Category Archives: Storytelling

The Cool Train

Date: Sat, Dec 8, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $15. SOLD OUT
Ages: Ages 13+
Duration: 1 hr. approx.

The Cool Train
a solo performance by Lunga Sinuka
Written by Lunga Sinuka and Zaraawar Mistry
Directed by Zaraawar Mistry

The Cool Train was first presented at Dreamland Arts in 2009.
Lunga Sinuka speaks with Euan Kerr on MPR

The Cool Train is Lunga Sinuka’s memoir of growing up in South Africa during the repressive era of apartheid. From his childhood in a Xhosa village with no electricity or running water, to working as a glass cleaner at one of South Africa’s best hotels, and eventually joining the African National Congress in the violent struggle for freedom, Lunga’s journey reflects the lives of many black South Africans before the end of apartheid in 1994. The Cool Train is a one-man storytelling piece, told through songs and stories filled with warmth, humor and love. Recommended for ages 13+.

Lunga Sinuka was born in South Africa and emigrated to the United States in 1992. He has a B.A. in Public Administration from Cape University of Technology in South Africa and a B.A. in Business Management from Hope College in Michigan. In America, he is currently involved in health care, social services, and social justice. The Cool Train is his first play.


UPCOMING EVENTS

Green Card Voices

Date: Wed, May 16, 2018 from 7:00-9:00 pm
Tickets: Free admission

Ages: For all ages
Duration: 2 hrs.

Green Card Voices presents

Green Card Youth Voices Book Reading

Join us for an evening of live book reading and view the Green Card Voices Youth exhibit. After the immigrant youth authors read their stories from “Green Card Youth Voices: St. Paul,” there will be a question and answer session where audience members can engage with these young people.

Our three featured authors include:

Iya Xiong (Laos)- “I can help myself more than I could help myself when I lived in Laos. I feel proud because I can earn some money by myself.”

Abshir Mohamed (Somalia) – “I’d never seen snow. And I didn’t know how it would look like. I thought here that the floor would be clean like grass. It wasn’t like how I imagined.”

Sha Paw (Thailand)- “We had taken an airplane class to learn what to do on an airplane. Like how to buckle the seatbelt. I didn’t want to go on an airplane.”

 

Nine Jewels: Stories of Wit and Wisdom from India

Dates: Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 7:30 pm; Sat, Dec 2 at 11:00 am; Sun, Dec 3 at 2:00 pm
Tickets: Pay What You Can $5-$15
Ages: Recommended for Ages 5+, all ages welcome
Duration: 45 minutes

Indian-born storyteller Zaraawar Mistry tells classic stories and animal fables of wit and wisdom from India. These popular and entertaining stories encourage children to learn about Indian culture and history, and also test their puzzle solving skills. Greg Herriges plays live music on guitar and bouzouki (Greek lute). The program has been performed in people’s homes, at libraries and schools, and at cultural centers such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Stories presented are best suited for children ages 5 and older and will include:
Akbar and Birbal
The Foxes and the Tiger (a folktale)
The Tortoise and the Geese (from the Panchatantra)
Nine Questions (an Akbar and Birbal story)

Learn more at http://childrensstoriesfromindia.com/

The Pursuit of Awesome

Dates: Fri-Sat, Nov 17-18, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $15, Fringe Button $12, Student $10
Ages: Recommended for Ages 10+
Duration: 60 minutes. No intermission.

David Harris shares embarrassing stories, failures and advice in his pursuit of awesome. Featuring snow-shovel acrobatics, escapes, balances, stunts, upside-down juggling, dancing and other awesome antics.

David Harris performs new and unusual stories, stunts, and physical comedy. Why? Because it will be awesome! David always wanted to be awesome. In 1983, he tried to ride his Huffy bicycle up a tree. Had he made it to the top; it would have been awesome. In 1985, he took jazz dancing lessons at Colleen’s School of Dance. Why? Because he thought he signed up for Break Dancing lessons and that would have been awesome! In 2014, he learned how to balance a knife on his tongue. Why, because the path toward awesome is easily confused with the path toward being reckless and weird.

Through juggling stunts, snow-shovel acrobatics, and comic dancing, David shares his embarrassments, failures, and advice in the pursuit of awesome.

 

Life on a Stick: Everyday and Sublime Stories

Date/Times: Sun, Nov 19, 2017 at 2:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Tickets: Pay What You Can at the Door
Ages: Recommended for Adults
Duration: 45 minutes
Note: This is an intimate show and seating is limited to 18 persons per performance.

Life on a Stick: Everyday and Sublime Stories
By Anita White

Drawing is how Anita navigates everyday moments with humor, philosophy and empathy. Her sketchbook is always open to document life’s fleeting moments. Everyday difficulties and hassles are the doorway to a humorous story. “Nothing is so scary you can’t draw it!”

These visual puppet shows are “drawn” from her everyday life. Pen and watercolor drawings are taped onto bamboo skewers or toothpicks and stuck into simple styrofoam stages.

The whimsical and philosophical puppet show she will share include:

  • A Compassionate Bank Teller
  • From Here to There and Back Again: A Winter Fantasy Getaway
  • A little sliver of Life on a Toothpick from the 60’s & 70’s
  • Fragrant Fun at The Minneapolis Impound Lot
  • Rumi Shadow Poems with Inner Meaning and Light

Following her presentation the audience will have a chance to create their own tiny “Life on a Toothpick Moments.” Materials are provided.

Deepest gratitude to Dreamland Arts for this opportunity to share old puppet shows in a new light.