I Will Now Receive Your Insults

and why a wavy line is better than a straight one 👋

Author

Ben Thietje
April 10, 2025 • Est. Reading Time: 9 minutes

Hello!

Welcome to The Flying P, a weekly newsletter covering your Phipps Center for the Arts and anything else I might want to throw your way.

Embarrassed The Office GIF by Justin

how I feel after a month of missing Flying P deadlines

Welp. It’s been nearly a month since I’ve landed in your inbox. My last Flying P was published on March 13th. 😞

  • “You’re a horrible person.”

  • “You make poor decisions.”

  • “You burn chocolate chip cookies.”

All of the above comments would be justified if hurled in my direction. And although I don’t have great excuses for my e-absence, I do have reasons for them. Here are just some of the BIG projects we’ve been working on over at the Phipps the past several weeks, all of which will go into play at the end of April:

All of these would be hefty lifts by themselves. Bundle them all together and give them the same deadline?…well, that’s just plain insanity.
Who would be dumb enough to put himself and his team in such a position?

Aaaaanyway, get off my case and enjoy this week’s P. 😉

This issue has…

  • 🖼 Renewed Galleries
    they’re back, baby!

  • 🎭 A Flying Niece
    proud uncle over here

  • 🥴 Wavy Lines
    shortest distances are for the weak

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EVENTS

A Phipps celebration

a person on stage giving a tour

Bruce is a great tour guide

Coming up on April 26th between 9:00am and 12:00pm is our 2nd annual Phipps Community Day!

If you’re unfamiliar, Phipps Community Day is our annual open house event. We crack open as many spaces as possible and invite the community inside to snoop around and explore what the Phipps is all about.

We’ll have art activities, backstage tours, games, prizes, entertainment…and you’ll even have a chance to grab tickets to the new season before they go on sale to the general public. WOW, YOU’RE FANCY.

Best part: it’s free.

Come on down to Phipps Community Day and learn all about your community arts center!

kids doing an art activity

kids heart Phipps Community Day

PHIPPS TOP 4
best-selling upcoming events this season by tickets sold…

1. The SpongeBob Musical (previously: 3)
2. Cabaret Night at the Phipps - spring (previously: 7)
3. A Wurlitzer Red White and Blue Spectacular (previously: 6)
4. Stand-Up Junior (previously: 8)

BETTER HURRY LIST
best-selling upcoming events this season by percent sold
(i.e., closest to being sold out)…

1. Cabaret Night at the Phipps - spring (previously: 3)
2. A Wurlitzer Red White and Blue Spectacular (previously: 5)
3. The SpongeBob Musical (previously: unlisted)
4. Stand-Up Junior (previously: unlisted)

as of 4/10/25
FACILITIES

Making waves at the PCA

the Phipps icon on the lobby wall

If you have an absolute eagle eye, you may have noticed an ever-so-slight tweak to our Phipps building icon recently. Can you see it? Did you notice?

That’s right, we made the bottom line just the tiniest bit wavy as a nod to the beautiful St. Croix River that’s so important to our region.

A subtle change, but an important one.

the old Phipps building icon on a wall

old, no-river version

a piece of art with the Statue of Liberty in the center

artist: Attila Ray Dabasi

👆
my favorite gallery piece of the week
This one kinda says it all, doesn’t it?
So nice to have the galleries open again. Come check ‘em out!

PEOPLE

Strokes of genius

a stage painted purple and yellow

no souls inside

We have lots of amazing folks in our production department, but I want to take a moment to declare my deep appreciation for Julie Lasonczyk. Julie has been working as our scenic charge for the last several productions, and boy-oh-boy has she been KNOCKING IT OUT OF THE PARK.

As someone who struggles to put together a convincing stick figure, her artistry feels like witchcraft…to which I say: more toil and trouble, please!

Bring the kiddos to SpongeBob to take in Julie’s most recent work at the Phipps.

a Silent Sky production photo

Silent Sky…oh, ya know, just THE ENTIRE MILKY WAY ON STAGE

a Tuck Everlasting production photo

Tuck Everlasting

a Diar of a Wimpy Kid production photo

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

a production photo of a child playing "airplane"

my beautiful, wonderful niece :) FLY, EVIE, FLY!

I’m subbing a Busby update this week for an Evie update (Eve is one of my many adorable nieces). She’s currently appearing in FUN HOME at Theater Latté Da. If you see this truly wonderful production, I suggest bringing a tissue or two, as it will tug at the ol’ heartstrings.

A+++ highly recommended; the little girl is fantastic.

an illustration of a man joyfully holding a woman in his arms with a crescent moon in the corner

hint: holiday production

We have a couple more weeks before our 2025/26 season announcement, so I thought we could play a little game in the meantime. I’ll give you a marketing image from our new season, and the first person to correctly guess the event title will win a free ticket to said event. Just hit reply and send me your guess!

Are you the smartest PCA person in town?
Prove it by completing The Flying C(rossword).
👇

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Talk to you next week!

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