Art Hounds: Hope’s quiet departure, a wordless portrayal of shared sorrow and resilience at the Jungle

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

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Grief without words 

Theatermaker Kurt Engh saw The Moving Company’s performance of “SPEECHLESS” in 2017, and he’s thrilled the show is back again. The show opens Friday and runs through Nov. 10 at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis.

As the name implies, the play is entirely without words, but the emotions run deep. 

Kurt explains: Someone passes away in the play, and that person is ironically or symbolically named Hope. I think it’s intentionally left to be ambiguous.

The play is about five people going through grief in this very melodramatic but real way, and they find that the only way forward is to support themselves, but also support each other. The play shows how people are able to support each other when they don’t even know what to say, when they’re so upset and they’re so at a loss, truly, that they move forward through physical kindness to each other. 

The collaborators of this production have been working together for many years. They are my favorite theater company in the Twin Cities, and this was voted as a best play of the year in 2017 by the Star Tribune. There are performances on Wednesdays that are pay-as-you-are starting at $15.

— Kurt Engh

A smorgasbord of short films — or hot dish, if you will 

Rachel Coyne of Lindstrom is looking forward to seeing the Franconia 5 Minute Film Fest, a short film festival featuring works from Minnesota and Wisconsin artists. The top 15 judge-selected films will be screened at Franconia Sculpture Park this Saturday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. and at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis Thursday, Oct 10.

The Franconia screening is free with a suggested $10 donation. Seating on benches is limited, so Rachel recommends bringing a blanket or lawn chairs. 

Rachel adds: There’s a claymation artist, some live film, some animation. In the years in the past, when I’ve gone, you know, it’s kind of like eating like a really pungent spice. You’re just like, wow, that’s an idea, and it hits you over the head, and then before you know it, you’re onto the next film.

Given that the filmmakers are all from Minnesota and Wisconsin, Rachel adjusts her metaphor: It’s more hot dish. So there’s peas, there’s carrots, there’s tater tots and there’s probably even some mushroom soup in there.

 — Rachel Coyne

Did you hear that classic Irish epic about the cow? 

Anna Maher is a classically trained singer and actor living in the Twin Cities, and she’s glad that one of her favorite theater companies, Clevername Theatre, is remounting a fan-favorite from the 2022 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

“Connor’s gonna tell: The Tain Bo Cuailnge” is a one-person recounting of the “Táin Bó Cúailnge,” an old Irish epic tale about a cattle raid. See it at Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater in Minneapolis, Fridays, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m. 

Anna says: It’s kind of like the Irish Odyssey. It’s an epic, and it chronicles a war that was waged between two factions, and then there’s a hero. And the whole thing, the whole fight, revolves around a cow.

And so, Connor will tell the story. He uses different voices. There are some different outfits that happen. There’s a mask, there's a little bit of puppetry involved. And then he has a mandolin player who accompanies him for the entire show.” 

(Note: Anna Maher works for American Public Media Group, the parent company of MPR News.)

— Anna Maher