Minneapolis, December 7, 2012— Over the past 25 years, Out There has brought startling, vital, provocative, and often joyous new forms of theatrical expression to the Twin Cities. Beginning as a modest two-weekend series held in the depths of Minnesota’s winter at the Southern Theater, Out There grew into a full–fledged month-long festival featuring new global performances, workshops, dialogue sessions, salons, and other activities. We celebrate 25 seasons of Out There on Thursday–Saturdays, January 10–February 2, in the William and Nadine McGuire Theater at 8 pm.
Using devised theater techniques, play and fun, outrageous fantasy, myth-making, movement–theater, cabaret, advanced theater technology and design, and live music/recorded sound, Out There artists tell new kinds of truth-filled stories and alternative forms of fictitious real life.
For this season of Out There, we welcome four of the largest–scale, internationally successful productions we have ever presented. In 2013, audiences will see how theatrical artists from Australia, Germany, and the US are interrogating the form of theater itself, blurring lines between reality and theatrical fiction, exploring the creation and transformation of identity, and reimagining the mythic.
Out There 25 Kick-off Celebration
Thursday, January 10, 6:30-7:45pm, Free
Raise a glass with Walker performing arts curators, local guests, and Rude Mechs artists as we celebrate the 25th anniversary season of Out There. Enjoy toasts, activities, and conversations that look at the past, present, and future of this beloved series.
Inside Out There: Workshops with the Artists
Saturdays, January 12, 19, 26, and February 2, 11am
William and Nadine McGuire Theater
Each week of Out There includes a unique interactive workshop or educational opportunity on the stage of the William and Nadine McGuire Theater. Inside Out There offers an opportunity to get the inside story from visiting Out There artists and to participate in classes and workshops with them. Advance reservations highly encouraged. To reserve a spot, call 612.375.7600. Admission is $6 ($4 Walker members) for individual events. Purchase the series of four: $20 ($12).
Out There and Then Some…
Drinks & Discussions in the Balcony Bar
Meet the artists, talk about the show, and enjoy a beer, wine, or a specialty cocktail (featuring Prairie Organic vodka). Open before and after all performances.
Thursdays
Following the performance, meet the artists, talk about the show, and enjoy drinks on the upper balcony of elegant William and Nadine McGuire Theater.
Fridays
Get the backstory during post-show Q and A’s with the artists.
Saturdays
After the show, head up to the Balcony Bar for a SpeakEasy discussion with Andy Sturdevant’s Salon–Saloon contributors, Walker tour guides, and audience members. It’s like a book club for the performing arts–your questions, your answers, risk–free.
All Month: Free Gallery Admission with Paid Ticket
Enjoy free gallery admission to the Walker (don’t miss the astonishing Cindy Sherman show!) with your paid ticket–within one week of the performance date.
Tickets
Buy 4: Save 40%
Experience all four performances for a savings of 40%. Call the box office to take advantage of this offer: 612.375.7600.
Single Tickets
$18 ($15) Thursday; $22 ($18) Friday–Saturday
All performances and Inside Out There workshops take place in the Walker’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater. Tickets and information: 612.375.7600 or walkerart.org/tickets
Out There 25: Reality/Identity/Myth
January 10-February 2, 2013
Rude Mechs
The Method Gun
Midwest Debut
Thursday–Saturday, January10–12, 8 pm
$18 ($15) Thursday; $22 ($18) Friday–Saturday
“Immensely funny, abruptly touching physical-theater work…. They keep taking perilous theatrical leaps, but we are the ones to feel sweaty-palmed, nearly vertiginous exhilaration.” —Time Out New York
A gleefully raucous piece about the ecstasy and excesses of performing, The Method Gun uncovers the life of the fictional Stella Burden, actor-training guru of the 1960s and ’70s. Burden’s technique, “The Approach,” was known as the most dangerous acting technique in the world, merging Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to infuse even the smallest role with sex, death, and violence. Set amid swinging pendulums and talking tigers, this daring, absurd, and heady exploration of the creative process is a tour de force by these Texas-based theater rebels.
Inside Out There: Rude Mechs
Saturday, January 12, 11 am
Rude Mechs shares some techniques for addressing “the void.” How do you start from zero? Making work from scratch in a collaborative team can be, in turns, joyous and horrific when you step into the room with … nothing. Come prepared to write and move.
She She Pop
Testament
US Debut
Thursday–Saturday, January 17–19, 8 pm
$18 ($15) Thursday; $22 ($18) Friday–Saturday
“Rarely do the great questions of life present themselves on stage so spirited and full of feeling, so touching and allusive…. Absolutely remarkable.” —New Zurich Times
Internationally lauded German performance collective She She Pop deconstructs Shakespeare’s incisive tragedy, King Lear, for modern times. Performing with their real-life fathers, the collective exposes the funny, tender, and raw realities of generational conflict, parenthood, and love. Performed in German with English supertitles, this richly metaphorical and spontaneously absurd send-up of classic theater translates into a daringly honest work of reality performance that lays bare universal truths about us all.
Inside Out There: She She Pop
Saturday, January 19, 11 am
During this performance workshop, the stage serves as playing field with rules and tasks that prevent everyday communication and open unexpected perspectives. Learn how to dance like flowers, play weird German games, and make a conversation turn spectacularly sour.
Trajal Harrell, Cecilia Bengolea, François Chaignaud, and Marlene Monteiro Freitas
(M)imosa—Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (M)
Midwest Debut
Thursday–Saturday, January 24–26, 8 pm
$18 ($15) Thursday; $22 ($18) Friday–Saturday
“They don’t make many artists like Mr. Harrell; his sophisticated, nuanced works are not to be missed.” —New York Times
Provocative and outlandish? Riotous and fabulous? Absolutely! This mash-up of parallel dance histories—Judson and Voguing—is a frenetic free-for-all that bounces from soul music to sculptural acrobatics, from elaborate drag (including an eerily faithful rendition of Prince’s “Darling Nikki”) to amazingly virtuosic movement, all mixed as a gender-blender tribute to the power and pleasure of persona.
This collaboration with Paris-based performance artists Cecilia Bengolea and François Chaignaud, and Cape Verdean–born dancer Marlene Monteiro Freitas was inspired by Paris Is Burning, the landmark documentary film on voguing. (M)imosa_is the title given to the medium version of Harrell’s series in six sizes (XS)–(XL), entitled Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church_. Performance contains nudity.
Inside Out There: Trajal Harrell and Collaborators
Saturday, January 26, 11 am
William and Nadine McGuire Theater
The cast and creators of (M)imosa introduce the conceptual framework and material for the show: “voguing”—working the imagination, contemporary dance, and voguing motifs, themes, and ideas.
Back to Back Theatre
Ganesh Versus the Third Reich
Thursday–Saturday, January 31–February 2, 8 pm
$18 ($15) Thursday; $22 ($18) Friday–Saturday
“Courageous, confronting, intelligent and magisterially considered theatre (5 stars).” —The Age
Australia’s leading independent theater company returns to the Walker with a disarming investigation of theater itself—a humorous yet poignant work for the near future full of rich metaphor and sly transparency. This cleverly interwoven tale-within-a-tale begins as the elephant-headed god Ganesh travels to Nazi Germany to reclaim the Swastika, an ancient Hindu symbol. This epic hero’s journey prompts questions about cultural appropriation, exploitation, and abuse of power (both within the world and on the stage) with unflinching honesty. Conceived by Back to Back, whose ensemble primarily features actors with perceived mental disabilities, this deftly realized double narrative brims with striking visuals and surreal theatrical moments.
Inside Out There: Back to Back Theatre
Saturday, February 2, 11 am
Experience Back to Back’s improvisational performance tools firsthand and gain insight into their collaborative process. Intended for theater-makers, performers, and writers; limited to 15 participants.
Out There Festival Artist History
1989 Out There
David Cale Smooch Music
Rachel Rosenthal Rachel’s Brain
Plus Late-Night Performance Showcase
1990 Out There II
Bad Jazz (Kevin Kling, Michael Sommers, Loren Niemi)
John Jesurun Everything That Rises Must Converge
John Woodall Gim Crack
Plus Late-Night Performance Showcase (Giles Denmark, Christopher Friday and David Lindahl, Gerry
Girouard, Steven Kale Kagan, Gene Larche, Ruth Mackenzie, Earl Norman and Patrick Pelini, Julie
Ann O’Baoighill, Peter O’Gorman, Savage Aural Hotbed)
1991 Out There III
Ping Chong Elephant Memories
Doris Cypis The Inquisition
Dan Hurlin A Cool Million
Los Angeles Poverty Department LAPD Inspects the Twin Cities
+Late Night Showcase (Beth Gilleland, emcee; Lance Livesay + many others)
1992 Out There IV
Rinde Eckert – Dante New Jersey (Dante America?)
Kim Hines Who Was I the Last Time I Saw You?
John King Permanent Revolution
Ron Vawter Roy Cohn/Jack Smith
+Late-Night Showcase (Heidi Arneson, Azande, Berserks-Savage Aural Hotbed with MNSyncopated Foot Ensemble, The Collective, The Conspiracy Theate, Ronald Dahl Marcela Kingman, Moe Flaherty (emcee).
1993 Out There V
Bloolips Get Hur, Part 3
Paul-Andre Fortier La Tentation de la Transparence
Holly Hughes No Trace of the Blonde
Michael Sommers/Ballet of the Dolls Passionate Journey
+Late-Night Showcase
1994 Out There 6
David Dorfman and Dan Froot Horn, Bullhorn and other works
Alexs Pate and David Mura The Colors of Desire
Pomo Afro Homos Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life
Linda Carmella Sibio West Virginia Schizophrenic Blues
+Loose Cannon (Late-Night Showcase): Heidi Arneson; Brian Sostek and Colin Gee, etc.)
1995 Out There 7
Axis Dance Troupe
Run/Remain The Sherman Preludes and Sit Still
Keith Hennesey, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Patrick Scully Unsafe, Unsuited
Chris Sullivan Bang on My Chest If You Think I’m Perfect
Sam Costa, David Dorfman, Stuart Pimsler; Margolis/Brown; Robbie McCauley; Diane Waller In the Studio (new works in progress)
+Balls (late night showcase, host Leslie Ball) + 2 Bands/2 Bucks (Beangirl/Strap;Period/John’s Black Dirt; Richard for Cerebellum/Grow Like Topsy; Eighthead/Sonny Boy)
1996 Out There 8
Martha Boesing These Are My Sisters
Ann Bogart / Suzuki International Theater Institute The Medium
Pierre-Paul Savoie and Jeff Hall Bagne
Linda Carmella Sibio Energy and Light and Their Relationship to Suicide
+Balls (late night showcase, host Leslie Ball) + 2 Bands/ 2 Bucks(Big Red Ball/Michael S. Simmons; 12 Rods/Gusto Busto; Kitsch in Sync/The Salteens; All the Pretty Horses, Salamander)
1997 Out There 9
Artcore: a Performance Meltdown (all-night dance/theater/music/film
Event): DJ ESP Woody McBride; Communique All-Stars; Sal Peen
Hijack; Atmosphere/Slug; Own; Ragamala Dance Theater; Sean Kelly-Peg
Super Size; CAAM Chinese Dance Theater et al.
Buto-Sha Tenkei Nocturne
Michael Lemieux and Victor Pilon Grand Hôtel des Étrangers
P.S. 122 Field Trips String – Out: Basil Twist, Sanghi Wagner
the Elementals, etc.
Wendy Knox (director) Shut Up and Listen: Alex Alexander, Maria Asp, Laurie Carlos, Jason McLean, Luu Pham, Charles Schuminski, Brian Sostek)
+Balls (late night showcase, host Leslie Ball)
1998 Out There 10
da da kamera Here Lies Henry
Hot Mouth (Helga Davis, Grisha Coleman, Ching Gonzalez; Dir. Jonathan
Stone) You Say What I Mean But what You Mean Is Not What I Said
Dan Hurlin The Shoulder
Three Women at the Fore: Carolyn Goelzer, Mary Ellen Childs, Laurie Carlos
- Jack Smith and His Secret Flix (film screening at the Walker)
1999 Out There 11
33 Fainting Spells Maria the Stormcloud
Anne Bogart/SITI Bob
Improbable Theatre 70 Hill Lane
Shawn McConnelough and her Orchestra What’s Wrong With Wanting to Die in Your Arms?
+Balls Cabaret (various artists)
2000 Out There 12
da da kamera Monster
Elevator Repair Service Total Fictional Lie
Roger Guenveur Smith A Huey P. Newton Story
Zorongo Flamenco La Virtud Negra
2001 Out There 13
Bill ‘Crutchmaster’ Shannon Old Rain
Gob Squad Safe
Improbable Theater Spirit
Tere O’Conner The World is a Missing Girl
2002 Out There 14
Hollandia Voice
Rude Mechanicals Lipstick Traces
Big Dance Theater Another Telepathic Thing
Richard Maxwell Boxing 2000
2003 – Out There 15
Eiko & Koma Offering and Snow
Big Art Group Shelf Life
New Paradise Labs The Fab 4 Reach the Pearly Gates
Diana Szeinblum Secreto & Malibu
2004 Out There 16
Big Dance Theater Plan B
Sekou Sundiata Blessing the Boats
Elevator Repair Service Room Tone
Forced Entertainment/Tim Etchells Instructions for Forgetting
2005 Out There 17
Richard Maxwell Joe
Universes Slanguage
Lisa d’Amour Nita & Zita
Cynthia Hopkins Accidental Nostalgia
2006 Out There 18: Performance Meets the Moving Image
Dan Graham, Tony Oursler, Japanther Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30
Superamas BIG Episode 2
Everett Dance Theater Home Movies
Kassys Kommer
2007 Out There 19
Cynthia Hopkins Must Don’t Whip‘Um
Lone Twin Nine Years
Young Jean Lee Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven
The Riot Group Pugilist Specialist
2008 Out There 20: Moving toward the Future
Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People Everyone
The TEAM Particularly in the Heartland
Claude Wampler PERFORMANCE (career ender)
David Neumann FEED Forward
2009 Out There 21
National Theater of the USA: Chattauqua!
Toshiki Okada/cheltfitsch Five Days in March
Tim Crouch England
Young Jean Lee Church
2010 Out There 22
Rimini Protokoll Call Cutta In a Box
Radiohole Whatever Heaven Allows
Roger Guenvier Smith The Watts Tower Project
Hotel Modern The Great War
2011 Out There 23: New European Performance
Betontanc/Umka.lv Show Your Face!
Gob Squad Kitchen (We Never Had it So Good!)
Berlin Bonanza
Philippe Quesne/Vivarium L’effect de Serge
2012 Out There 24: Global Visionaries
Young Jean Lee Untitled Feminist Show
Rabih Mroue The Case of the Missing Employee
Chelfitsch Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and the Farewell Speech
Marianno Pensotti El pasado es un animal grotesco (The Past is a Grotesque Animal)
Performing Arts Supporters
The Walker Art Center’s performing arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Producers’ Council
Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council: Russell Cowles; Sage Cowles; Nor Hall and Roger Hale; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Henry Pillsbury; Emily Maltz; Dr. William W. and Nadine M. McGuire; Leni and David Moore, Jr.; Josine Peters; Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney; and Frances and Frank Wilkinson.