The Encyclopedia Show is a monthly co-production from SlamMN!'s Allison Broeren and Brave New Workshop's longtime cleanup hitter Mike Fotis. Each installment features an encyclopedia entry, such as "bears" or "explosives," as its jumping off point. Audience members submit specific subtopics,... More >>

For all its ghastly subject matter, there's something inherently comforting about a classic murder mystery. Perhaps the satisfaction derives from the thrill of playing detective against an oddly amicable lineup of suspects. How many murder mysteries, for example, take place on an affluent... More >>

This Saturday, Cult Status Gallery will host its yearly group show featuring the work of a handful of talented ladies. And while the creative folks exhibiting in "Cult Sisters III Love/Hate" are all female, the gallery is quick to point out that the event isn't necessarily a women's art show.... More >>

There's a time for serious examinations of important issues of the day, and then there's a time for a door-slamming farce. Georges Feydeau was a master of the latter form, producing comedies that could be funny in any language. Gremlin Theater tackles "An Absolute Turkey," a new adaptation of... More >>

What do burlesque and dusty old museums have in common? Not much, unless you hit up the Historic Mounds Theatre for Burlesque at the Museum. Here, the extraordinary entertainers of Toil & Trouble will present their second show of the season. Think of it a little like Night at the Museum sans... More >>

Classroom drawing sessions are important for beginners; studio and freelance work help pay the bills; and setting up an easel by the lake is a nice way to spend an afternoon. Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School is a slightly different experience from all of these things. Every fourth Sunday... More >>

Once again, the Science Museum of Minnesota is inviting its guests to enjoy the great outdoors with "The Big Back Yard." This year's exhibit will explore the delicate relationship between land and water. The nine-hole EarthScapes mini-golf course will examine what happens as landscapes erode... More >>

The current debate about including women and people of color in the conversation at local theaters fits in perfectly with Ten Thousand Things' latest work, Kira Obolensky's Vasa Lisa. Obolensky, who has previously adapted Crime and Punishment for the theater, has brought a Russian folk tale... More >>

Light Grey Art Lab's latest show, "Street Fortune," explores the people and places in the Twin Cities often overlooked or avoided. Think hobos, buskers, drug dealers, and shady cops in locations like alleys, dive bars, Dumpsters, and gutters. The collaborative exhibition features the work of... More >>

When Guthrie director Joe Dowling recently unveiled the main-stage slate for the upcoming 50th season, an online brouhaha was ignited over an alleged shortage of works reflective of gender and ethnic diversity at the storied institution. Even the Guthrie's most adamant social critics, however,... More >>

If the windows on Dylan Hicks's debut novel, Boarded Windows (Coffee House Press), are indeed boarded, it's because the high- and low-brow music, literary, and cultural notes that fill its pages are straining against the glass. But the thicket of references is not so daunting as to make the... More >>

Are you a night owl? Always on the lookout for something entertaining to do on the weekend that doesn't involve dance parties, the repetitive bar scene, or trying to make it through Saturday Night Live? Balls is always a sure thing. The weekly midnight cabaret is one of the longest-running open... More >>

Really, you can't stop the beat. Chanhassen may not be the epitome of cool, but here's something that may be worth the trip to exurbia. Based on John Waters's 1988 look back on his Baltimore youth and the televised dance shows that brought R&B to the lily-white neighborhoods, the musical... More >>

You never know where Skewed Visions will show up. The haunting, disturbing "Strange Love" (2007) took place in a former coffin factory. "He Woke Up in a Strange Place Called Home and Although Looking for Bed He Kept Finding Death Instead" (2010) started in the home of arts patron Nor Hall, then... More >>

This Friday, print art enthusiasts will be able to see what the Highpoint Center for Printmaking's three Jerome Artists — Gwen Comings, Graham Judd, and Jonathan McFadden — have been up to during their nine-month residency. During that time, the artists have had the opportunity to... More >>

Ever since Marcel Duchamp turned a urinal upside down, signed it R. Mutt, named it Fountain, and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917, interest in the everyday as art has continued unabated. In 2010, the Weisman Art Museum presented "Common Sense: Art and the... More >>

Works Progress is a group that encourages community engagement through artist-run events, open discussions, and adventurous activities. Past projects have included Solutions Twin Cities, a pecha kucha-style event where creative and scientific folks shared innovative ideas in rapid-fire... More >>

With talented artists as varied as Tina Blondell and Frank Gaard working in the genre, it's interesting to see how portrait paintings, once viewed as dated, are flourishing in the Twin Cities. The work of Kristie Bretzke is another example of this expansion. Her latest show, "Eye of the... More >>

For "FLO(we){u}r," the Soap Factory will go from gallery to bomb factory. The experiment plays off a bit of World War I history, when terracotta manufacturers were employed by the military to create test bombs to toss out of planes. Clay bombs were filled with flour so they would leave white... More >>

Jeffrey Hatcher's Compleat Female Stage Beauty explores the story of Edward Kynaston, a Restoration-era actor called "the prettiest woman in the whole house" by Samuel Pepys. He specialized in female roles, but found his career in jeopardy when women were finally allowed on the stage. The play,... More >>

While Whittier can claim both the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design as parts of its neighborhood, the area is becoming even artier over the next couple of weeks. Taking a nod from Wing Young Huie's University Avenue Project, abandoned spaces and unused... More >>

The work of local artist Alison Hiltner is never dull. Past exhibitions have included an organ-donor vending machine, phosphorescent flora, and business suits that claim to suck up sweat through giant medical tubes attached to the back. Her installations are heavily influenced by science,... More >>

Minneapolis native Michael Crouser creates photographs of evocative light and shadow, rich with tension and tranquility. Whether capturing the feral rough-and-tumble of dogs playing in a park (a series called "Dog Run" that began with a Great Dane at Lake of the Isles), or the craggy faces and... More >>

While there are usually a handful of burlesque shows happening on any given weekend, and Sex World is open 24 hours a day, Bondage A-Go-Go is still one of the most enduring nights dedicated to kinks and sexy subcultures. The crowd can vary depending on the season and the evening, but generally... More >>

"Her silent lines penetrate the marrow like a cry of pain," German novelist Gerhart Hauptmann wrote of Käthe Kollwitz's etchings. The suffering and desperation of early-20th-century victims of poverty and war were the artist's subjects. While she treated them, at times, with evocative... More >>