From experimental theater to protest art, the Twin Cities’ arts scene is in motion this weekend. At Pillsbury House, Naked Stages returns with three new performances developed across seven months of risk-taking and exploration. Memorialize the Movement brings murals from Minneapolis’ 2020 uprising to St. Catherine University, while Afro-Indigenous artists gather for a night market at Queermunity. 

Naked Stages highlights experimental performance

Twin Cities artists will turn creative process into performance this weekend at Pillsbury House and Theatre’s Naked Stages, a seven-month fellowship that gives three early-career artists the time and space to take risks and experiment. 

For Paige Oyaleke Reynolds, who grew up in Detroit, experimental art was everywhere — in church pews and choir rooms; in dance classes and theater. It was nurtured by teachers, celebrated by parents and rooted in their hometown’s arts and culture scene. 

“Detroit has a pretty strong artistic legacy,” they said. “My older sister was one of the most influential people in my life. She’s a guitarist and a vocalist and even produced her own festival that focused on Black and brown rock musicians.” 

Growing up in the Black church and discovering Black feminist writers in their early 20s became the foundation for Reynolds’ focus on queer and Afro-diasporic ancestral healing. 

After earning a bachelor’s in theatre arts administration from Howard University, Reynolds arrived in Minneapolis in 2017 through a fellowship with the Children’s Theatre Company. They found the city to be fertile ground for artists working at the intersection of community and experimentation. 

“I had no idea that there was such a thriving, well-supported, well-funded arts scene,” they said. “We have some of the best arts funding in the nation. I ended up staying because there was just so much opportunity to do what I wanted to do.”  

While working in arts administration, Reynolds “really missed being an artist,” they said. “I realized I would never be fully fulfilled and satisfied if I didn’t also focus on my art. Naked Stages sounded perfect because it’s all about process. They expect your piece to change. They expect you to change.”

Reynolds’ show, “House of Masks,” features three Black queer ancestors — a trickster named Tar Boi, a siren named Miss Simbi, and a matriarch known as Muh Dear who gather for a Black masquerade set on a porch. 

“I really hope that people consider the lives of Black queer ancestors as being multidimensional,” Reynolds said. “I want people to have a direct, felt relationship with them. I think that’s also where healing lies — in encouraging each of us to be more of ourselves.”

Alongside Reynolds’ performance, transdisciplinary artist Dottie Rose presents “Clocky Doll,” a portrait of the everyday life of a trans woman in her 30s. Japanese performing artist Akiko’s “Reversal” turns its attention to another kind of portrait — of America’s relationship to power, control and consequence through the story of the Chicago River. 

When Akiko visited Chicago two years ago, she was warned not to swim in Lake Michigan after a storm had “reversed” the river’s flow. 

“I did research and realized that the Chicago River was already reversed,” Akiko said. “So when they say the river is reversed because of the storm that means it’s going the right way — and I thought it was fascinating.” 

She’s referring to the 1900 engineering project that redirected the river to carry polluted water away from Lake Michigan and toward the Mississippi River. The project solved a public health crisis caused by sewage contaminating the city’s drinking supply but it also exposed the city’s reluctance to confront the causes of the contamination itself. 

“Instead of doing something about the filth that’s floating on the river — like treating the water or holding companies accountable — they just decide to push it all the way to the Mississippi River so somebody else can take care of it,” Akiko said. 

In “Reversal,” Akiko uses the river as a metaphor for what she sees as a national pattern of displacement and a tendency to bury problems rather than resolve them. She drew a parallel between the river’s reversal and Minneapolis’ response to homelessness.

“Instead of addressing the homelessness issue, they just evict people who are already evicted, who are sleeping outside,” she said. “That is the same kind of mentality — we have homeless people and we don’t want to see homeless people, so we’re just going to push them away but they’re not going to disappear. The problem is still there.” 

Local artists honor Minneapolis activism

Memorialize the Movement is presenting “Night and Day: Murals, Memory and Movement” at St. Catherine University’s Murphy Gallery and Frey Theater, featuring plywood protest murals and archival materials created during Minneapolis’ 2020 uprising after the murder of George Floyd. Co-curated by Leesa Kelly and Amira McLendon, the exhibit reflects on resistance, resilience and community care. On Friday, the movement-based performance “Aftermath” brings together St. Kate’s students and Twin Cities artists Thomasina Petrus and Zola Dee to explore how communities heal and move forward after police violence. 

Night market showcases Afro-Indigenous art

Mashkiki Studios and Queermunity will host a Gashkadino-Giizis (November) Night Market this Saturday to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. The event will include an open mic for poetry, music and spoken word, food from Queermunity Café and a marketplace of handmade and wellness products, including beadwork, skincare, perfumes, jams and crystals. Visitors can also see “Intertribals: A Ceremony Under One Sky,” an exhibit of digital art, beadwork, watercolors and mixed media art by Native, queer and Afro-Indigenous artists, including Marique Moss, Aiyana Kline, Theodore Marcil, and Anna of Big Auntie Energy. 

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