MN Shortlist Oct. 30-Nov. 5: Puppets, haunted houses and a little humerus art
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MN Shortlist is the MPR News weekly roundup of arts and culture recommendations statewide. This week’s picks include the BareBones Halloween Extravaganza, a haunted house in Granite Falls and a scary story told through ballet.
Twin Cities Horror Festival in Minneapolis — Through Oct. 31
The 15th annual Twin Cities Horror Festival has returned to the Crane Theatre for a total of 16 days of live performance. Artistic director Nissa Nordland says it’s the largest live performance horror festival in the country.
"We celebrate all facets of horror at our fest, including different types of performance, so our audiences can see dance, improv, music, puppetry, and plays as they know them. We also have different ranges of topics from sci-fi technology, horror, vampires, ghosts, murder, sludge from outer space."
The fest has everything from kid-friendly shows to adults-only, from an alien invasion and a haunted ice shanty to body technology horror and a 19th-century sapphic vampire tale. The website provides a handy rating system for suggested ages and gore levels. Single tickets are $15, a five-show pass is $70, and all ticket sales go to the artists. (Alex V. Cipolle)
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BareBones Halloween Extravaganza in Minneapolis — Oct. 29-Nov. 1
Some Halloween traditions involve a bowl of candy or a last-minute costume. This one involves puppets, fire and people on stilts.
BareBones’ 33rd annual Halloween Extravaganza returns to Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis with “Hum, Honk, Howl: As Above, So Below.” This show has everything: dance, live music and song. Beyond the spectacle is an invitation to remember those we’ve lost and reflect on the cycles of living and dying.
The show starts at 7 p.m. nightly. Stick around afterward for Brass Messengers on Friday or Brass Solidarity on Saturday. All performances will be bilingual in English and Spanish. Sunday’s performance includes ASL interpretation and audio description.
Roo Case, one of the stage managers, calls the show a true spectacle.
“It is a big show, and it is in many ways overwhelming both for the performers and the audience,” he said. There is so much going on at the same time. We have live fire, puppets, live music, all of that, and it kind of comes together almost like a circus show or something like that.”
Tickets are pay what you can, and advance reservations are recommended. Bring something to sit on: your future self on the cold, possibly damp ground will thank you.
Oh NO! Haunted House at YES House, Granite Falls — Oct. 30-31
The fourth annual OH NO! Haunted House in downtown Granite Falls puts local volunteers’ wildest Halloween ideas on display.
Each crew gets a small budget to build its own creepy creation, transforming the YES! House community gathering space into a haunted house that’s different every year.
“This year's theme is a little bit of a Victorian haunted house, said Elisa Franco of the Department of Public Transformation, the nonprofit that runs the venue. “Last year we welcomed over 500 visitors of all ages, so as little as one years old, all the way up to 75. Each year, this event reaches over 8,000 people online. We are happy to welcome several 100 people into our doors and into our spooky basement,” she said.
A less scary version for kiddos runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, before the main event from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free, with a suggested $5 donation to support next year’s frights. And don’t forget to dress up, as organizers say there will be a costume contest.
‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ presented by Minnesota Ballet in Duluth — Oct. 30- Nov. 1
In the mood for some scary storytelling? The Minnesota Ballet is performing "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" using Karl von Rabenau’s choreography this All Hallows Eve weekend at the Marshall Performing Arts Center at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. The ballet has four main stage productions a year, and this season each performance is based on a different literary work.
Juliana DeBellis, a company artist with the ballet, said the production will include members from the company but also students from the Minnesota Ballet Academy as characters in Tarrytown in Sleepy Hollow. She said the performance is "hilarious and very dramatic" at times.
"Dance has a really unique capacity for storytelling that goes beyond words and ‘Sleepy Hollow’ is such a wonderful example of that because you get the highs and lows of love, of jealousy, of anger, of frustration, all packaged into this show as well as the fear of the imminent spookiness of a ghost that haunts the narrative,” she said.
DeBellis shared that tickets are buy one get one 50 percent off with the code “SPOOKY.” Student rush tickets are $15 and full-price tickets are $58.50 with fees. Performances at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 and 3 p.m. Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. (Sam Stroozas)
Bare Bones: Skeletons in Japanese Art in Minneapolis — Through Jan. 3, 2027
Not in the mood for spooky? These skeletons have a humerus side. Bare Bones: Skeletons in Japanese Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art gives skulls and bones a chance to tickle your funny bone.
The exhibition explores the playful side of skeletons in Japanese paintings, prints and book illustrations. The stars of this skeleton crew: a pair of six-panel folding screens by Takeuchi Ryūa.
Admission is free - no need to pay an arm and a leg.
Unburied: Death and Mourning in the Archives - In Minneapolis through Jan. 29, 2027
If your Halloween interests lean toward contemplation, the University of Minnesota Libraries has something for you. Unburied: Death and Mourning in the Archives at Elmer L. Andersen Library explores how people have understood death, cared for the dead and experienced grief across cultures and generations.
Drawing from the university’s archives and special collections, the exhibition looks at burial and mourning practices, along with death’s appearances in folklore and literature.
The exhibition is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding university holidays. Guests who don’t have a U Card to access the library can call 612-624-7496 to be let in.
