Art Hounds: Painting exhibition reveals art 'Behind Closed Doors'

Bill Skodje's "Eve apres la Faute
Bill Skodje's "Eve apres la Faute" is one of several paintings on view in his show "Behind Closed Doors" at the Hennepin History Museum.
Courtesy of Bill Skodje

Photographer Stuart Klipper was charmed by Bill Skodje's exhibition of paintings at the Hennepin History Museum in Minneapolis. Skodje works at the Minneapolis Institute of Art as an art preparator, exhibit designer and courier, so he gets to see storage rooms filled with art, sometimes in unusual groupings. Klipper said he admired both Skodje's artistic skill and his dry wit. The show runs through April 15.

Theatergoer Linda Beauvais caught a performance of Frank Theatre's "Grounded" last week and was deeply moved. The one-woman show stars Audrey Park as a fighter pilot who is forced out of her plane and into a desk chair in the Nevada desert, where she now commands drones flying in the Middle East. Beauvais says it's a gripping window into a woman's soul as she tries to balance her home life with the cruel demands of our new military reality. Performances run this weekend at the Perpich Center for Arts Education; the show then tours to Rochester Civic Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 24.

Playwright and lyricist Dan Pinkerton highly recommends "Cardboard Piano" at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. He says it's a beautifully written play about the forbidden love between a young Ugandan woman and the daughter of white missionaries. It's a high-stakes drama that looks at cultural and religious differences, and at the consequences of following your heart. Performances run through Sunday, Feb. 18.

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