lauren.vanschepen

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About me

Lauren Van Schepen lives on Hennepin, works on University, and can be found anywhere and everywhere in between. 

A Give to the Max Day drinking game

By Jay Gabler, Courtney Algeo, and Lauren Van Schepen, Arts Orbit

Every time you get an e-mail reminding you about Give to the Max Day, take a drink.

Every time you're asked on Wednesday to schedule a donation for Thursday, schedule a drink for Thursday.

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Arts Orbit

THEATER REVIEW | Roiling Rothko redux "Red" rules at Park Square Theatre

By Lauren Van Schepen, TC Daily Planet

Steven Lee Johnson and J C Cutler in Red. Courtesy Park Square Theatre.

Park Square Theatre's production of John Logan's Red is as aggressive, complex, and poignant as you would expect any play based on the life and work of painter Mark Rothko to be. Raising questions of allegiance, patronage, succession, and intimacy, Red provides the time and context for its audience to consider these timeless tensions both as they took place in Rothko's studio and as we know them today.

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MUSIC REVIEW | Coldplay put on a potent performance at the Xcel Energy Center

By Lauren Van Schepen, TC Daily Planet
Photos By: 
David McCrindle

Coldplay has, for many people my age, developed a reputation for being the musical equivalent of a wine cooler. Now included in “adult contemporary” and “easy listening” radio, the angst-ridden appeal the band had in the early 2000s has morphed into something strangely suburban that is, quite honestly, a little too easy to swallow. Seeing Coldplay at the Xcel Energy Center, however, I was stunned by the group’s individual and collective charisma, as well as their energetic performance.

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Project Opera's "The Giver" at the Minnesota Opera Center revisits less-simpler times

By Morgan Halaska and Lauren Van Schepen, Arts Orbit
Aaron Shaffer

Just about 20 years ago when Lois Lowry’s The Giver was published, there was no “dystopian rage.” Today, when The Hunger Games trilogy is taking today’s youth by storm and the movie is grossing a gross amount of money in the box office, I still stand by The Giver. Sure, I think The Hunger Games is an entertaining-enough read and broaches an interesting modern topic, but it doesn’t have the depth that The Giver does. But even while the novel has held its relevance since 1993, I can’t help but think that it isn’t reaping at least a smidge of the benefits from The Hunger Games’ success (there’s talk of a 2013 film starring Jeff Bridges). And to that I say … hooray!

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Arts Orbit

THEATER REVIEW | Mixed Blood's "Learn To Be Latina" asks many questions, offers few answers

By Lauren Van Schepen, TC Daily Planet

Aditi Kapil, Jamie Elvey, and Seth Tucker in Learn To Be Latina. Photo by Rich Ryan, courtesy Mixed Blood Theatre.

The satire and impropriety of Mixed Blood’s production of Learn To Be Latina are not for the faint of heart. The show is, however, for anyone ready to laugh and groan at the absurdity of race in media, and in American culture more generally. One moment a campy slapstick comedy, and the next a thoughtful commentary on individual identity and responsibility, Latina builds naturally on the themes raised in Mixed Blood’s season opener Neighbors, and delivers the audience an experience that is not merely entertaining, but truly challenging in its content.

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