This issue has…

• 🐶 Cute Buzz Pics
  Halloween dogs are the best

• 📚 A Trip to the Archives
  you ask, we answer

• 🙌 Some Shanan Praise
  we should just get her an office

YOUR QUESTIONS

A trip to the PCA archives

A few weeks ago, I offered to try and answer any Phipps questions you might have bopping around in your heads. Well, a few of you took me up on it, and here’s the first one from Jennifer:

Great question, Jennifer!
For those of you who didn’t realize, the River Room (the room up the stairs just left of the admin office) is lined with many of these photographic highlights from past productions (see below).

I just ran up there to check: the most recent production is from 2005, so yeah…it might be time to think about cycling in a few others.

Jennifer’s question gave me a great excuse to show you another part of the Phipps: the archives room. The Phipps archives room is upstairs (not in the weird basement) and has all sorts of amazing PCA treasures.

At first glance, it might seem a little on the boring side — an industrial-looking room chock full of binders and boxes. But look a little closer and you’ll find…

…old scenic models from past productions (I love a scenic model!)…

…and LOTS of production binders.

So many production binders!

Each one of these binders is essentially a recorded history of a specific Phipps production — truly a snapshot in time.

Inside each binder are neatly organized tabs containing info on budget, scenic design, props, stage management notes, etc. It’s an amazing collection of historical information!

Another fun thing some of the binders include:

…PRODUCTION PHOTOS! 😃

And what did I find tucked away in a corner…?

Additional River Room collages! 🙌

So there you have it. Lots of old production photos are tucked away in the Phipps archive room. Some are in production binders, some are in old collages…and, of course, we keep digital copies on our server because it’s 2024. 🙂

As for the production binders, Mark will still create them on occasion, but we’ve mostly moved to a digital system for archiving this sort of information.

Keep those Phipps questions coming!

PEOPLE

A very Shanan Custer Halloween

Local theatre professional, Shanan Custer, had quite the Phipps fall!

Not only did she direct our Halloween Children’s Theatre production, Transyl-Mania, but she was also on stage two Sundays ago as a Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society performer.

Did you catch MORLS? Did you catch Transyl-Mania? If not, you missed out. Both were lots of fun.

We’re unbelievably lucky to be able to work with so many amazing Twin Cities actors, directors, musicians, etc. They add so much to the PCA!

Sidenote: I snapped the pic above during our morning matinee for Houlton Elementary School. Although I enjoyed the show thoroughly, my favorite moment came before the play even started, when one child excitedly shouted, “I’M SCARED BUT NOT SCARED!”

Nice work, Shanan :)

👆
my favorite gallery piece of the week
It’s Members’ Spotlight time! All the work in each gallery was created by a member of the Phipps Center for the Arts (member = donor). Susan’s piece caught my eye, as it’s created from all the tickets and programs from all the events she has attended in the last 30 years. You’ve gotta see it in person…along with all the other amazing work!

PERSONAL STUFF

Busby hates his life

Please enjoy this pic of my dog in a Chucky costume. Yes, we put a Halloween costume on our dog. No, he did not appreciate it. Yes, we will probably do it again next year.

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Talk to you next week!