Applause Community Theatre presents
Panache
a romantic comedy by Don Gordon
directed by Gary Davis

Dates: Thu-Sat, Oct 19-21 & Oct 26-28, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Run Time: 2 hrs, 15 minutes (including 10 minute intermission)
Age Recommendation: Ages 14+
Tickets: $15 ($12 students/seniors)

What happens when two people living very different lives want the same vanity license plate? Join us to find out in Don Gordon’s quirky romance Panache. This show features veteran ACT actors Amy Luedtke, Benjamin Farrey-Latz,, Chad Snyder, and Emily M Johnson.

Applause Community Theatre is a Burnsville based non profit community theatre serving the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. We are dedicated to developing high quality theatre through live performance, while providing educational, training and recreational opportunities to all who wish to participate. Learn more at http://www.act-mn.org/

Rights for this production have been obtained through the author, Don Gordon.
Applause Community Theatre relies on ticket sales and donors to produce our shows. Links to donate are found on our website and our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ACTMN/

Dates: Thu-Sun, Oct 5-15, 2017 (Thu-Sat at 7:30 p.m. & Sun at 2:00 p.m.)
Tickets: Pay What You Can $12-$20 sliding scale
Ages: Recommended for Ages 16+
Duration: 75-90 minutes. No intermission.

Persistent Theatre Productions presents
To Evaporate
a new dystopian play that brings to light how much we need to change how we talk about mental health
Written by Alyssa Brooke
Directed by Meggie Greivell
Stage Management by Kasey Jo Gratz
Sound and Lighting Design by Shanna Frasier
Starring Alyssa Brooke, Franklin Wagner and Amanda Kay Thomm

Evaporation Day: the one day every year when you can walk outside your door and, simply, evaporate. It is within this world which a young woman yearns to change the government’s narrative on overpopulation and the need for Evaporation. However, being married to the man who Distributes the Evaporation quickly becomes a nearly insurmountable problem in her wake.

*Trigger Warning: This show contains themes of suicide. There will be Talk Backs following all performances with local mental health professionals from Walk-In.org and more.

Dates: Thu-Sun, July 20-30, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Run Time: 75-90 minutes. No intermission.
Age Recommendation: Ages 16+.

Presented by Taous Claire Khazem
Tickets: $10-$20 (Pay What You Can)
Buy Tickets Online

Blending dynamic theater and original songs, Sunrise at Midnight is a rare glimpse into the rich Kabyle Folktale tradition from Algeria, virtually unknown in the United States. A flute that possesses the power to upend life as we know it; a sexy cautionary tale for young men looking to marry too soon; a chilling sacrifice a leader must make interweave to create an electrifying play of lust, wit and adventure.

Directed by Ryan Underbakke, music by Aaron Gabriel, created and performed by Heather Bunch, Taous Claire Khazem, Theo Langason, Nora Montanez and Mohammed Yabdri.

Photo Credit: Tony Nelson

Taous Claire Khazem is a fiscal year 2017 recipient of an Artist Initiative Grant from the MN State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of MN through a grant through the MN State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropraition by the MN State Legislature and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Taous Claire Khazem and Aaron Gabriel are recipients of a 2017 Jerome Foundation & the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Travel/Study grant.

Dates: Fri-Sun, Aug 18-20, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: By Invitation Only
Ages: Recommended for Ages 13+
Duration: 50 minutes. No intermission.

NOTE: This is a private event and attendance is by invitation only.
Public performance at the Guthrie Dowling Studio, October 27-29. Thank you!
presented by Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project
Directed by Taous Claire Khazem

Based on the true stories of 12 Iraqi-Minnesotan refugees and immigrants, Birds Sing Differently Here weaves together tales of sweetness, sorrow, grief and discovery along the way. Inventively performed in both English and Arabic, participants come together with a cast of dynamic professional actors to tell the story of a thousand olive pits and seven thousand praises; tokens of love and a chilling escape from the desert of death. Birds Sing Differently Here shares the ache of endings and the fullness of new opportunity.

Created by Dylan Fresco, Taous Claire Khazem and the Iraqi Voices Participants: Nada Alabbasi, Sumaya Ameen, Ali Alshammaa, Hannaa Al-Azzawi, Mazin Chilab, Abdullah Flaija, Salwa Mohialdeen, Arwa Naji, Dhifaf Sarhan, Ahmed Al Shaikhli, Bahaa Al Shaikhli, Rawan Al Shaikhli with Mohammed Yabdri, Aamera Siddiqui and Ashawnti Ford.

Iraqi Voices is collaborative art lab operated by the Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project, that gives Iraqi immigrants and refugees in Minnesota an artistic platform to share their stories. In 2017, 12 Iraqi-Minnesotan immigrants and refugees came together under the direction of theater artists Taous Claire Khazem and Dylan Fresco to create an original and innovative theater performance based on their personal stories.

The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project engages Iraqis and Americans in the arts, education, and cultural and professional exchanges in an effort to counter negative stereotypes, strengthen cultural awareness and understanding, and provide a platform for cross-cultural dialogue.

Dates: Thu-Sat, May 4-6 & 11-13, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. and Sun, May 7 & 14 at 2:30 p.m.
Run Time: 75 minutes. No intermission.
Age Recommendation: All ages.

Presented by Theatre Elision 
Tickets: $15

Theatre Elision presents Ragtime Women, an original musical telling the story of four women in the early 1900s who defied conventional female expectations of the time to become successful musicians, performers and composers. It is a story of determination, and the importance of passion and commitment when pursuing your dreams. But it is also the story of the challenges women faced then, and still do today, when seeking to break free of societal norms and expectations. It reminds us that throughout history women have defied convention and made great sacrifices to pursue their dreams. Ragtime Women uses the original compositions of the characters to the tell their story, along with other music from the period.