By Tim McG Photo
New Old Life
What: Revitalizing Symbols
When: Friday, Jan. 10-Feb. 14
Where: Inez Greenberg Gallery (Artistry), 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd., Bloomington
Organizer Alexandra Buffalohead has curated Indigenous North American artwork (by Jim Denomie, who made our “Best of MN” list, as well as Marlena Myles, Jonathan Thunder, Gwen Westerman, and others) about how we revive traditions—in the form of language, land, and art.
Code Switched
What: Noura
When: Saturday, Jan. 11-Feb. 16
Where: The Guthrie Theater, 818 South Second St., Minneapolis
In this play inspired by A Doll’s House, an Iraqi American woman in New York City just became a U.S. citizen. She’s readying an Iraqi dinner, feeling a little displaced—while her husband and son slip cozily into their American selves—and, as the guests arrive, realizing that not all is as it seems.
Southwest Suds
What: Mankato Craft Beer Expo
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 3-6 p.m.
Where: Mankato Civic Center, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Mankato
Taste craft beers from over 40 breweries while enjoying live music and food vendors.
You Get an Action Plan, and You Get an Action Plan…
What: “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” Tour
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 9 p.m.
Where: Xcel Energy
No one’s surprised that things are getting really, really real on Oprah’s nationwide tour about wellness. During a full day of workshops at the Xcel Energy Center, Oprah shares lessons from her own journey, joined for a candid conversation with guest Tina Fey.
A Bizarre and Secret World
What: Is This a Room: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription
When: Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 9-Jan. 11, 8 p.m.
Where: Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Pl., Minneapolis
The Walker’s Out There series wrangles theatrical works by a selection of four international artists. To start, writer, director, and performer Tina Satter (along with her company Half Straddle) stages an afternoon spent in a “bizarre and secret world.” Reality Winner, an actual former Air Force linguist, was interrogated by the FBI when she was 25. Satter re-enacts 70 minutes of the released transcript. Tackling toxic masculinity and shifty investigative tactics, she lets verbatim nonfiction drive a work that’s at once “funny and suspenseful, engaging and enraging.”
Cry, Cry, Baby
What: 13th Annual “Happy Birthday Janis” Concert
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m.
Where: First Avenue, 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis
It’s January, and that means rock icon Janis Joplin would have turned 77—and that means local powerhouse Jill Mikelson will stage her annual tribute show, at First Avenue, this Saturday. Mikelson has won an Ivey Award for playing Joplin, along with praise from Joplin’s sister. This year, she devotes some lung power to the women who inspired the ’60s countercultural, jagged-edged belter: Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Tina Turner, and others.
Cultural Crescendo
What: Outpost
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 8 p.m.
Where: The Hook and Ladder Theater & Lounge, 3010 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis
It feels civically responsible to attend this salon-like gathering of poets, musicians, theater artists, and comics—to sink in with the community while enriching yourself. For the second installment in Outpost’s 2019-20 season, Hmong American poet and memoirist Kao Kalia Yang reads from her award-winning book The Song Poet, about her Minnesotan refugee father. Journalist David Perry (The Nation, Pacific Standard) reads his essay The Art of Stimming, on the medical profession’s harmful misunderstanding of Down Syndrome. Dakota poet and theater artist Rosetta Peters collaborates with guitarist J.G. Everest. And 11 musicians perform new works by composers.
Run the World
What: National Geographic Live
When: Sunday, Jan. 12, 2 p.m.
Where: The Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul
If your high school was like mine, you got a peanut-size summary of Ancient Egypt. Dr. Kara Cooney, a professor of Egyptology, has dug into an overlooked portion of this long, deep history: when queens reigned with undeniable influence.
