s Come to the Woods, Smiley’s Stand in That River, Grau’s Kasar mie la gaji, Culloton’s Famine Song, Hailstork’s Nocturne and others. Tickets are $35 or whatever you can pay. For reservations, visit singersmca.org.
Hamline Church’s Festival Chorus and Orchestra will perform “A Choral Cadenza” at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 21, in the sanctuary at 1514 Englewood Ave. The program will feature Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G Major, various motets, part songs, and solos. Admission is by donation.
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