From whimsical and light hearted to dark and thought provoking, and always well suited to the performing environment, this year’s slate of Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative productions offers much to put into your summer and fall planner. Wood fired pizza is available to accompany most productions and all will be located on the grounds of DreamAcres, in rural Wykoff. No tickets nor reservations are required. A suggested donation will be collected for each show. See www.dreamacres.com for specifics.
Some highlights:
•Sunday, July 25 at 3 p.m.: The performance from Flourish Summer Arts Camp. Come experience how young people creatively stage their ideas about the world.
•Friday, August 6 at 6:30 p.m.: Mixed Precipitation Pickup Truck Operetta performs “The Odyssey.” The music of Claudio Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland); and the tunes of Dolly Parton from seven spirited performers with fiddle, banjo, pump organ, and puppets, bring the epic to colorful life in bite-size installments.
The stage is a 2011 Ford Ranger pickup and flatbed trailer. The story features Cyclopses, Sirens, and mythic monsters alongside humans battling to be reunited following war; and treats like frozen otter pops, caramel apples, and other packaged seasonal goodies accompany the story – a new tradition of feasting with story and song that’s safe for our time.
•Friday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m.: The annual Onionfest performance Queen B is set in a future inspired by honeybees, asking the question of how we create the world that we want to live in. In that spirit, the performance is staged for the environments that these vital pollinators inhabit – urban green spaces, community gardens, and farms.
•Friday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m.: Good Night Absolom! A mad and dusty operetta. Set in the glorious Wild West, the Fox & Beggar Theater Company brings a new surreal black comedy; fusing street theater, puppetry, and contemporary dance into a whimsically dark critique of American capitalism.
•Saturday, October 2 at 3 p.m.: Arla Mae’s Booyah Wagon, a poignant comedy that is a unique collaboration between local actor Sarah Agnew and James Beard Award-winning chef Ann Kim. AMBW is designed to illuminate the benefits of buying and eating fresh, local food. The show will feature a troupe of performers traveling in a food truck in search of the recipe that once made Arla Mae famous. However, Arla Mae’s original recipe was based on canned foods and unhealthy ingredients. On her journey she discovers that her recipe can be improved by using fresh, local produce. DreamAcres is one of their locations selected because of its commitment to promoting local and healthy food choices.
The Dreamery Rural Arts Initiative is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting and expanding arts experiences in rural Fillmore County, and to making use of renewable/sustainable energy sources to do so. Activities have been supported by the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. Visit websites at www.dreamacresfarm.org or www.dreameryruralartsinitiative.org.