Mike Larson of Minneapolis is an escape-room enthusiast, and he loved Walking Shadow Theatre’s production of “Reboot,” an online play with puzzles.

Larson says an interactive puzzle-solving experience is the best version of this story, as opposed to one forced to fit a virtual medium. The actors are engaging and the puzzles enhance the play’s narrative, Larson says.

Participants play the role of hackers and you don’t have to act. Larson’s group of friends and strangers became so engrossed with the story that they found themselves having ethical discussions over their hacker plotline.

Unlike other escape rooms, there is no ticking clock built into the story, though there is an urgent mission to accomplish. You can buy tickets as individuals or with friends, and you’ll be interacting with other attendees to problem solve. The play and puzzles take about two hours. Ticket sales run through Aug. 31.

Shannon Riley of Stillwater, Minn., regularly checks the billboard at the Zephyr Theatre in downtown Stillwater for an eclectic mix of theatrical productions, literary readings and live music that gets people dancing in the parking lot.

The theater makes its home in the renovated Zephyr train depot, which Riley says is a cool and quirky spot to explore. This weekend, Zephyr is staging a full-scale professional production of the musical “Mamma Mia!” at North Lowell Park.

The musical about a summer wedding is set to music by the Swedish pop group, ABBA, and staged against a backdrop of the St. Croix River. The show runs Thursday through Sunday at 7 p.m., rain or shine.

Colin Bracewell recommends the music of Minneapolis singer/songwriter Brooke Elizabeth, who’s headlining at Aster Café in Minneapolis on Friday. Bracewell says the songwriter has made music since finishing high school, and has a steady performance calendar this summer to promote her new EP “You and Me.”

Bracewell, also a singer/songwriter, compared the honesty of her sound and the quality of her vocals to that of Phoebe Bridgers.

Artist Christopher Selleck of Robbinsdale, Minn., traveled to Rochester to see Preston Drum’s immersive exhibit, “Bubbles” at the Rochester Art Center. The show combines sculpture, video and paintings large and small. Selleck describes the style as “at once painterly, playful, punk rock and sentimental,” and he suggests visitors keep an eye out for “joyous little re-creations” sprinkled through the exhibit like Easter eggs.

Drum is part of the sandwich generation that is caring for younger and older relatives at the same time. The show includes a moving meditation on caring for his mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 17.

Roy Taylor hosts the radio show “Indigeneity Rising” at KFAI, and recommends the Mni Sota Native Music Series, presented by The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.

Artist Alex Buffalohead curated the series by North American Indian musicians, which runs each Thursday in July at 7:30 p.m. on The Cedar Public Access Channel.

The Cedar’s Indigenous Music Series has featured performers from around the world for the past decade, but this year’s virtual series is focused exclusively on North American artists, most of whom are from Minnesota. The genres include rock, blues, and alternative. You can listen back to the July 8 performance by Keith Secola, and tune in to hear The Wake Singers Thursday, Corey Medina & Brothers on July 22, and on July 29, an Artist Showcase hosted by Keith Secola. The series is funded by the Rosemary and David Good Family Foundation.

Kelly O’Sullivan of Apple Valley was in Theatre 55’s production of “Hair” in 2019, and she is excited to see the theater reprise an outdoor, music-only version of the show on this side of the pandemic. Theatre 55 puts on productions by seniors — an age group particularly hard-hit by COVID-19. O’Sullivan says the original cast formed a strong bond, and she’s looking forward to seeing members who supported each other sing songs about experiences from the past year.

Performances for “Hair! The Concert Experience” this weekend and next are at Caponi Art Park’s outdoor amphitheater in Eagan, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Art fan Doris Rubenstein of Richfield, Minn., is grateful for both summer and arts events. She’s fascinated by the way local artist Jodi Reeb turns one summer product — beeswax — into paintings.

Reeb’s encaustic, or hot wax, art is on display in “Structure and Connection” at the Kolman and Pryor Gallery at the Northrup King Building in northeast Minneapolis. Reeb’s work is paired with that of Maine artist Dietlind Vander Schaaf.

Rubenstein said “you can always ask gallery owners Anita or Patrick as many questions as you have about encaustic. It's an opportunity to enjoy art and learn something new — a sweet deal!”

The show runs through Sept. 4.

Carin Bratlie Wethern of Bloomington, the artistic director of Theater Pro Rata, enjoys listening to the debut album “Side by Side” by the Minneapolis-based duo Champagne Drops. Bratlie Wethern said, “each song feels like a little semi-precious stone in a child's treasure box.” She loves the way the sparse instrumentals offset the voices of singers Emily Dussault and Leslie Vincent, creating an intimate album about female friendship, motherhood and childhood.

While the album is meant for a general audience, Bratlie Wethern says her 4-year-old daughter is a fan of the album, which has become a soundtrack to bathtime.

Art festivals are popping up across the state this summer after many were canceled last year due to the pandemic. Annette Block-Valdivia of Grand Marais recommended one arts festival off the beaten path along the North Shore: the 15th annual Hovland Arts Festival. It takes place this weekend from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Block-Valdivia called the small town north of Grand Marais “a gem” and said the festival is a great place to find beadwork, fiber art and leatherwork, as well as paintings, wildlife photography and more by local makers.

The event, which includes live music, takes place both indoors and outdoors at the Hovland Town Hall on Highway 61.

Solo musician Lyla Abukhodair of Duluth, Minn., has fond memories of seeing Laura Sellner perform with her band Superior Siren shortly before the pandemic closed venues. She’s excited to share about Sellner’s new solo EP, called “Kill Your Darlings.” Abukhodair admires how hard Sellner works, the way she encourages fellow musicians and her “dreamy” music.

Sellner will be doing a Minnesota tour with her new music this summer, including a stop in Two Harbors at Castle Danger Brewery at 6 p.m. Thursday and in Minneapolis at Utepils Brewing at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Filmmaker Naomi Ko has followed the work of Yeej Moua for the past few years and looks forward to the premiere Thursday of his short film, “The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain.” The film was written and directed by Moua and funded by Northern Spark as part of the final weekend of this year’s two-week festival.

The short film tells the story of a Hmong American teenager grieving after her brother dies of COVID-19. The family was unable to perform a traditional Hmong funeral.

Ko praised Moua as a “jack of all trades” who creates music as well as writes and directs and wants to see how Moua will bring those skills together to inject a sense of youthfulness, joy and community on a difficult subject matter. The film is in Hmong with English subtitles, followed by a bilingual Q&A. It screens online at 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Jon Skaalen of Stillwater is interested in Full Circle Theater Company’s upcoming virtual event, “Sharing Stories on Issues of Disability and Theater.” It’s a combination short live performance and an interactive discussion, featuring four actors with disabilities telling their stories as artists.

The show runs for 90 minutes, with English closed captioning and ASL interpretation, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.

Visual artists Lisa Bergh and Andrew Nordin of New London, Minn., recently took an art-themed road trip that included a stop at the Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids, Minn. and the T. L. Solien exhibit “See the Sky.”

Solien’s large scale paintings captivated them. They described the drama of his contemporary work — its humor and pain and emotional charge — as well as his skill with color. “There's actually some subtle moments in some of the smaller pieces that I found myself kind of stuck on,” said Nordin, who was struck by Solien's use of the color yellow.

“I always love going to the Nemeth Art Center,” added Bergh, “You enter into the space through the [Hubbard County] Historical Museum with tons of artifacts, which even made more sense when you walk [up the big stairs] into Solien’s work, because the show is just built on all these artifacts of his personal history of culture.”

T.L. Solien’s show runs through July 17, with a closing reception on July 10 at 4 p.m.

Claude and Laurel Riedel of Minneapolis love the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and they recommend a children’s picture book written and illustrated by Ely residents, about a familiar scene during wildfire season.

The book is “Big Yellow: Firefighting Superstar,” written by Polly Carlson-Voiles and illustrated by Consie Powell. 

The Riedels have a personal connection to the story. While on a camping trip near Trout Lake some years ago with the author and her husband, they saw smoke from a forest fire. Both Claude and Laurel vividly remember the big yellow airplane that came swooping down to the lake in front of them, scooped up water, and then climbed up above the treeline with its heavy load to go fight the fire. 

Immediately, they turned to Carlson-Voiles with a recommendation: “You have to write a story about this,” said Laurel.  “Kids will love this. We are loving it as grownups.” 

The picture book was published this year by Minnesota-based Legacy Bound. The Riedels say their grandchildren, ages 7 and 10, enjoy reading about how planes are built and used to fight forest fires. Of the Ely-based illustrations, Laurel Riedel says “Big Yellow looks just like I remember her, just a little friendlier.”

Painter Nancy Ensley of Ely, Minn., recommends a collection traveling across the Iron Range this summer. The Ancient Cedars Trail Exhibit features the work of 12 artists from Duluth and northern Minnesota, including paintings, fiber arts, weaving and bead art.

The trail — recently created through the efforts of the Department of Natural Resources, the city of Tower and a private landowner — preserves a grove of old-growth white cedar trees that date to the late 1800s.

There is no gallery in Tower to house the exhibit, Ensley said, so the works will stop in different Iron Range cities. This month, the collection is on view at the Lyric Center for the Arts in Virginia. The show travels to Ely’s Art Corner in July, the Borealis Art Guild in Hibbing in August, and Northwoods Friends of the Arts in Cook in September.

Northern Spark is back in the Twin Cities this year with a modified format. Instead of dusk-till-dawn arts events, the hybrid of live and virtual events is spread over two weeks. Musician Kashimana Ahua is excited about Dameun Strange’s Sol Soundgarden, a 24-hour interactive musical installation.

Strange’s work imagines a realm where musical flowers bloom. Visitors use a mobile device to locate and listen at locations representing different blooms, spread across the Rondo and Frogtown neighborhoods in St. Paul.

Strange composed each piece using sounds recorded in the corresponding space. Collaborator Sayge Carroll created instruments inspired by the environment. Ahua called it a “magical experience just waiting to happen.”

The installation runs Saturday beginning at 9:02 p.m. for 24 hours.

Sculptor Betsy Alwin of Minnetrista recommends Gwen Partin’s visual arts exhibit at Form + Content Gallery in Minneapolis.

The exhibit of large and small works on paper explores weaving, sewing, and textile patterns.  Alwin said you may first notice the encounter large collage drawings in Partin’s “Remnants” series. The paper and fabric scraps and hand embroidery are a tribute to her mother, a quilter.

Visitors don gloves to look through hand-bound leather books containing the artist’s drawings. “I really enjoyed being able to interact with the drawings in this personal way,” said Alwin. “I could sense the amount of time in each work, and it brought me closer to the meditative process of making them.”

The show closes Saturday. Hours are 1 to 5 p.m. by appointment at Form + Content Gallery.

Arts advocate Patrick Moore of Montevideo was inspired by Nicole Zempel’s nature photography currently on display at the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council’s gallery in Marshall.

Zempel’s up-close photographs of mushrooms, lichen, moss, and slime mold blend science and art in a way that is both familiar and otherworldly.

“I just kind of get blown away by these photos,” said Moore. “I can't believe that these are real, that this is something that you will find within 10 miles of my house. She has an exceptional eye.”

The exhibit runs through June 25, with a virtual tour available on YouTube.

Theater director Addie Gorlin-Han recently attended Fawzia Khan’s “Becoming Visible” exhibit at Hopkins Center for the Arts. Khan received a 2020 Minnesota Artist Initiative Grant to interview 12 Minnesota women with a broad range of identities.

In several works, women’s eyes framed by rectangles are embroidered onto dish towels, “a symbol of traditional gender roles,” according to a statement by the artist. Viewers learn about the women through written and video first-person accounts.

“The reason the piece is so moving is the way in which Fawzia has successfully made each of these Minnesota women and each of their stories visible,” said Gorlin-Han. Additional sculptures grapple with questions of gender-assigned roles and immigration as well as the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. 

The exhibit runs through June 19 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. An accompanying video is on YouTube.

Minneapolis photographer Wendy Blomseth appreciates the work of visual artist Anne Pryor, on display at the Everett & Charlie Gallery in Minneapolis.

Blomseth is fascinated by how Pryor makes her work. A former watercolor artist, Pryor now uses alcohol ink on acetate. After adding the ink, she manipulates the color on the canvas by blowing it through a straw, “and makes the designs and shapes by moving with her breath.” She then adds essential oils, which add texture and scent to the works.

“So you get the tactile effect on the painting but then you also get the scent,” Blomseth said.

Pryor will be demonstrating her process at Everett & Charlie from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Correction (June 11, 2021): The date of Anne Pryor’s demonstration was incorrect in an earlier version of this story. The article has been updated.

For the first time in well over a year, this week’s Art Hounds recommend three live, in-person only performances.

McKnight choreography fellow Darrius Strong is excited to see live dance on stage again, and his pick this weekend is the show “60/40” by BRKFST at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis.

“They use the foundational steps of breakdance,” Strong said, and they “find ways to bend, flip that, collaborate that with contemporary movement.” He appreciated how the St. Paul-based collaborative dance ensemble works together as a cohesive unit on stage, as well as their stated goal, “to expand awareness on topics that address marginalized and underserved populations.”

This show has been in the works for two years, after COVID-19 delayed production. Featuring choreography that explores loss, fragmentation and contradiction, the show includes original music composed by troupe member Renee Copeland. “60/40” runs Thursday through Sunday at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Thursday night’s tickets are pay-as-able. Face masks are required, with socially-distanced seating in the theater.

The annual short film competition Z-Fest is back and screening films in-person this weekend. Minnesota filmmakers, veteran and emerging, compete by creating films that are at most seven minutes. Minneapolis writer and director Owen Royce didn’t submit a film this year, but he credits past comedy and drama shorts with helping boost his visibility early in his career and allowing him to explore new genres in a low-stakes environment.

“I owe a lot to Z-Fest in the sense of helping me galvanize my friends and colleagues in making short films.” Royce said the creative focus of Z-Fest helped revolutionize the Minnesota film scene.

The screenings are Friday and Saturday at 7 and 9 p.m. at Emagine Willow Creek in Plymouth, Minn. The theater will be operating at full-capacity seating, with masks required.

As music concerts return to in-person venues, Simon Calder, host of Back to the City Minneapolis Music Conversation on YouTube, recommends the music of StoLyette, an innovative Minneapolis-based group performing Friday night at 10 p.m. at Icehouse.

Part of their distinct style, Calder says, evolved as bassist Ben Clark created a way to recreate guitar and other nonvocal components of a band using one instrument. It’s a complex process that involves a delay pedal, multiple amps, and “a pitch shifter or two,” said Calder. That couples with Irene Ruderman Clark’s vocals in both English and Russian.

Calder said Ruderman Clark moved from the Soviet Union when she was 11. Calder learned in an interview with the musician that when she was 12, “suddenly there was this moment of clarity when she could understand what her schoolmates were saying. And I feel that especially as we're shifting between different registers and even languages, it is almost as if the listener or the audience is invited to experience that shifting.”

Minneapolis theater maker Shanan Custer is excited about the soap opera “Duluth”, which premiered Sunday on the World Improv Network YouTube channel.  The show runs for 24 consecutive episodes, airing live at 2 p.m. Sundays. It’s all improvised, with only a plot arc for the cast to follow.

The improv actors are working across time zones and borders, coming together from Minnesota, Mexico and the U.K. as they dive into mystery and scandal.

“It’s inspired by soap operas that you may recall from the past, like ‘Dallas’ and ’Dynasty,’ ” Custer said. “And it features characters as broad and hilarious and amazing, as you saw in those kinds of shows.”

The key difference:  It’s set against a backdrop of iconic Duluth images — opening credits feature the Aerial Lift Bridge.

The last performance that actor Shad Olsen saw on stage before the pandemic was by Collide Dance Theater Co. in the Twin Cities. Now he can’t wait to see their new live production of “WonderLand.”

“They tell stories in such an emotional, visceral, real way that you end up going on the journey. It’s really exhilarating,” said Olsen. With a mix of dance styles set to a modern blend of music, “the energy is through the roof.”

The characters of Lewis Carroll’s classic novel encounter each other in a psychiatric hospital. As the doctor treats the White Rabbit’s anxiety or Alice’s body image, the show examines the concept of being “normal.” Artistic director Regina Peluso wrote the script to help de-stigmatize mental health conditions.  She had mental health professionals review the script to make sure the audience would not miss the message of acceptance.

The 70-minute show takes place outside of the James J. Hill House in St. Paul this weekend, and outside the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis June 5-20.

Healing is also the subject of an exhibit by physician and painter Semerit Strachan. Behavioral pediatrician Andrew Barnes of Golden Valley traveled to Granite Falls to see the show in person. He says he thought about the exhibit for days afterward. Strachan is a leader with the Cultural Wellness Center in Minneapolis.

The 25 paintings in Strachan’s exhibit “Consciousness Beyond Form” employ symbols of healing and transformation drawn from Egyptian culture and the African diaspora. Often, Barnes says, faces and forms appear to emerge from the paintings, the way one might see a face in the trunk of a tree while walking in the woods. Placed together in a gallery, the paintings appear to be in conversation with one another.

The exhibit at the K. K. Berge Gallery runs through June 19, with an artist reception and walking tour June 5. 

St. Paul composer Adam Wernick looks forward to the Rimon Artists Salon series — and in particular, the world premiere of a new work by composer and vocalist Anat Spiegel.

Spiegel is a Dutch-Israeli composer who now makes her home in the Twin Cities. Rimon executive producer David Harris saw her work as a Cedar Commissions fellow and commissioned Thursday’s performance. 

“I would describe her music and her performances as bold, theatrical, hugely imaginative — and always surprising,” Wernick said.

The Zoom event is entitled “I Once Was a Boy: on the Edge with poet Anna Margolin.” Spiegel’s song series puts music to poems written in Yiddish by Anna Margolin. The evening includes a conversation between Spiegel and vocalist Sarah Larsson about the Yiddish language, poetry, and music. The event Thursday at 7 p.m. is free, but registration is required.

Landscape painter Joshua Cunningham recently made a trip to Duluth, Minn., to get a sneak peak at the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Arts’ first student show. The school is a four-year program that teaches a classical style of art. The first graduating class was in 2020, but the pandemic prevented the academy from putting on a year-end showcase. This year’s show includes work by the first two graduating classes as well as current students. 

Cunningham was intrigued by both the showcase and its location; the school is housed in a decommissioned Catholic church, with pews turned into easels surrounded by original stonework and wooden scaffolding.

“It's really neat because beauty endures beyond its original purpose. And so for the students to be practicing and learning in a space about beauty for a bigger thing,” Cunningham said.

As for the artwork, Cunningham said “some of those drawings and paintings will be the fruit of weeks of observation. Just think about the last time you spent weeks looking at and studying something.”  The student showcase runs Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

Looking ahead to next weekend, visual artist Heather Lou in St. Paul is planning to attend the New Eyes Festival 2021: (Un)Scene. The annual festival of short plays from Theater Mu and the Playwrights’ Center will feature a series of 10-minute plays, presented virtually. This year’s playwrights are Carla Ching, Aditi Brennan Kapil, Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, Isabella Dawis, and Lisa Marie Rollins.

This year, the five playwrights respond in some way to growing anti-Asian violence in the country. Lou also appreciates that the plays explore “the ways our community can be celebrated and put in the limelight.”

Friday, May 21 at 7 p.m., you can hear from the playwrights and producer Katie Hae Leo during a “Mu-tini Hour” on Facebook live. The plays air live on May 22 at 7 p.m. and will be available on demand May 23 through May 29.