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Weekend Arts Roundup: To Hell and Back

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by Marianne Combs

April 24, 2014

dante aligheri
Dante Alighieri's portrait by Sandro Botticelli. Dante's 'Inferno' is the inspiration behind a new production by James Sewell Ballet.
Sandro Botticelli, 1495

MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Steve Seel and Jill Riley to talk about arts events that will take you to hell and back this weekend, from an R-rated ballet (!) to a spring arts festival.

Inferno — Inspired by Dante's The Divine Comedy, this performance by James Sewell Ballet creates an immersive environment of electronic imagery, musical collage and striking staging and costume design. Shows run several dates between April 25 and May 4 at the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts in Minneapolis. Please note that this ballet is "Rated R due to graphic depictions of sex and violence."

Mercy Killers — Michael Milligan brings his acclaimed one-man show to the Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis. Joe, a blue-collar mechanic with a red state perspective, recounts the lengths he will go to care for his beloved wife. A detailed and emotional journey, Mercy Killers is an unflinching look at health care in the United States. Mercy Killers runs April 23 to May 4.

St. Paul Art Crawl — The springtime iteration of this St. Paul arts event brings together more than 300 participating artists in 17 buildings in Lowertown and Downtown alone. Art Crawl also extends along University and Grand Avenues and into the Eastside and Westside neighborhoods of St. Paul. Marianne adds that a number of St. Paul's new craft brewers are in a lot of the same buildings as the artists, so one can see — and taste — what's happening in St. Paul's creative communities.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read about all the latest arts news at the State of the Arts blog at mprnews.org.