Item World: Sha Cage opens two plays in one day; Taylor Swift tweets Tim Mahoney, more

We are sometimes quick to label people superhuman, but Sha Cage earned it last Thursday. The actress, who has two children under age 5, opened two shows on the same day. At 1 p.m., she played Prince Harry, one of the central characters in Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 1," in a Michelle Hensley production for Ten Thousand Things. At 7:30 p.m., she opened her solo show "U/G/L/Y" for a packed house in the Guthrie Theater's Dowling Studio. Both went off swimmingly. "Shakespeare is not an easy thing to do, and she's amazing," said Hensley. "I'm just in awe of her."

Rohan Preston

Father John Misty isn't the only outsider musician to get swept up in the hoopla around Ryan Adams' song-for-song remake of Taylor Swift's "1989" album. Add Tim Mahoney to that list. The Twin Cities singer/songwriter, who sang to millions of viewers as a 2011 contestant on NBC's "The Voice," now counts 1.5 million views on Twitter for a complimentary tweet he sent toward Adams and Swift last week. It read, "@TheRyanAdams I think you might actually save the music industry. @TaylorSwift13 #1989 No words … just listen." Swift retweeted Mahoney's message to her 64 million followers, which sent his @TimMahoneyMusic account into an overwhelming tailspin of retweets, favorites and follows. "It's [expletive] crazy," Mahoney noted of the reaction, which included a favorite by Adams himself. "I guess I'm just glad Ryan saw [the tweet]. He gives hope to guys out there trying to write songs from the heart." Or re-record songs from Swift's heart.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

It's getting harder and harder for Andrew Zimmern to find time to hang out in his Twin Cities home. Travel Channel just announced that the host of the enduring "Bizarre Foods" will launch a new program next year tentatively titled "Meter's Running." The premise: Zimmern taps cabbies to lead him on a locals-only exploration of their cities, from a shikara driver in Kashmir to a taxi driver in the Deep South. The series has been greenlit for eight episodes. No premiere date has been announced. Zimmern will continue to host "Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations."

Neal Justin

St. Louis Park's twin annual movie jubilees have announced their fall schedules. The sixth edition of the glitzy, studio-centered Twin Cities Film Fest will run Oct. 21-31. Minnesota native and Oscar nominee John Hawkes will attend to introduce his latest film, "Too Late," a new take of the hardboiled private eye genre. Also included are much-buzzed-about "Room" with Brie Larson, Joan Allen and William H. Macy in the story of a young woman and her 5-year-old son struggling to adapt to the outside world after forced captivity that has lasted his entire life. The venerable Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival turns 22 years old with its latest installment, offering a dozen showings Oct. 22 to Nov. 1. Two are acclaimed documentaries. "Jerusalem" is a giant-screen film by National Geographic, and acclaimed documentarian Albert Maysles' final film, a biography of feisty fashionista Iris Apfel, 93, is a delightful joyride.

Thirty years ago the Guerrilla Girls were outsiders, a bunch of feminist artists ticked off by the Art World's transparent contempt and casual neglect of talented women. Donning gorilla masks to preserve their anonymity, they mounted a biting but humorous assault on the organizations that excluded or trivialized women and their art — museums, galleries, grant-giving foundations, college art departments. They took out ads, printed posters, staged performances and generally caused a ruckus that prompted change, or at least grudging recognition that they had a legitimate gripe. Now the Guerrilla Girls are coming in from the cold. Instead of attacking the usual suspects (Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Art) the Girls are collaborating with them. "We're super psyched to be coming to the Twin Cities in 2016 for lots of art, performances, workshops, exhibitions and activism," the Girls said in a press release. Projects include teen workshops, commissioned art, exhibitions, panel discussions, performances and other high jinks to "inspire a new generation of art activism."

Mary Abbe

The Minnesota Orchestra is hopping on the craft-brew bandwagon. "Symphony & Suds" — one of four new initiatives aimed at attracting fresh ears — will stage free small-group concerts at six Twin Cities taprooms (Excelsior, Boom Island, Sociable Cider Werks, Surly, Insight and Fair State). Then it will serve those libations at select Orchestra Hall concerts. Other programs include "$20under40" (ticket discounts for those 39 and younger at certain shows), "OH+"( an expanded menu of activities before and after concerts) and "Saturdays at Six" — a three-concert series beginning with this weekend's Osmo Vänskä-conducted program. On those Saturdays, music starts at 6 p.m. so concertgoers can enjoy a leisurely post-show dinner instead of having to rush through a meal to catch an 8 p.m. concert. More info at mnorch.org.

TIM CAMPBELL