“The Force of Destiny”

Itasca Symphony Orchestra on Stage in Bigfork

For an audience that enjoys classical music, Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino Overture is just one of three wonderful pieces that will be performed at The Edge Center in Bigfork on May 6th. The program will also include Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and the Triumphal March from Aida. For anyone who would like an introduction to this music, the three works will surprise you with their musical ”fireworks”. It is the first time this symphony orchestra will be at The Edge. The time is 2PM and ticket prices are $10 for adults $5 for children. They can be purchased on-line at www.the-edge-center.org, at the Bigfork Cenex, or at the door.




This performance is a perfect match for The Edge Center's design. It is acoustically state-of-the-art and will give the audience a very true listening experience. IOSP Executive Director, Katherine Dodge says, "The piano concerto will be thrilling to say the least, the Triumphal March will be very familiar, and the La Forza Overture will be true to its title (The Force of Destiny)."




The Itasca Symphony Orchestra was established in 1981 as the Itasca Orchestral Society by a group of teachers, musicians, and music lovers. It is presently part of the Itasca Orchestra and Strings Program (IOSP). Besides its symphony orchestra, IOSP enrolls 150 students for lessons in violin, viola, cello and string bass. From the beginning, IOSP has staged three to four symphony concerts per year collaborating with guest and local artists. For the Edge Center concert the Itasca Symphony Orchestra will be comprised of thirty-three musicians from Itasca County and 15 mostly from the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.



Conductor Keith Swanson has stood on the podium of the Itasca Symphony Orchestra since 1992. He is currently Director of Music at Hermantown High School. He also conducted the UMD Symphony Orchestra and many opera productions for the Northland Opera Theater Experience. He has conducted numerous productions as Music Director of Duluth’s Lyric Opera of the North (LOON) and Colder by the Lake’s productions.



The concertmaster, Mary LaPlant, has been with the Itasca Symphony Orchestra since 1988. She also teaches violin and viola to students in the orchestra’s strings program. As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a major in forestry and minor in music, she has combined her classical training with a love of fiddling. She is the three-time state fiddle champion. Her music can be found on her two CDs.

Pianist Alexander Sandor will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Alexander Sandor teaches in the music department at the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS), and maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist and chamber musician.



Instrumentation:
Strings: violins, violas, cellos, double basses
Woodwinds: piccolo, flutes, English Horn, clarinets, bassoons, oboes
Brass: trumpets, trombones, tuba, French Horns
Various percussion instruments
Piano for this concert

First violin, Debbie Losik, teaches violin in the Bigfork School. She graduated from Trinity College of Music in London and completed her education at the University of Hull in French and Italian. She trained at the Suzuki Institute at Stevens Point Wisconsin. Since 1995, she has taught privately in St. Paul, Montevideo, and Alcester, South Dakota.



At the Edge Center Concert, pianist Alexander Sandor will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Alexander Sandor teaches in the music department at the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS), and maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been a soloist with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, the Itasca Symphony Orchestra, the Long Prairie Chamber Orchestra, and the UWS Chamber Orchestra. As a specialist in ragtime and stride piano, he has performed at festivals across the country. Mr. Sandor has worked at Interlochen Arts Academy as an accompanist, improvising music for dance classes and playing for student recitals, and is the organist at the United Presbyterian Church in Superior. He attended UWS where he received his Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance, and received his Master's degree from the University of Arizona. Recordings include Fingerbuster and Cascades.



And finally of special local interest, are three artists who have played at The Edge previously under other circumstances: Mary Laplant, violin, Carmen Heinecke, trumpet, and Dr. Paul Olson, French horn. For regular concert goers, this will be a wonderful experience, and for any unsure of a classical music experience here is a great place to start.

TU Dance to Dance at The Edge

This month there is another chance to see an extraordinary modern dance company at The Edge Center in Bigfork. This will be the second visit by St.Paul-based TU Dance with its special ability to encompass a broad range of styles from contemporary ballet to modern and traditional forms. Their first visit impressed all who saw them with their high level of energy and athleticism mixed with beauty and grace. They are returning to The Edge Center and Bigfork School April 24th through 28th with a public performance at 7PM on the 28th. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 for children and $3 for student rush.




TU Dance founders, Toni Pierce and Uri Sands, are veterans of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Founded in 2004 TU Dance has won numerous awards and recognition including the Minnesota State Arts Board, McKnight fellowships, the Princess Grace Award, the Joyce Award and Sage Cowles Best Performance Awards (2005, 2007 and 2010). They consistently receive outstanding reviews, while engaging new and diverse audiences. They have performed in auditoriums from 200-seat Southern Theater to the 1900-seat Ordway Center.




The detailed schedule is a the public movement/dance class for the afternoon of April 25th, a school performance on the 26th, a master class with the REIF Center's dance students on Friday the 27th, and the public performance on the 28th at 7PM. Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 for children and $3 for student rush.



From two reviews about TU Dance:

From the Minneapolis Star and Tribune “…It's a rare event for a local dance company to sell out the 1,900-seat main hall of St. Paul's Ordway Center for Performing Arts, let alone score a curtain speech by Mayor Chris Coleman, but TU Dance accomplished both Friday night. Artistic directors Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands led the St. Paul-based troupe in a soaring world premiere…”

From City Pages St. Paul Pioneer Press “…The O’Shaughnessy Auditorium is ample, and few local companies can really command the space, but TU Dance…has no trouble spreading the joy of motion to each and every board onstage…”





So, for an opportunity to see something really different, unusual and exceptional at the edge of the wilderness, consider coming this event at The Edge Center. We too have an ample stage that will welcome a show of this quality and dimension. Come and see if they can fill the stage with joy, motion, excitement and thrills.

SOME LIKE IT HOT - Top Comedy Movie At The Edge Center

For a movie that was predicted to be a bomb, SOME LIKE IT HOT really showed by how much critics can miss a gem. With a simple plot and lots of comedy talent this movie will entertain you from beginning to end. This is the last movie of the winter series shown at The Edge Center in Bigfork. The movie has lots of music, slapstick comedy, two really great male stars dressed to the hilt as ladies, and Florida sunshine to end up our Minnesota winter. By the way, you might want to just see it and try to figure out why Tony Curtis said kissing Marilyn Monroe was like kissing Hitler. It will be shown along with an informative discussion about the movie at The Edge Center Theater in Bigfork Thursday, April 12 at 6:30 FREE of charge with treats befitting this really funny movie.




Here is more about this great classic movie comedy from Jack Kachbar discussing this special event: part of the Park Theater Memorial Classic Movie Series.

“By the time SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) finished shooting in late 1958 the movie was weeks overdue, the movie was 10 percent over budget, and director Billy Wilder was a near basket case because of the shenanigans of star Marilyn Monroe. And, on top of all this, the first preview of the picture was an absolute disaster. Hollywood pundits were predicting a box office disaster. Boy, were they wrong! By the end of 1959 SOME LIKE IT HOT had become the most successful comedy made to that time, and the three stars, Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, were all in the top-ten list of box office stars. More recently, the film was named by the American Film Institute the top movie comedy ever made. Come and join Tony and Jack as they flee Chicago gangsters in 1929 and join Marilyn and the Sweet Sue’s All-Girl Band.”




And if you want to read more, here is part of the New York Times review of the movie from 1959. The critic, A. H. WEILER, seemed to both like and hate the effort.

“THERE should be no doubt this morning that the members of the happily irreverent film troupe that made "Some Like It Hot" have done something constructive about the old wheeze that begins, "Who was that lady I saw you with?" For, in fashioning this overlong, occasionally labored but often outrageously funny series of variations on an ancient gag, they have come up with a rare, rib-tickling lampoon that should keep them, the customers and the management of the newly refurbished Loew's State, which reopened yesterday, chortling with glee…"

Looking for Art

The Edge Center gallery in Bigfork is accepting entries for its upcoming eight annual juried art show happening in July of this year. There will be an art professional juror who will select the items to be exhibited from all entries and then will judge the winners. Plus there will be a people’s choice winner selected by visitors.

The purpose of this show is to exhibit diverse works of art that demonstrate mastery of technique, creativity, and presentation. The procedures are straightforward. There can be up to three entries per artist, which have been completed in 2010, 2011 or 2012 and not previously shown in the Edge Center Gallery. Images of the art are sent by e-mail or on a CD-R sent by mail. The entry fee is $20 dollars per artist for up to three entries accompanied by a description of about 50 words for the exhibit catalog. Additional information is at the end of this article and a full schedule, complete rules and entry forms can be found at www.the-edge-center.org.

Creativity is very important to the criteria for winning in this show. The juror usually does not choose a work that is technically very good but is either a copy or derivative from other work. It is important to do something different.

The juror for the 2012 Art of the Edge: 8th Annual Juried Exhibition is Laura Goliaszewski. She is the Director of the Talley Gallery at Bemidji State University. She views, evaluates and selects the artwork for the Bemidji gallery. She is also a painter who exhibits regionally. For the Edge exhibition, Laura will select the ones to be exhibited at the gallery from all entries, and, then during the opening reception, will select the winners. She is independent in these activities and The Edge Gallery committee has no input in the process. Her decisions are final.

Entry Requirements

Up to three entries per artist. Entered artwork must be original art completed in 2010, 2011 or 2012 and not previously shown in the Edge Center Gallery.

Images of your art sent by e-mail or on a CD-R sent by mail.

$20 per artist for up to three entries

Artist statement of approximately 50 words for the exhibit catalog.

Art On The Edge Calendar

Entry deadline………..Saturday, May 5

Notification……………..Saturday, June 2

Delivery of artwork…Monday, July 2, 10 am – 2 pm

Opening Reception….Friday, July 6, 5-7 pm

Pick up artwork……….Monday, July 30, 10 am – 2 pm

Awards

2-D First Place $200 Second Place $100
3-D First Place $200 Second Place $100
People’s Choice $100

Edge Gallery Policies

Work may be in any media and must be original.

Artwork entered must be completed in 2010, 2011 or 2012, not previously shown in the Edge Center Gallery.

Artists are responsible for their own insurance.

Edge Gallery reserves the right to reproduce works for publicity purposes.

Any work submitted for judging must be available for showing during the entire exhibit.

Edge Gallery charges a 30% commission fee on all sales.

Two Options for Entering: Due no Later than May 5, 2012

1. E-mail to jacknac@bigfork.net

Complete entry label from e-mail, or on the website and copy to your e-mail

Charge $20 at www.the-edge-center.org under Online Donations. When asked for "Fund Name", be sure to choose Juried Art Show Entry Fees (entry fee is non-refundable)

Submit a 50-word artist’s statement for the exhibit catalogue

E-mail jpeg photos of up to 3 entries with identification of each photo. 3-D work may have 2 views of each piece.

Expect notification by e-mail

OR

2. Mail to Edge Center Gallery, 102 Second Avenue, Box 304, Bigfork MN 56628
Completed entry label

$20 check payable to the Edge Center Gallery (entry fee is non-refundable)

Self addressed stamped business envelope for notification of results by mail, or ask for e-mail notification

50 word artist’s statement for the exhibit catalogue

CD-R, jpeg format only, with photos of up to three entries, with attached entry label. 3-D work may have two views of each piece

Self addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage if you want the CD to be returned

OR combine the two options! Just have everything clearly marked

QUESTIONS?

Contact: Lynn Nachbar 218-743-6018 or jacknac@bigfork.net

Francis "Two Gun" Crowley, Ma Barker’s Son and the “Gold Special” Train Robbers

These “tough guys” were all possible inspirations for one of James Cagney’s most notorious villains. Francis Crowly ended up in a 5-hour shoot-out with police at a New York Police station when he was 19 years old. Aurther Barker was the son of Ma Barker of 1930s crime fame, and the robbery of Southern Pacific’s "Gold Special" by the D'Autremont brothers in 1923 probably inspired the railroad robbery sequence in the movie WHITE HEAT. Roll all of these together and you have just part of the mean and angry Cody Jarrett portrayed by Cagney in that movie. It is said to be one of the best gangster movies ever. WHITE HEAT will be shown Thursday, March 8 at 6:30 at the Edge Center Theater in Bigfork FREE and everyone is invited.





The movie is presented by the CLASSIC MOVIE SERIES with a cartoon from the same year and a background presentation by Jack Nachbar. Here are his thoughts about the film.

“The public loved Jimmy Cagney on the screen because he was energetic, tightly wound, and. most of all, tough, real tough. By 1949, however, it had been ten years since he had played a screen gangster . His return to his signature gangster role in our March Classic Movie, WHITE HEAT (1949), made up for lost time. As Cody Jerrett, Cagney nearly burns up the screen. He is driven, violent and ruthless, exactly what moviegoers longed to see. "Watching Cagney is like watching the lit fuse of a firecracker," is the way one critic put it. WHITE HEAT also features Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien and is ably directed by the fine director Raoul Walsh. But it is Cagney's unforgettable performance that makes WHITE HEAT a movie classic. "Scripted like a Greek tragedy on speed," says TV GUIDE , "one of the toughest and most brilliant crime films ever made."

This movie is not recommended for children or people who do not like violent movies.




If you want to read more, here is some of the New York Times Movie Review by Bosley Crowther from 1949.

Published: September 3, 1949

“Warner Brothers weren't kidding when they put the title "White Heat" on the new James Cagney picture, which came to the Strand yesterday. They might have gone several points higher in the verbal caloric scale and still have understated the thermal intensity of this film. For the simple fact is that Mr. Cagney has made his return to a gangster role in one of the most explosive pictures that he or anyone has ever played…”

“For there is no blinking the obvious: the Warners have pulled all the stops in making this picture the acme of the gangster-prison film. They have crammed it with criminal complications—some of them old, some of them glittering new—pictured to technical perfection in a crisp documentary style. And Mr. Cagney has played it in a brilliantly graphic way, matching the pictorial vigor of his famous "Public Enemy" job.
Indeed, as the ruthless gang-leader in this furious and frightening account of train-robbery, prison-break, gang war and gun fighting with the police, Mr. Cagney achieves the fascination of a brilliant bull-fighter at work, deftly engaged in the business of doing violence with economy and grace. His movements are supple and electric, his words are as swift and sharp as swords …”

The following is a movie poster from the period.

A Young Girl In Peril, The Musical-Drama I am Anne Frank at The Edge

The story of Anne Frank is one of the most widely read of all time. Having it told in a musical-drama is very moving. I am Anne Frank, based on her diary, is a very special look at the way one of millions of young people lived their short lives under the dangers of Nazi rule. How Anne was hidden by friends for 2 years, betrayed by an unknown collaborator and sent to her end is known only because of her diary and the interest it created. The performances, followed by audience talkbacks, are at The Edge Center Theatre in Bigfork on Friday, March 2nd at 7PM and Sunday, March 4th at 2PM. Prices are $10 for adults, $5 for children and $3 for student rush. There also will be a special student performance on March 2nd.




Anne Frank wanted to become a journalist and wondered if she could write well enough. “I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write ...When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?” Anne Frank pictured above in 1942 is from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank), the above quote is from her diary according to Lessons from The Diary of Anne Frank by Harold Marcuse, UCSB August 7, 2002 and tells much about her aspirations.



Also from the same site, above is an image of Het Achterhuis (1947), the cover of the first edition of Anne Frank's diary later translated as The Diary of a Young Girl





The musical-drama, I Am Anne Frank is based on Anne Frank’s diary. The St. Paul based professional Nautilus Music-Theater brings this production to Bigfork. Since 1986 the theater has dedicated itself to innovative forms of music-theater and opera. Starring singer-actors Vanassa Gamble (pictured above and below) and Joel Liestman (pictured below) with libretto by Enid Futterman and music by Michael Cohen, the I am Anne Frank production has been enjoying excellent reviews from audiences and critics, such as "…capturing Anne’s combination of commonness and exceptional self-awareness…remarkable music, lyrics, and performers…thoughtfully presented...”

The Edge Center welcomes you to try this production as a way to see, hear and experience a different kind of theatre here in Bigfork.



Tickets are available at the Edge Center Wednesdays - Fridays 9am-1:00pm, at Two Rivers Cenex Convenience Store in Bigfork, online at www.the-edge-center.org, and at the door.

When Silence is Not Just Quiet

Making silence a key part of a play’s dialogue makes the play Circle Mirror Transformation special. Its creator, Anne Baker, believes silence is an important part of everyday life and can be just as important on stage. Circle Mirror Transformatoin is on The Edge Center Theatre stage in Bigfork Thursday through Saturday, February 23rd to 25th at 7pm and Sunday, February 26th at 2pm. Tickets are $12 for adults, $5 children, and $3 student rush.

Annie Baker grew up in a small town and experienced acting classes at this level. Her play is not typical at all. She uses silence in her plays as an effect that sometimes makes audiences aware of themselves, and sometimes makes them uncomfortable, until they get used to it.



The following is in the Playbill and is from Patricia Feld, Director of the play at The Edge Center, “While theatre groups throughout the U.S. have performed this 2010, award-winning script the EdgeWild Players is only the second theatre group in Minnesota to produce Circle Mirror Transformation. The first was the Guthrie Theatre in 2011. Are the elements of quiet and “theatre about theatre” part of the reason other companies haven’t attempted it?”

“Circle differs from most plays, modern and ancient, in its scripted reliance on silence as part of the everyday, hyper-naturalistic dialogue. Playwright Annie Baker said that ‘when it feels like nothing is taboo anymore — we can have sex and violence on stage and no one blinks an eye — I think the one thing left that really makes people uncomfortable is empty space and quiet.’ We have taken on Baker’s play with its required short pauses, pauses, long pauses, silences, long silences, and very long awkward silences as a challenge to our abilities to ‘fill’ those quiet moments with the real inner lives of the characters. When you next have a very important conversation, you may notice how much of it is framed by silence.”



“There are a couple hundred people in our area who have worked in some capacity with plays, but few of us here in the woods know what a Creative Dramatics class is. Why should we be interested in what happens in that kind of a class in a small town in Vermont? Is this a show about ‘theatre people’ self-consciously doing a play about theatre people?”

“Not at all.”

“This play is successful because it is not about the theatre. It is about five people who simply come to know themselves better, come to know each other much better, attempt to build and restore and maintain relationships, and ultimately bond in a shared experience of human understanding achieved through theatrical exercise and intention.”



“Besides the actual mirrored wall of a dance studio and a hula hoop, the symbols in the title may be understood as follows: The circle is the place where these people meet. The mirror is the group of theatrical devices that allow them to see themselves in each other, and to see the other in themselves. The transformation is what happens to us in the process of watching them create their own imaginative world in which we also happen to live. (Jerry Kraft of The Seattle Actor.com offered these thoughtful metaphors).”

“Thank you for being here to support live, performing arts, and the work of your friends and neighbors.”

Tickets are available at the Edge Center Wednesdays - Fridays 9am-1:00pm, at Two Rivers Cenex Convenience Store in Bigfork, online at www.the-edge-center.org, and at the door.