"IN PERSON" by Emily Michaels King at the Crane Theater

Almost exactly one year ago, multi-disciplinary artist Emily Michaels King presented one of the most innovative virtual performances to come out of #TCTheater during the pandemic intermission from live performances. DIGITAL was a highly technical use of various media and software (MacBook Pro, iPhone, Zoom, recorded videos, live videos, images, audio clips, text) that was also highly personal. Now, for two weekends only, Emily is presenting a companion piece called IN PERSON and performed live and in person at the Crane Theater. It truly feels like a continuation of what was begun a year ago, as if we're watching her create this feat of technical artistry that we experienced last year, and move beyond it. If you saw DIGITAL I highly recommend you continue the journey with IN PERSON, but it's not a prerequisite; IN PERSON can also stand on its own. Like all of Emily's work, this piece is extremely innovative, thoughtful, raw, vulnerable, powerful, inexplicable, and deeply moving.

"Animus" by E/D at the Southern Theater

Animus is a theater piece that incorporates film (both pre-recorded as well as projected live) better than any I've seen before. In fact everything about the piece is thoughtfully created and exquisitely executed. Produced by a new company (called E/D), but not a new collaboration (Emily Michaels King and Debra Berger), it's inspired by the 1966 Ingmar Bergman film Persona and is in fact part of the Swedish filmmaker's jubilee celebration. I've not seen this film (or I think any of Bergman's work), but if it's as hauntingly beautiful and downright trippy as Animus, I now want to. Presented as part of last year's Twin Cities Horror Festival (as reported on by my friends at Minnesota Theater Love), it's been expanded to 90 fully engrossing minutes. Animus continues through December 22 only and should not be overlooked in this busy season both on and off stage.