Big Blue Buzz from the Guthrie Theater for December 2008

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

The Guthrie will be closed on December 25 and January 1 in observance of Christmas and New Years Day, respectively. In addition, the building will close at 4 p.m. on December 24 and December 31. Regular building hours (8 a.m. - midnight) and backstage tours (offered Fridays - Mondays at 10 a.m.) continue throughout the holiday season on all other days.

Look to the Guthrie Store for all of your holiday shopping needs. New items for 2008 include "Bah Hum Bug" T-shirts, Guthrie postcards and a fantastic selection of jewelry from local artisans. In addition, gift certificates are now available for the popular dinner and show packages. For more information, please call the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224 or 877.447.8243 (toll free).

Holiday Choirs are performing again this season in the Level 4 lobby prior to select performances of A Christmas Carol. Murray Junior High School kicked off the festivities on November 21, making their 3rd consecutive opening night appearance. Upcoming groups include the Wayzata Evangelical Free Church Vocal Ensemble (12/6 evening), the Twin Cities Women's Choir (12/7 matinee), the Armstrong High School Chamber Singers (12/7 eve and 12/12 eve), The Hymnus Choir of New Prague (12/13), Hot!Dish (12/17), Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company (12/18 eve), Lake Country Chorus Sweet Adelines (12/20 mat) After 5 (12/21 eve) and Friends Vocal Ensemble (12/27 eve).

FOODIE FEASTS

Level 5 Café is now offering a weekend brunch buffet on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Featured items include assorted cold salads, homemade soups, a chilled seafood selection, a carving station, an omelet bar, Minnesota hot dish, assorted breakfast breads and pastries, yogurt, specialty granola, waffles, and chocolate fondue. Reservations for Adults ($15.95), Seniors ($13.95) and Children under 10 ($9.95) can be made by calling 612.225.6486.

Looking for a sugar fix during intermission? Head to the Level 5 Café and enjoy an all-you-can-eat (in 20 minutes) intermission dessert buffet for all evening performances. Featuring homemade baked goods and pastries, fresh fruit kabobs with chocolate fondue and honey yogurt, and bottomless cups of coffee and tea, patrons will scramble to stuff their cheeks with goodies before the Act 2 bell calls them back to their seats. Only 100 intermission buffet tickets are available for each show, ensuring a quality (and gluttonous?) experience for patrons. Tickets for the dessert buffet are $10 and are available for purchase at Cue, Level 5 Express and the Level 5 Café.

Got kids? Cue and Level 5 Café are has begun offering a kids menu, featuring homemade macaroni & cheese, chicken tenders, grilled cheese and a kids-sized cheeseburger.

PRODUCTIONS, PLAYS & PEOPLE

"If music be the food of love, play on" (Shakespeare's Twelfth Night) Keith Thomas, composer of the highly-lauded 1997 and 2008 productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, will again bring his melodies to Shakespeare, heading back to 1950s in Joe Dowling's upcoming production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona. UofM/Guthrie B.F.A. graduates Jonas Goslow and Sam Bardwell will play the "Two Gentlemen" (Proteus and Valentine, respectively). Complete casting will be announced in early December.

Sheila Livingston has been appointed to the new position of Director of Artistic Relations. In this new capacity, Sheila will report to Joe Dowling and continue to do what she has done so brilliantly for so long, to engage the community with the Guthrie and its artists. She will also begin new programs to ensure that our audiences have increased access to the artists who appear on our stages or who serve the production from behind the scenes.

In collaboration with The Playwrights' Center, the Guthrie will present a reading of Down in Mississippi by Carlyle Brown on Monday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m. The play, one of ten new works developed as part of The Ruth Easton New Play Series, a two-year collaboration between the Guthrie and The Playwright's Center. Tickets for the reading are now available through the Guthrie Box Office.

Tickets are still available for the Monday, December 8 performance of Kevin Kling's one-man show Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log. Wry tales, both old and new, of Midwestern Americana take surprising turns from laugh-out-loud bizarre to touchingly insightful, as the nationally celebrated humorist, actor and playwright spins his hilarious yarn of family traditions and holiday merriment.

CLASSES & CAMPS

Preparing for the arrival of 800+ students of the next month, the Education Department has unveiling Show ‘n" Tell: A Guthrie Matinee for Students. This free program is offered prior to all weekday matinees, enhancing the playgoing experience by learning about the production from Guthrie staff and actors. Following the performance, groups are invited to stay and participate in the post-play discussion.

Registration is now open for winter classes beginning on January 12, with a variety of one-day sampler, 4-week and 8-week classes available through late March. For more information on Guthrie camps and classes, visit www.guthrietheater.org/learn.

A reminder that Target Play Dates for the remaining 2008-09 Season go on sale Wednesday, January 7 through the Guthrie Box Office. These wildly-popular matinee performance events allow little ones, ages 4-11 to enjoy free theater workshops led by the Guthrie's loveable teaching artist Isabell Monk O'Connor, while the rest of the family gets $15 tickets to that afternoon's matinee performance.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

Jonatha Brooke
Monday, December 1
7:30 p.m.
McGuire Proscenium Stage

Sounds of Blackness
Monday, December 22
7:30 p.m.
Wurtele Thrust Stage

Mavis Staples
Monday, February 2
7:30 p.m.
Wurtele Thrust Stage

Gaelic Storm
Monday, March 16
7:30 p.m.
Wurtele Thrust Stage