Art Hounds: Literary legends on stage, Shakespearean jazz and the power of gospel music

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here . Dinner with literary greats Erin Janssens is a big fan of the Northfield Arts Guild Theater, and she is looking forward to their play “ Little Wars,” which opens Friday. Set in the French Alps on the night before France falls to the Nazis, the play imagines a dinner party of female literary greats: Agatha Christie, Gertrude Stein, Dorothy Parker, Alice B. Toklas and Lillian Hellman. The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m., through Feb. 8. As the characters discuss what they can do to help Jewish people targeted by the Nazis, Erin says the play raises questions that feel timely. Erin says: What do you want your legacy to be? How do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be remembered as someone who did something to help someone? Or do you want to just be someone who stood back and watched while others helped? There are some serious themes in the show. They deal with antisemitism, xenophobia and your own moral responsibility. — Erin Janssens Classical words meet musical improvisation Minneapolis author Cheri Johnson is looking forward to seeing the Ken Takata Ensemble set the words of Shakespeare, Jane Austen and other classic authors to music. The free event takes place this Saturday, Jan. 31, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at George Latimer Central Library, as part of the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Hear examples of Takata’s work here. Cheri says Takata began by setting the songs in Shakespeare’s plays to music, but he’s expanded to include short Shakespearean passages, often starring female characters, as well as passages from other classic works. She says the music style varies to fit the words. Cheri says : Ken started out as mostly a jazz musician, but there’s [also] stuff that sounds very classical, and then other times he does R&B, or it sounds very musical theater. He just sort of chooses a style, it seems, based on what inspires him in the text and how he can imagine a production looking. — Cheri Johnson A gospel tradition, continued Ella Gates-Mahmoud of Minneapolis says she’s been to nearly all the productions of “The Sound of Gospel” since it began in 2018. The production, presented by Second Chance Outreach, takes place Sunday, Feb. 1, at 3 p.m. at the O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University in St. Paul. Ella says to expect an array of music, from spirituals to quartets, solos to choirs, spanning the history and styles of gospel. Ella says : I think it's important to note that gospel music is really a transformative experience. It covers an array of life experiences, and it encapsulates people's emotions, from happiness and joy to sadness to celebration. It encompasses all of that, and you can find yourself crying and laughing at the same time. It's just a beautiful experience. — Dr. Ella Gates-Mahmoud

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Art Hounds: Literary legends on stage, Shakespearean jazz and the power of gospel music is an episode from Art Hounds® - MPR News by Minnesota Public Radio.

This episode is 00:04:03 long.

This episode was published on Jan 29, 2026.

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