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December arrives like a season that knows it’s putting on a show. The city fills with borrowed memories, holiday oddities, local stories and a little frost for dramatic effect. This week’s picks slip right into that cast, where familiar traditions get re-staged and the past refuses to stay backstage.

Author Talk: ‘The House on Rondo’ at Sumner Library in Minneapolis — Dec. 7

A story about erasure lands in a place built for keeping stories alive, which feels exactly right fo

this conversation between author Debra Stone and Arleta Little

 At Sumner Library they’ll dig into “The House on Rondo” and its vision of joy and community outlasting the systems that failed them. A Q&A follows with free books while they last.

New novel shows destruction of Rondo neighborhood through the eyes of a young girl

‘Ana Gasteyer’s Sugar & Booze: Holiday Spectacular’ at the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis — Dec. 9

but Ana Gasteyer has the comic acidity to keep things swinging

. At the Parkway, she folds originals and classics into a set that carries her signature SNL cool, all anchored by the winking spirit of her album “Sugar & Booze.”

‘Little Women’ at Rochester Repertory Theatre — through Dec. 14

Sometimes a classic feels new because the people making it are. Rochester Repertory hands 

 to 2024 high school grad River Clare, whose family also appears in the cast, adding a lived-in warmth to the March household. The result feels less like nostalgia and more like a story being passed down in real time.

‘Disney’s Frozen’ at Norshor Theatre (Duluth) and Rochester Civic Theatre Company — through Dec. 21

Broadway’s frostbitten juggernaut heads north, then splits into two Minnesota flurries for a weekend of big songs and bigger feelings. 

 each host the stage version with its film hits and musical-only additions. Several cast members are Midwestern natives, which adds a hometown thaw to the tale of sisterly rescue.

‘Dinner for One’ at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis — through Jan. 4

 has become a Minneapolis in-joke you don’t need to be in on to enjoy. At the Jungle, Christina Baldwin directs a rotating quartet through physical comedy, improv and musical misbehavior that turns repetition into part of the punchline. Three seasons in, the sketch has settled into its own holiday rhythm.

‘Unapologetically Indigenous’ at Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis — through Jan. 18

Frank Buffalo Hyde paints contemporary America with the sharpness of someone who’s both inside the culture and standing above its noise. 

 his work pushes back against appropriation and tech-fueled distortion with satire that never softens its stance. He’s clear about the terms: he’s not selling his culture, and whatever floats through pop culture is fair game.

If winter keeps tightening its grip, at least the art around here keeps breaking the ice.

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December arrives like a season that knows it’s putting on a show. The city fills with borrowed memories, holiday oddities, local stories and a little frost for dramatic effect. This week’s picks slip right into that cast, where familiar traditions get re-staged and the past refuses to stay backstage.


MN Shortlist: Winter stories, warmer rooms — 6 picks for Dec. 5–Jan. 11

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