Marc Bamuthi Joseph spent part of last year as a Walker Art Center artist-in-residence in the Twin Cities, where he talked with various community groups to gather ammo/information for a new piece that he will perform at the Walker March 15-17 All shows start at 8 p.m.

Titled "red, black & GREEN: a blues," the work combines theater, hip hop dance, spoken-word, music and a scenic environment. Audiences are invited to tour the set on stage at the McGuire Theater before the show begins.

Bamuthi and his collaborators toured neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul to find out about how communities of color here view their history and their current situation. They met with spoken-word artists Desdemona and Tish Jones, and exchanged ideas with groups including Bedlam Theatre, Intermedia Arts, Juxtaposition Arts and the Powderhorn/Phillips Cultural Wellness Center. The talks were wide-ranging, but centered broadly around issues of environmental justice and social ecology.

Said Bamuthi of those and other conversations: "Those people form an invisible network that we don't quite see and yet are very present in the performance."

Bamuthi, a widely traveled performer, has been active in arts education, theater, hip hop, dance and spoken word. He has taught at Stanford and the University of Wisconsin. He recently was named director of performing arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Tickets to Bamuthi's Walker shows are $18-$25. 612-375-7600 or visit the Walker's website. Below is a video clip of Bamuthi from 2008.