Theatre Without a Theatre: On Found Spaces and Creativity in the Twin Cities

HowlRound: In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, a substantial theatre community exists and thrives due to the culture and support of local communities and the state's art funding set-up. However, in spite of boasting dozens of theatre and performing arts companies of all sizes, the Twin Cities are not immune to a travesty happening in mid-sized cities around the United States: a venue shortage. Much has been reported about housing crises nationally, but as these cities go deeper into gentrification, we are also losing hundreds of actual, physical theatres nationally. In the past two years alone the Twin Cities has seen handfuls of theatres go under, not because of loss of funds or because of money mismanagement, but because rent gets overwhelmingly raised overnight, or because developers buy entire blocks and shut them down.