MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Jill Riley and Sean McPherson to talk about three new arts events worth checking out this weekend.

No Star Where: Bao Phi's new poems — A reading/performance of Bao Phi's new poems qualifies as a performance because Phi is a Minnesota Grand Slam Poetry champion and National Poetry Slam Finalist. He certainly knows how to write poetry, too; his last collection, Song I Sing, got a rave review in The New York Times. "This is a great local guy doing fabulous work that gets national attention," Marianne says. Phi releases his new poems at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m.

A Lie of the Mind — Sam Shepard's "portrait of the American nightmare" starts on the dark note of a wife waking up and realizing she has brain damage due to her husband's beatings. Husband and wife retreat to their family homes, and the audience see the dysfunction in each family of origin. Theatre Pro Rata presents A Lie of the Mind at Nimbus Theatre on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis until Sept. 27.

MinnAnimate 4 — This is the Minnesota Animation Festival, which includes a youth category featuring Norman County East Elementary third graders' Clown Versus Shark. There are also animations by grownups, including a short called Egghood, which follows an egg from birth to high school graduation. MinnAnimate 4 happens tonight, Thursday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Film Society of Minneapolis and St. Paul's St. Anthony Main Theater.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read all the latest arts news from MPR News.