'The Pavilion'
Opening Friday: Fourteen years ago, actor Terry Hempleman co-starred alongside Amy McDonald in Craig Wright's "The Pavilion" at the Jungle Theater. The drama was before Wright became a big-deal TV writer ("Six Feet Under," "Lost") and TV show creator ("Dirty Sexy Money"). Now that play, set at a high school where a once-popular couple meet again for the first time in years, marks Hempleman's debut as a director. He is putting his touch on "The Pavilion" for Yellow Tree Theatre in Osseo. Bonnie Allen, Jason Peterson and Michael Lee bring the small-town characters, now in wistful middle age, to life. (7:30 p.m. Wed.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends March 2, Yellow Tree Theatre, 320 5th Av. SE., Osseo, $20-$23, 763-493-8733 or yellowtreetheatre.com.)
ROHAN PRESTON
OLGA BELL
Next Thursday: The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series, American Composers Forum and Walker Art Center jointly present Russian-born/Brooklyn-based composer/performer Olga Bell in "Origin/Outcome." Bell, who has a background in classical piano and love for everything electronic, begins with an intimate collaborative set with vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Angel Deradoorian, followed by the world premiere of Bell's nine-movement song cycle "Krai," a sonic love letter to her Russian homeland. This is billed as "a celebration of the vernacular — the music to which we dance, eat, grieve, and revel." (8 p.m. next Thu., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $18, 651-291-1144, thespco.org)
WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD
CONTEMPO PHYSICAL DANCE
Friday-Saturday: Contempo Physical Dance, led by choreographer Marciano Silva dos Santos, returns with the world premiere of "SenZalma." The work — which features the troupe's signature fierce fusion of Afro-Brazilian dance, capoeira and contemporary dance — is inspired by a historic poem "O Navio Negreiro (The Slave Ship)" by 19th-century Brazilian writer/poet Castro Alves. While the production's story line draws from tragedy, it also explores human resilience and the resonance of history. The original score is by Brazilian composer known as Divan. (8 p.m. Fri-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. $16-$24, Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., 612-206-3600, thecowlescenter.org.)
CAROLINE PALMER
