Theater
Projects
Chronofon
Productions
Chrono - (pertaining to time) fon - (abbreviation of "fonic", describing something we hear, such as music or a recording of music).
During my years in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I worked with this wonderful ensemble to create musical chronicles of important artists and time periods. I am very proud of the work we did together, which was unfortunately interrupted by the pandemic and the needs of my then-90-year-old mother in a different state.
Chronofon was originally a confluence of four premier Minnesota performing artists and friends - Vocalists Diana Grasselli, Bradley Greenwald and Prudence Johnson and pianist, conductor and musical director - Dan Chouinard together conceived, researched, wrote, designed, directed, produced and performed multi-media musical chronicles of past and present artists, time periods, places and events. As of 2020, the group is still performing around the Twin Cities, MN with other wonderful sopranos in my original roles.
These Chronofon Productions projects were created with support from the Minnesota Regional Arts Council and Open Eye Theatre, Minneapolis
Jacques Brel: When We Have Only Love is dramatic, musical and literary chronicle in concert form of the life and 30-year career of Belgian chansonnier, actor, director and performance artist, Jacques Brel. Chronofon delivers an artful, culturally significant concert cleverly weaving dramatic historical narrative as context for his large body of work. Songs presented in French and English with English subtitles.
Featuring the music of Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, their largely uncredited co-writer, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Kurt Weill's wife and celebrated performer, Lotte Lenya, When the Shark Bites is a theatrical concert exploring the collaboration between these influential artists of the Berlin theater during the short-lived Weimar Republic. Featuring songs from Threepenny Opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and Happy End, audiences will come for the music and leave with a deeper understanding of what compelled these artists to transform theater, music and modern culture forever. With Carolyn Boulay on violin and Tim Sparks on guitars.
Dear Lenny: Bernstein’s Life in Songs and Letters is a musical, literary and theatrical performance about the life and works of American conductor, composer and educator Leonard Bernstein, debuting in the centenary year of his birth. The piece is illustrated and performed through a vast and strikingly expressive collection of music and letters exchanged between the artist and his family, friends and peers.
Remember the pivotal year 1966 in this popular, rocking throwback concert of music and history. Chronofon reflects on this turbulent time and its impact on our cultural fabric, then and now. Coming to you from your local radio station, four “radio personalities” bring you news, commentary, advice for the modern woman, a call-in trivia show, and of course, lots of classic pop music. Songs include “Summer in the City,” “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “Monday, Monday,” “Sounds of Silence”and many more. Joined by Gary Raynor on bass and Dean McGraw on guitars.
Kurt & Burt: The Last Days of Weimar
The Southern Theatre
Minneapolis, MN
Oct, 30, 2003
Written/Produced by Prudence Johnson
Musical Direction - Greg Theisen
Choreography - Brian Sostek
Stage Direction: Carolyn Goelzer
Minnesota Public Radio performance and interview segment previewing a performance run at The Southern Theatre in Minneapolis.
Prudence Johnson - Elisabeth Hauptmann
Ari Hoptman - Bertolt Brecht
Diana Grasselli - Lotte Lenya
Dan Chouinard - Accordion
Gary Rue - Guitar/Banjo
Greg Theisen - Piano
Joe Pulice - Drums
Kathy Jenson - Reeds
Dave Jenson - Trumpet\Flugelhorn
”Journey back in time to the tumultuous 1920’s in Berlin, a time of great artistic exploration and political upheaval, love and exile unfolds, the unlikely collaboration between provocative bad-boy Brecht and the dignified composer Kurt Weill produces groundbreaking works of musical theatre, including the smash-hit, The Three-Penny Opera. Enjoy some of the most unforgettable music of the era, including , The Ballad of Mac the Knife, Surabaya Johnny, and Pirate Jenny, from some of the Twin Cities’ most unforgettable musical talents, Prudence Johnson, Diana Grasselli and Dan Chouinard”. - Theater Mania
Dance Theater
Laurie Van Wieren
Dancer/Choreographer
Laurie Van Wieren (she/her) makes dances, researches family archives, maps landscapes, records histories, organizes and moves with objects, creates frameworks, collects imagery, talks to strangers, attends estate sales, imitates others, utilizes chance, follows her intuition, prompts participation, talks with her hands, takes walks, makes lists, loses lists. Using her body, she acknowledges the passing of time, the movement of stories and natural phenomena.
Cellist, Michelle Kinney and I performed music, in character, in this theatrical movement pieces in Minneapolis. What a thrill it was to work in the boundary-breaking company of the brilliant Laurie Van Wieren and her riveting troupe of movement artists.
like a movie i saw once
The Ritz Theater, Minneapolis, MN 2008
Ensemble: Diana Grasselli, Michelle Kinney, Paula Mann, Megan Mayer, Anna Marie Shogren, Laurie Van Wieren.
Photo Credit: Warwick Green
like a movie i saw once: The Remake
The Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater, Minneapolis, MN 2009
Ensemble: Diana Grasselli, Chan Holman, Michelle Kinney, Paula Mann, Megan Mayer, Galen Treuer, Laurie Van Wieren. Photo Credit: Warwick Green