Item World: Local news and views

Twin Cities actor Sarah Agnew has been keeping a lot of Broadway company. She was cast in a new version of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters," scripted by Sarah Ruhl and being directed at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park by Tony winner John Doyle ("Sweeney Todd"). The production, which opened Thursday, is full of actors from New York, including St. Paul-bred Laila Robins ("Frozen"), Frank Wood ("August: Osage County") and Alexander Gemignani ("Sweeney Todd"). It has all the ingredients for a Broadway transfer; Doyle mounted "Company" at the same venue before it moved to New York and won a Tony. "A transfer is always the hope," said Agnew, who plays sister-in-law Natasha. She spent three weeks in Manhattan rehearsing with the cast, who wondered how she landed the plum job. She can thank Ruhl, who asked her to audition after Agnew's starring turn in the playwright's "Dead Man Cell Phone" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last spring.

ROHAN PRESTON

Surly is still hot. Lift Bridge is going strong. Now comes Fulton Beer, the Twin Cities' latest microbrew. It's throwing a release party for its debut -- an India pale ale called Sweet Child of Vine -- at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Happy Gnome in St. Paul. Fulton is the brainchild of four home brewers who began making beer together in 2007. They started in a basement, then moved to a two-car garage in the Fulton neighborhood of southwest Minneapolis. Now they're whipping up batches at a brewery in Black River Falls, Wis. "We wanted to take it to the next level," said co-founder Ryan Petz. They're looking to establish their own site in Minneapolis. Fulton's first brew will be available at the Happy Gnome plus the Muddy Pig in St. Paul; Stub & Herb's, Acadia Cafe and Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis; the Edina Grill, and 3 Squares in Maple Grove.

TOM HORGEN

After spending too much time in Los Angeles lately, Prince reaffirmed that he is one of us. "This is my home forever," he said late Saturday at Paisley Park as he prepared to play 1980's "Uptown." "This is a song about it. I used to live in an apartment on Aldrich. I used to get my checks cashed at Rudolph's. I used to swim in Lake Calhoun. ... I'm so lying."

JON BREAM

One is a great storyteller and knows rock 'n' roll's many nuances. The other has apparently mastered the high art of comedy writing. But why Chuck Klosterman himself -- who offers all those qualities under one dome -- isn't writing a big-screen adaptation of his classic-to-some-of-us memoir "Fargo Rock City" is a bit of a mystery, but at least he has a couple of cool dudes doing the work for him: Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is writing a screenplay adaptation with one of David Letterman's head writers, Tom Reprecht, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Provincial ol' I.W. loves a good celebrity sighting, so we nearly leaped out of our seat during a weekend visit to New York City when we spied Alec Baldwin about 10 rows ahead of us at Avery Fisher Hall, before a performance of Mahler's Ninth by the London Symphony Orchestra. He sported a natty suit and professorial reading glasses, with a man bag on one arm and a comely young blonde on the other. We're told Baldwin is a serious Mahler fan, and indeed -- proving he'd fit right in in Minnesota -- he led the standing ovation afterward. Thus spoiled, I.W. half-expected to see him the next day on a quick detour through 30 Rock. Or at least Jack McBrayer.

CYNTHIA DICKISON

Twin Cities fans of U2 didn't find what they were looking for Tuesday when the band announced dates for its 2010 U.S. tour -- there was no Twin Cities stop on the itinerary, which kicks off June 6 in Anaheim. Nonetheless, a U2 date at the Gophers' new TCF Bank Stadium is still being discussed, though logistics for concerts need to be worked out. The rumored date is July 1, which would fit into the itinerary right after East Lansing, Mich. Dates are also open before and after a July 6 stop in Chicago. Either way, if the band is visiting cities like East Lansing, they'd be crazy not to play here -- in a new stadium, no less. Likewise, the University of Minnesota Regents would be nuts to deny the Irish rock stars the chance to open a new concert venue.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER