Item World: Local news and views for 1/27

Et tu?

The drama at Sunday afternoon's performance of "Julius Caesar" spilled into the Guthrie studio theater audience. After noble Caesar (Bjorn DuPaty) was assailed by the many knives of the senate and lay on the stage floor, a spectator collapsed into the aisle. "Are you all right?" one cast member asked suddenly -- words found nowhere in Shakespeare. The show was stopped and EMTs were called. The patron recovered and, although he did visit an ambulance that was summoned, he refused further treatment. After a 20-minute break, the show resumed. Quinton Skinner, head of communications at the Guthrie, said the house report from Sunday said the patron fainted at the sight of blood. Or in this case, fake blood painted on a shirt. Never underestimate the power of theater. --GRAYDON ROYCE

Get out your unibrow

Ellen Heck, a rising-star printmaker from San Francisco, is looking for snapshots of volunteers dressed up like Frida Kahlo to use as inspiration for a series of limited-edition woodcuts. Called "Forty Fridas," the project will eventually feature 40 fetching imitations of the self-promoting Mexican feminist. Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis is showing eight of them, through Feb. 25, all based on family and friends of Heck. "Consider donning a crown of flowers, maybe a parrot or some swarthy eyebrows" Heck urges on her blog, adding that the competition is "open to all genders and all ages." Send your snapshots to ellenheck@gmail.com. If chosen, you'll get an original print from Heck and a chance at immortality. --MARY ABBE

Fists, Tasers and 'negative energy'

The sixth annual TC Hip-Hop Awards ended prematurely last Friday, as an audience brawl that reportedly included Taser blasts forced police to clear First Avenue. This marks the second time in three years the awards were cut short by fisticuffs. "It took six years to build, but only two minutes to destroy," organizer David "DEPth" Powell posted to his Facebook wall. "Today we all need to do some soul searching." Friday's show lasted 45 minutes after the initial violence, but police ended the event after fights continued outside the club, said Larry Lucio Jr., the evening's stage manager and owner of artist management firm Amplified Life. Lucio said he hopes the awards will continue in 2013: "It's too important for the undervalued and underappreciated portion of our hip-hop community. Events like this are defined by how they react to negative energy, not the energy itself." --JAY BOLLER

Got Shatner?

A Root & the Revolution

One of the biggest Prince fans around, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of the Roots will helm the after-party for the Revolution reunion and benefit show Feb. 19 at First Avenue. The drummer and leader of the "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" house band will DJ in the main room following the performance by Prince's "Purple Rain"-era band. (See First-avenue.com for more info.) Revolution drummer Bobby Z, whose rebound from a near-fatal heart attack in 2010 spawned the reunion, said Questlove is a longtime friend: "He kept in close contact even when I was in the hospital." --CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Rocking the recall