Facing a severe financial crisis, the Southern Theater will remain in operation after all, but with reduced staff and programming.

The 210-seat venue on Minneapolis' West Bank had a self-imposed deadline of April 30 to raise $400,000 or close its doors. The theater raised just under a quarter of its goal -- a total of $95,000, including $50,000 at its annual gala last Saturday, said board chair Anne Baker. The Southern is reaching out to corporate and foundation sources.

Because it did not meet its goal right away -- the deadline has now been extended and is unspecified -- the theater on Wednesday cut five positions, including part-time curators for dance and theater. The Southern also reduced the hours of its remaining employees.

The Southern, which had a $1 million annual budget, recently cancelled a number of events because of an ongoing money crunch that came into public view three weeks ago. It lost a third of its board in an upheaval.

The Southern also lost its major backer, the McKnight Foundation, after the theater "came clean," in the words of executive director Gary Peterson, about commingling its own operating funds with restricted funds entrusted to it by the foundation for fellowships to dancers and choreographers. The monies were spent on operations, while individual artists went unpaid.

The theater will have to repay $300,000 to the McKnight, probably over several years. The Southern also owes about $90,000 to vendors, including performers. "We will be able to take care of some of our payables now," said Baker.

Asked Wednesday why he did not blow the whistle on the commingling of funds that reportedly predated his arrival, Peterson said, "You get into the thing and you think, blow the whistle now and risk blowing it all up, or maybe we can work our way out of this," he said. "I'm gonna wonder about that for a long time."

"We're still optimistic about preserving this wonderful community asset for future generations," she said.

A Minnesota chef could bring home the James Beard Foundation award for the third consecutive year. Isaac Becker of 112 Eatery and Bar La Grassa and Lenny Russo of Heartland Restaurant & Farm Direct Market are vying for Best Chef: Midwest at the Oscars of the food world, which will take place Monday in New York City.

This year marks Becker's fourth consecutive nomination for the award, and Russo's second. Last year, Alex Roberts of Restaurant Alma won top honors; Tim McKee of La Belle Vie got the medallion in 2009. Russo and Becker are competing with Colby Garrelts of Bluestem in Kansas City, Justin Aprahamian of Sanford in Milwaukee and Tory Miller of L'Etoile in Madison.

Becker got the news of his nomination while he and his wife, co-owner Nancy St. Pierre, were vacationing in Paris. "The chefs, myself, Nancy and her staff, we would all be elated, of course," Becker said of the possibility of winning. "And it would be nice to no longer have to worry about it anymore. When I opened the 112, I never thought that I would have this problem. Not that it's a problem. I barely knew what the James Beard award was back then."

"I'd like to be able to say, 'We're in St. Paul, and we won,'" Russo said. "We're the little sister of the big girl next door, the redheaded stepchild of the Twin Cities, so it's nice to get noticed once in a while."

Acquiring the downtown building is a big move for the Workshop. Co-owner John Sweeney said in January that he feels the time is right now for expansion. The company will still use 2605 Hennepin for improvisation classes but shows will move downtown. "We could not be more excited to add 824 Hennepin to the Brave New Workshop brand," Sweeney said in a press release.

BNW's current show, "Sarah Palin's Minnesota; or Hindsight Is 2011" runs through June 24 at 2605 Hennepin. The Hennepin Theater Trust will continue with its current show in Hennepin Stages, "Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women," through June 26.

Sweeter than the melody of "The Only Living Boy in New York" at Tuesday's Paul Simon concert at First Avenue was the scene of Sean "Har Mar Superstar" Tillmann taking photos of his mom standing beneath Simon's newly unveiled star outside the club. Tillmann flew back to town to attend the show, and it was certainly worth the trip. Turns out, Simon's star -- unveiled before the concert (that way, he couldn't have second thoughts and cancel) -- was painted on the wall right next to Har Mar Superstar's name. An even weirder coincidence: We've always thought our Superstar looks a bit like the New York superstar in his more unkempt younger days. Thankfully, Simon didn't follow Tillmann's lead and strip down to his skivvies onstage.

London-based artist Goshka Macuga is, to say the least, uninspired by the architecture of Walker Art Center's 2005 addition, where her first U.S. museum show opened this month.

The $136 million expansion, designed by the Swiss firm of Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron, "was an extremely unsuccessful attempt to create a place people could actually use," Macuga said during a recent interview.

On the other hand, Macuga said the Walker's staff and crew are so helpful that "from an artist's point of view the place is amazing, a dream situation."

She also loves the minimalist elegance of the original 1971 building, designed by the late American architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, so much that she had the museum's staff re-create Barnes' gallery steps in her installation "It Broke From Within," which runs until Aug. 14.