MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Steve Seel and Sean McPherson (in for Jill Riley) to talk about two non-traditional Halloween offerings to check out this weekend.

Prince Rama's Journey — Prince Rama rescues his wife from an evil king and leads a monkey army against an army of demons. It sounds pretty scary, but this family-friendly production includes Indonesian dance, gamelan and colorful costumes. This collaboration by Green T Productions and Sumunar Indonesian Music and Dance stages at the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis from Oct. 31 to Nov. 9.

Andy Messerschmidt and Mathew Zefeldt — This gallery "two-fer" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts features work by local artists. Andy Messerschmidt creates murals using stickers, Easter basket grass, plastic flowers, tree skirts for Christmas trees and other bric-a-brac to create spiritual, evocative displays, exploring what makes something sincere or precious. "It's tacky and beautiful," Marianne says.

Go into the next room, and artist Matthew Zefeldt has created a space that looks like you're in a 16-bit video game from the 1990s. With hand-rendered digital 16-bit images, you feel like you're in Super Mario Brothers, Wolfenstein or Doom. The jarring visuals and the video-game environment actually create interesting questions about life, death and the hereafter. These galleries, part of the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program, are open until Dec. 28.

Web bonus: Read Marianne Combs' MPR News feature about Messerschmidt and Zefeldt's installations.

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.

Related

• Green T Productions Box Office
• Minneapolis Institute of Arts