Entertainment briefs - Feb. 28

■ New York Trio to perform
Tuesday at Tornstrom

Intersection, a New York trio consisting of violinist Laura Frautschi, cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper and pianist John Novacek will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Tornstrom Auditorium in Brainerd, as part of the Lakes Area Concert Association.

Intersection has forged a powerful connection with audiences worldwide. Formed in 1998, the group’s numerous recordings have been best-sellers in Asia and have topped the classical and crossover charts. In addition to their best selling CDs, Intersection has released over half a dozen DVDs and have appeared in numerous magazine covers, high-profile appearances on television and even through their much-loved cameos on TV commercials.

An essential component of their concert activity has been their guest appearances, often televised, with major orchestras such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, the Osaka Symphony, the Yomiuri Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic. Concertante repertoire ranges from the classic multiple-instrument concerti of Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn, to new, approachable works written expressly for the group in conjunction with orchestra, all intermixed with standard solo concerti. In addition to Asia, the group has toured Europe and the U.S.

Association membership tickets for the series includes concerts in Brainerd, Sauk Centre, Alexandria, Wadena and Park Rapids. For more information on the concert series, call Betty Alderman at 829-3379 or Curt Nielsen at 829-4901 or online at www.concertassociation.net/brainerdmn .

Other concerts in the series include: New Odyssey: 3 Guys & 30 Instruments, April 4; and Two on Tap, a musical theater performance, May 6.

■ B.A.Y. hosting concert March 7

BAXTER - Brainerd Area Youth for Christ (B.A.Y.) is hosting a concert at 7 p.m. March 7 at Heritage Assembly of God in Baxter.

Audio Adrenaline will perform as part of its spring 2013 Kings and Queens Tour with special guests Group 1 Crew, Seventh Day Slumber and Manic Drive.

Cost is $12 and tickets are available at the B.A.Y. office in Brainerd, Bethany Book Store in Baxter and MCBI Studios in Pequot Lakes.

Audio Adrenaline is a Christian rock band that formed in the late 1980s at Kentucky Christian University. During the band’s 17-year existence, they were awarded two Grammy awards, multiple Dove Awards and they released 17 number one singles.

Group 1 Crew has become one of the leading hip-hop focused acts in the Christian music scene, broadening the parameters of faith-based music with songs that percolate with energy and resonate with the truth of God’s grace. Seventh Day Slumber released their eighth studio album in 2011, “The Anthem of Angels.” Manic Drive released their latest project, EPIC in 2011. The band’s previous three albums, “Blue,” “Reason for Motion” and “Reset & Rewind “have landed them Billboard Top 10 and 20 singles on Christian Rock Radio.

■ Laura Hansen wins poetry award

Laura Hansen of Little Falls has received the People’s Choice Award for her poem “Dear Postmaster.” Hansen’s poem was selected from 50 poems accepted from literary artists in the counties of Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd and Wadena exhibited at the “Poetry on the Wall” event in the Q Gallery of The Crossing Arts Alliance in Brainerd. The event was made possible by a grant from the Five Wings Arts Council.

Hansen has self-published two collections of poetry in chapbooks, “Diving the Drop-Off” and “Why I Keep Rabbits.” She is a member of the Great River Writers and the recipient of two Five Wings Arts Council grants. He is currently working on a collection of poems for a future book.

■ CLC’s Kurtz to recount
Guatemala experience

Jan Kurtz of Fort Ripley, a Spanish and Latin American Studies instructor at Central Lakes College (CLC), will present the free, public Cultural Thursday program on Guatemala at noon March 7 in Chalberg Theatre on the Brainerd campus.

In February 2012, Kurtz spent the month in San Pedro Las Huertas, Guatemala. This small town just outside of Antigua is the site for Rising Villages, a project founded and run by Little Falls residents Dave and Bina Huebsch. It is a volunteer operation which has supported the people of Guatemala with educational, electrical, water, medical and community building endeavors over a 40-year period.

Kurtz will present information on the village and her time working at the Alabare Elementary school. She worked with three teachers and 35 students in the school.

“My time was spent doling out glue for their myriad cut-and-paste projects, reading stories, organizing clothing distributions, art lessons, filling notebooks with copy work, and giving talks on Spanish-speaking countries,” Kurtz wrote. When she described Cuba, an island nation, her young audience need “island” explained.

In the hours at the end of the school day that started at 6 a.m., Kurtz and the other volunteers visited students’ families and local sites. Kurtz said dwellings where the families live consist of one to three rooms, with masonry block walls, dirt or cement floors, an open cook fire or small gas stove, and clothing is washed in a scrub sink. One hundred-pound bags of corn may share space with firewood against one wall. Corn tortillas are a staple in the Guatemalan diet.

“The emphasis will be on travel and work options that go beyond the tour groups and photo ops,” Kurtz said, noting that one young female in a host family worked an afternoon on the coffee plantation so that she could offer cake to her guests.

Cultural Thursdays are sponsored by the Resource Center for Cultures and Languages of America.

■ Write Basics Conference set March 9

BAXTER - A Write Basics Conference is scheduled from 12:30-4:30 p.m. March 9 at Arrowwood Lodge in Baxter, presented by the Brainerd Public Library.

Crime writer and former newspaper man, David Housewright, will present a 90-minute workshop on the Basics of Writing a Novel, and Holly Day, author and instructor, will present on the Basics of Publishing. Writers are invited to participate in this free conference to build their skills and expand resources on the journey to becoming a successful author.

Pre-registration is required by calling the library at 829-5574.

The Basics of Writing a Novel will be divided into two sections. The first will deal with creating conflict and why it is essential to telling any story. The second will deal with the structure of the novel and how each works together to create the whole part.

Basic of Publishing will review both traditional and unconventional ways to sell a book, as well as many of the pitfalls that can stall an aspiring author early on in their career and how to avoid them. Included will be how to find agents and publishers, how to write a query letter and proposal package to send to potential agents and publishers, and what to expect from the agent/publisher-writer relationship. Basics of self-publishing including reasons for self-publishing, soliciting reviews for your book, and the distribution and marketing channels available to self-publishers will be covered.

Housewright has published 14 crime novels. “Penance” earned the 1996 Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America as well as a Shamus nomination from the Private Eye Writers of America. “Practice to Deceive” won the 1998 Minnesota Book Award and “Jelly’s Gold” won the same prize in 2010. “Tin City” and “The Taking of Libbie, SD” were both nominated for the Minnesota Book Award. His latest novel “The Last Kind Word” will be published in June. Housewright’s short stories have appeared in publications such as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and True Romance and in mystery anthologies Silence of the Loons, Twin Cities Noir and Once Upon a Crime. He has taught novel-writing courses at the University of Minnesota and Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.

Day has worked as a freelance writer and editor for more than 20 years, with more than 7,000 published articles, poems and short stories, and 10 published books, including “Music Theory for Dummies,” “Music Composition for Dummies,” “Walking Twin Cities” and “Insider’s Guide to the Twin Cities.” She has worked in a freelance editorial capacity for more than 50 publishers internationally, including Boys Town Press, Sage/Corwin Press, Quay Publications and Minnesota Historical Press, and as a writing instructor at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis since 2000. Her writing has been awarded the Sam Ragan Poetry Prize, a Plainsongs Award, and has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, an Isaac Asimov Award, a Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web award and several Pushcart prizes.

This free Legacy Program is funded in part or in whole with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2008 which dedicated funding to preserve Minnesota’s art and cultural heritage.

■ Cast announced for ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’

PEQUOT LAKES - Pequot Lakes Community Theater is rehearsing for the production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” a dramatization of the classic book by C. S. Lewis. Follow the adventures of the four children who stumble through a wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten land of Narnia. The play faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion and his struggle with the White Witch. The intense action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan.

All of the memorable episodes from the story are represented in this dramatization: The temptation of Edmund by the witch, the slaying of the evil wolf by Peter, the witnessing of Aslan’s resurrection by Susan and Lucy, the crowning of the four new rulers of Narnia and more. The supporting characters are also here: The unicorn, the centaur and other forest animals, along with Father Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and Tumnus the Faun. This story of love, faith, courage and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is a true celebration of life.

Directed by Kate Davis, the cast includes Jonathan Liedl as Aslan, Hannah Gatton as the White Witch, Anthony Ly as Peter, Madison Welte as Susan, Jack Friday as Edmund, Mercedes Engren as Lucy, Chuck Heuberger as Mr. Tumnus, Craig and Julie Friday as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Sophia Drake as the Unicorn, Trevor Kile as the Centaur, Eddie Bind as Fenris Ulf, Cole Kaneski as the Queen’s Dwarf, Emma Fitch as the White Stag, Peter Herzog as Father Christmas and Lisa Schumacher as his Elf. Other cast members include Kira Moses, Brianna Aase, Brady Davis, Caleb Davis, Noah Joque, Marjorie Harris, Patricia Harris, Rylie Young, Emily Espeseth, Hannah Kostecka, Joe Binda and Danielle Rollins as members of the Queen’s Army. Aslans’ followers are Shayna Schmidt, Grace Bonfig, Amelia Davis, Anna Sechser, Gianna Sechser, Amber Hidde and Ashlynn Reynolds. The Wood Nymphs will be played by Kelsi Compton and Cherie Landgren. The Mice are Lily Moser, Jayce Compton, Arya Compton and Ryder Compton. The Production team includes Kim Utesch as technical director, Ben Gordon as assistant director /stage manager, Tim Leagjeld as set designer and Cheri Darden as the costume designer.

Performances of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” will be at 7:30 p.m. March 15, 16, 22 and 23; and 2 p.m. on March 17 and 24. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors age 60 and over and $8 for youth age 18 and under. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Pequot Lakes Community Education office at 218–568-9200. Tickets will be sold at the door starting one hour before each performance.