(gentle music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(upbeat music) - Coming to you from Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town".

(upbeat music) So what is October without a little bit of fun and a little bit of horror.

The Rochester Repertory Theatre has just kicked off its production of "Evil Dead the Musical" and here to tell us all about the show is Annie Landkammer.

Welcome to "R-Town" Annie.

- Thank you for having me.

- So this production has notoriously been postponed a couple of times due to COVID, what did it feel like on opening night this past weekend when it finally opened?

- I think a little bit surreal, I wasn't fully sure we would even ever get here to this point so when it actually happened it felt really good to finally see this vision coming to life.

- Wonderful, so without any spoilers, can you tell us a little bit about what the show is about?

And the second part of my question is how have you and the actors put your own twist on this musical?

- So those were great questions.

So the play is based off of three pretty classic horror movies and it's kind of combined all into one film musical just to make it a joke.

It's a big giant parody of all horror films.

So you don't necessarily have to know the ones that is specifically written from to enjoy the humor of making fun of the classic horror jokes that happen.

So that has been a lot of fun, just makes rehearsals, makes us all laugh a lot with it.

If you're a Bruce Campbell fan, you would also very much appreciate the show in that genre.

The cast and I, I'm very much into putting my own spin on every production that I do so I really try to collaborate a lot with the cast and the crew in what their ideas are for how a line is said or a certain scene and different things like that and so that's really what we have done to make it our own while still doing our best to stay true to that genre.

- So how long is the show running?

- This show runs for about an hour and a half and there's a 15 minute intermission and it is October 14th to 17th this weekend.

- Fantastic, I guess most importantly, how can people still see the show and get tickets?

- Yes, the tickets would be on the Rochester Repertory Theater and the biggest thing to remember though that it is a Rochester Repertory Theatre production but it's actually being performed on the main stage at the Rochester Civic Theatre.

So there can easily be confusion on that but you do wanna go to the rochesterrep.com in order to purchase tickets or call the box office.

- So people should not call the Civic Theatre for tickets.

- Correct, correct.

- Good to know.

And part of the reason, correct me if I'm wrong, that it is at the theater is because The Rep is currently under construction.

- Yes, they are finishing up a very big remodel that will be displayed during their Christmas production.

So we're very excited to be able to see all of the hard work that our volunteers have done for the remodel.

- That's fantastic, I always love to ask this question of directors and folks that are working in theater, especially during this year that's been so difficult for so many productions to just get off the ground and for people to go and see shows, what has sort of the impact of the pandemic had on sort of the way that you do your sort of artistic work?

- Okay, how that has impacted us is we've really been creative with rehearsal space.

So thankfully at the Repertory Theatre they have an upstairs classroom that we can use and then they have the downstairs, the main stage that we could use and so we did our best to really split up rehearsal when somebody was working on choreography and then somebody else was working on music and so kind of just keeping distance.

And then even though we're not masked on stage during the production, we stayed masked throughout all of the rehearsals just to help.

Although it was a challenge because always in the back of your head you're thinking, "What if a cast member gets COVID, we'd have to cancel and how are we going to handle that?"

And so there there was a lot of insecurity throughout this production of what if's.

- Yes, the new normal and well, you're here and the show is open and people can go see it so thank you so much for coming on and sharing a little bit about this show and getting people excited to check it out.

- I do wanna say one last thing that I'm not sure how well it's advertised but it is more adult content and adult language so that is something for everybody to remember as they are coming to the show.

- Great to note.

Thanks a lot Annie.

(upbeat music) Be sure to stick around, we have much more coming your way on "R-Town".

We check in with Abe Sauer from Old Abe & Company and we sit down with Olmsted County Victim Services to discuss the county's proclamation around Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

But up first we head to Thrive 2020 Women's Conference in this week's R-Culture segment.

♪ Oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder ♪ ♪ Consider all the works thy hands have made ♪ - Bridging the Gap has been around for about 25 years and it is a women's organization for the state of Minnesota.

- It's cross-cultural, cross-denominational, and cross-generational and our mission is to encourage, equip, and empower every woman on her faith journey with Jesus Christ.

- [Carol] How do we do that?

We do it in many ways, obviously by hosting events like the Thrive Conference.

- We have a boutique store with a missional effort, net profits go towards missional and anti-human trafficking efforts.

We also offer online resources and then we have online communities through Facebook.

We also started a podcast and so that's another resource that we offer, it's called Eí^3.

We like to offer resources for leaders and we believe every woman is a leader in some way in her home, in her friend circles, in her church, in her workplace.

The Thrive Conference is one of the annual events of Bridging the Gap and it's our state women's conference for girls and women ages 12 and up.

- We're gonna be doing just some really eclectic things.

It's not your ordinary go to church, we're gonna do church but we're gonna have fun.

- [Kristen] The powerful worship services have a speaker sharing a message with the hope of Jesus Christ related to the theme, this year, the theme is "Greater".

We believe that God is greater than anything that any of us have experienced or could experience in a lifetime, specifically, even the last year and a half has been quite a year for so many people but God is greater than any of the circumstances that we have been through so we wanna celebrate together His greatness and the hope that we have in Him.

- You're gonna see women coming together, worshiping together, listening to an amazing speaker, they will be there just to do community and we'll see it over and over again.

♪ Everywhere I go say ♪ ♪ Everywhere I go ♪ - At the 2021 Thrive Conference, this weekend, we have speakers, Andi Andrew, Brittany Jones, Alex Seeley, and Havilah Cunnington.

The worship team is Emmanuel LIVE and they're from the Emmanuel Christian Center Church in Minneapolis.

- [Carol] We have Susie Larson and Amber Gerstmann coming in as emcees and they're both crazy and they're fun.

- Kaboom, welcome to Thrive.

- [Kristen] We're excited to be in the larger, beautiful Mayo Civic Center arena where there's more than double the space of the amount of ticket holders right now.

- [Carol] People can move around and we can sit up in the bleachers if we need to.

- One of the things we're excited about with the Thrive Conference is to invite people, to be part of the businesses in Rochester.

We wanna add value to the downtown community and Rochester as a whole and so we're encouraging people that check out all of the restaurants, shops, and great locations in downtown Rochester.

- It's all about a relationship with Jesus.

It's all about a relationship and we need to have relationships with other people and those relationships need to be healthy.

When I see women's lives changed because they've come to the Thrive Conference and not just changed for a moment, they have become a better mom or maybe a better grandparent or maybe a better wife, we actually can't wait to come back next year and we've got some amazing speakers that are coming next year.

- Come on for the next next 20 seconds give the Lord a big shout of praise in this place.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, @KSMQ #RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(gentle music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal your moderator for the "R-Town Spotlight" segment.

I'm super excited about this because we spotlight organizations, events, and businesses across Rochester to really focus in on what's up, what's happening, and to share something that is helpful to the community.

We'd like to think 125 LIVE for hosting and today we have Abe Sauer with Old Abe Coffee & Company, welcome.

- Hi, thank you.

- We're excited to have you.

You got a lot of really good yummy offerings, I've been there myself and I love it.

So first Abe share a little bit about Old Abe Coffee & Company, you know, kind of real quick, real quick and dirty, like how you got started and where you're at right now.

- Yeah, we got started basically just doing beverages, mostly coffee on like a Dutch cargo tricycle, essentially and we started at the farmer's market and then we were downtown for a few years after that and then in 2017, we acquired an old house and we turned it into a vegan cafe basically.

- Which is beautiful let's talk about that house.

You converted it and it has a beautiful color scheme, it's very vibrant.

Why was that the inspiration?

Why'd you go that direction?

- I mean, it's twofold.

One is I think it kinda fits the personality of the place and it fits the personality of what we do and myself and also we could afford it.

- (chuckles) Really good point.

- I mean, really that's a huge part of it.

Commercial real estate in Rochester is expensive and if you have a very good planned out business that you know is going to be popular or something like that and has a proven track record, it's not really a problem to move into a large commercial space or a long-term more expensive space.

You know we opened a vegan cafe which Rochester did not have at the time and- - Are you still the only one?

- We're still the only fully vegan cafe.

Places like Hot Chip do a really good job with offering a ton of vegan options on their menu and there's a lot of places like Forager and others that are really starting to beef up their vegan offerings so we are by no means the only place doing vegan food in town anymore.

People's Food Co-op, I mean, there's a wider selection all the time.

We're just the only fully vegan one that I'm aware of.

- And where can people find out more info about Old Abe & Company?

- Yeah you can just google us- - Google us, google it.

Honestly, it's gonna be the easiest way.

You know, we're on Old Abe & Company on Instagram.

We try to post everyday there and do some fun stuff, it's not always just stuff about our food, stuff about Rochester.

And then Facebook, obviously, we're there too.

We do have a website it's kind of more oldabecoffee.com, it's more informational and it just gives you hours and things like that but on all the platforms like Facebook and Instagram we're there and you can find our kind of connection and our phone number and how to order online and delivery or whatever, yeah.

- Perfect, thank you Abe and just to plug real quick, he does have a cart, especially over the summer season and you can find out more about those details especially if you want it at your event.

Thank you so much for being on the show Abe.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Thanks for tuning in to "R-Town Spotlight".

This is Danielle Teal, your moderator for KSMQ public television.

Huge thanks to 125 Live for hosting and Annie Krenik, she is our producer, so grateful for her and all her work with the segment.

You can catch up with us on Facebook or Twitter @KSMQ #RTown.

(upbeat music) - Hello Rochester this is Michael Wojick with your "R-Town Rundown".

If there's one thing we folks in Rochester love, it's our Ear of Corn Water Tower.

Don't know where all that passion comes from but we have a lot of it and wouldn't you know, we are in a competition right now and voting is ongoing for the Tank of the Year.

We are currently sitting in first place and you can check out the competition and cast your vote at the link below.

I one time made the mistake of calling it a corncob water tower in a room full of people and I was corrected at least 10 times and I'm not sure some of those folks ever forgave me.

So get out there and support a little piece of Rochester history.

Going on this weekend, you can catch "Evil Dead the Musical" at Rochester Civic Theater.

We talked about that a little bit previously, a great show for the season.

Encourage you to get out and support local arts.

In addition to that, you can check out the Olmsted County History Center website and see their Creepy Doll Competition and go and visit them in person as well.

And on October 23rd, at 6:00 p.m., they will be having their Creepy Doll Cocktail Party at the Castle Community downtown, another fun opportunity to get out and celebrate the season.

This Wednesday and every Wednesday coming up through December 15th, the Rochester Art Center has Wednesdays After Work.

What time?

Well happens to be on Wednesdays and it happens to be after work as a name suggests and this is an opportunity to just go up and as an amateur like myself, try out different forms of arts.

The event it's $10 for non-members, it's free for members, and it's also free for anyone up to 21.

So if you're interested in trying out some different forms of art, this might be a great opportunity for you to get out and do a little bit of socializing.

And lastly, the Dive Bar Saints will be playing at Mayo Civic Center next Tuesday.

It's a band that has Southern harmonies and they do a great live show as well.

That's just a little bit of what's going on in Rochester, I'll catch you next time.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with "R-Town Walkabout".

Excited because we are talking with our guest remote and it's a fun new hotspot in downtown Rochester.

Today we have Paige Jehnke, owner of Janky Gear.

- I grew up here in Rochester and I moved away for about 10 years.

I lived out west.

I did trips for months at a time in Mexico backpacking.

I worked as a chairlift attendant at a ski resort and I was a sea kayak guide in Alaska.

So I jumped all over the place and I always had a need for gear and something was always calling me back to Rochester.

I decided to open up a consignment outdoor gear shop.

- During the pandemic one of the things that was a silver lining was that people were getting outside.

- Rochester's looking to be outside.

So people are gearing up for winter and also there's people are buying tents still.

So we have a bunch of clothing.

Everyone needs boots- - Absolutely.

- [Paige] We have snow pants and jackets.

We also have hats.

- Is that a fishing vest, I'm gonna have to swing by.

- [Paige] Yeah, we have a couple of fishing vests here.

We have three inflatable paddle boards.

We also have some very large kayaks, they're angler kayaks.

- [Danielle] The skis are out- - [Paige] Yes and we're getting more snowboards, snow shoes, downhill and cross-country skis.

- What has been the reaction?

- [Paige] Everyone comes in and they say, "What a great idea."

I've lived in Portland, Oregon, for a little bit and you can buy everything secondhand and I really wanted it to feel like boutique, kind of like cool thrift store.

- Paige, thank you so much for being on the show.

- Yeah, thanks for having me.

- And this is Danielle Teal with "R-Town Walkabout".

I plan to check out the outdoor hiking swag at Janky Gear very soon.

(gentle upbeat music) - On October 5th the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners voiced it's support for Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a proclamation that called on all citizens to increase awareness and understanding of domestic violence.

The county signed this proclamation a few short days after the murder of Keona Foote, her unborn child and her two year old daughter, Miyona.

And I wanna say their names here today because they represent community members, neighbors, real people, and families that are deeply impacted by domestic violence in our city every year.

Today to talk to us about domestic violence awareness in the community is Victim Services Program Manager, Laura Sutherland.

Welcome to the show, Laura.

- Thank you, appreciate your coverage of this important issue.

- Definitely, we know, or at least I know, I'm not sure if everyone knows that the pandemic has really exacerbated the domestic violence issues in our country and in our community exponentially.

Can you talk about what are some of the factors that have led to this increase?

- Yes, so one of the things I guess I'd like to point out first is that the increase in domestic violence in our community here in Rochester and Olmsted County is not just tied to the pandemic and I think that's an important thing for listeners to understand.

Since we keep track of our numbers, of course, every year for grant purposes and other purposes and since 2015, over a five-year trajectory to 2020, we've seen over 500% increase in our request for services related to supporting victims of domestic violence.

So while the pandemic certainly has exacerbated DV, this is really a disturbing trend we've seen for a long time.

And one other thing that I would point out is that the trend that we've seen in Rochester and Olmsted County is also mirrored at the state level.

We have a Minnesota state organization called Violence Free Minnesota and since 1989, they have been keeping track of the homicides in our state directly connected to domestic violence, intimate partner violence.

And again, since 1989, we're actually seeing those numbers increase not decrease.

In 2020, there were 30 homicides related to intimate partner violence and I think in 1989, it was less than 20.

- Laura, can you define what domestic violence is and the type of domestic violence cases that you're kind of dealing with as a county in the community?

- Sure, I think a generally accepted definition of domestic violence is a pattern of power and control from one partner towards another and there's many components to that pattern of control, the most severe, obviously, being physical or sexual violence or the absolute worst, death.

But it also contains a lot of other components, domestic violence, which includes emotional abuse where people are subjected to regular putdowns, threats such as displays of weapons or punching a wall, isolation of the victim from family and friends.

So it's much more than just the actual physical abuse.

So that's how I would respond to the question of what is domestic abuse.

I'm sorry, what was your second?

- Oh, no that's it and I think people might have sort of a vision of what it is and it's usually is about physical domestic violence and so it's good to also get some clarity around what sort of the range of what that looks like and what abuse looks like within that context.

- In terms of the cases that our office is involved with, we partner in Olmsted County with the Women's Shelter who provides housing and services to domestic violence victims, as well as the Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association, which particularly provides support to victims from our refugee and immigrant communities.

But in our county Victim Service office, we have typically provided services for those very egregious cases such as the one you mentioned earlier in this broadcast, Keona Foote, that our office is involved in supporting her family.

She was the victim of a homicide as well as her two year old daughter and her unborn child.

So the cases that we are involved in tend to be ones with a very very high level of violence.

- And in terms of the community resources that exist in the county, can you talk a little bit about some of the services that you're providing to these victims?

- Yes, in the cases that our office is involved in, we are very involved in providing that victim or the victim's family support from the time of the abuse all the way through perhaps getting a medical exam at Saint Marys or making a report to law enforcement and then supporting the victim throughout the trial process and even post-conviction.

And part of that support involves connection to therapeutic resources, as well as emergency funds and whatever referrals might be needed to support that victim.

- What you're underlining here too, is the importance of that sort of community partnership to address these issues in these cases.

- I'll just go through a couple of resources that might be helpful for viewers to know about even if it goes up on the Facebook page.

The shelter offers a weekly domestic violence support group that they provide transportation to and provide childcare for, it's topic based, and that's open to all community members, not just folks staying in the shelter and that's a really valuable support group for folks who are considering leaving domestic violence.

There's also a couple of websites that are particularly helpful.

I think one is called love is respect where people can go on and take quizzes to try and ascertain how healthy or unhealthy their relationship is.

There's the National Domestic Violence Hotline, as well as the hotline phone numbers for our program in the shelters so.

- Thank you so much Laura for spending some time with us here today and to tell us a little bit more about domestic violence awareness and thank you for the work that you do in the community.

- You're welcome.

- Thank you for joining us today.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and on Twitter @#RTown.

Be well and stay safe.

We will see you next time on "R-Town", the show about Rochester.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.