Art Hounds: Joyce Sutphen, Big Cats, and the anonymity of refugees

Image from "Anon(ymous)" at the Little Country Theater. Left to Right: Ananya Jaidev as Naja; James M. Cavo as Anon; and Alison Olson as Calista. (Photo courtesy of NDSU)

What's clicking for the hounds this week? A performance by Minnesota's Poet Laureate in Brainerd, a rising beat maker's instrumental homage to his mother, and a play about the lives of refugees in America.

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Fargo theater artist Brad Delzer has been waiting for a play like "Anon(ymous)" to come to Fargo-Moorhead, especially with its growing refugee population. "Anon(ymous)," originally written for the Children's Theater Company by Naomi Iizuka, is about what a young refugee boy encounters as he scours America, searching for his lost family. It's on stage this weekend only at the Little Country Theater at North Dakota State University.

When freelance music writer and Background Noise Crew CEO and producer Ali Elabbady heard "For My Mother," the newest offering from Minneapolis hip hop producer and beat maker Big Cats, aka Spencer Wirth Davis, he was moved. "For My Mother" is a collection of instrumental compositions converted into hip hop tracks and dedicated to Big Cats' mother, who passed away two years ago from ovarian cancer. Big Cats will celebrate the new album with a show tonight at the Cedar Cultural Center.

If you want to "feel Minnesota" through poetry, Northfield poet Joe Concannon says you need to see the state's poet laureate, Joyce Sutphen, read her work. Sutphen will deliver the goods on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 7pm, at Central Lakes College in Brainerd.

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