- [Narrator 1] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(lively music) - [Narrator 2] Coming up on the next "Off 90", we travel to Mankato to visit the newly renovated Vision Studios.

Then we head to Rochester Art Center to view area students' artworks.

And finally, we travel to Austin and learn about the Matchbox Theatre.

(lively music continues) It's all just ahead on the next "Off 90."

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (lively music) (tranquil music) - Vision Studios is a multimedia creators' facility.

We are home to Electric Prairie Recordings, which is the recording studio in which we're currently sitting.

The sanctuary on the main floor of the building.

we've called it The Ivy, and it's going to become a small, intimate event space, and we're very excited to begin integrating into the community.

So the history of the building is a little scattered, but what we've discovered through the Blue Earth County Historical Society here in town is that the church was built in 1871 as the First Congregational Church with an addition coming some amount of years later, around 1910.

And then, you know, the church functioned as a church through, I believe, until the '60s.

1997, if my dates are correct, when Wes and Kristi Schuck bought the church and renovated the studio into what became Two Fish Studios, which operated as a fully functioning, you know, commercial recording studio from the late '90s until 2015 when Wes sadly passed away.

I had been working at Scheitel's Music for about a decade when I walked into the shop one day and Rod's on the phone, he's on the phone in the back of the room and I overhear him say, "You bought the building, you bought the old Two Fish building.

You wanna make it a studio again?"

And my ears just perked right up.

And after the phone, I walked in and said, "Who are you talking to?"

And he said, "Someone named Jason bought the old "Two Fish building."

And I said, "Can I have his phone number?"

And so I called Jason and I, you know, talked to him for a little bit and we worked out a meeting.

I met him the following week here at the studio.

And one of my first questions was, you know, "Why did you buy this building?

What are you thinking?"

And he said, "But I've just had this idea for a while now to, you know, purchase an old church and renovate it into kind of a multimedia creators space."

And I said, "Well, can I help?"

(Colin chuckling) And yeah, long story short, but that's kind of how we ended up here.

Our renovations though began with addressing the mold that was all over the basement.

And we dug in a mold mitigation system because from what I've gathered, talking with people who have been here over the years, it was pretty bad.

One of the really cool things that we did, you know, with our renovations is we wanted to be able to record from anywhere in the building.

And so we devised a way to run audio lines through the walls.

So we have all these terminals in the sanctuary and in the second story loft.

And we just plug in some cables down here in the control room, and then all of a sudden, we can record the grand piano, we can record intimate performances in the loft.

And we have, you know, been doing this for the past couple of months.

One thing that's really incredible is the sort of natural ambience of the sanctuary space.

It's one of the most beautiful room reverbs I've ever heard.

And so it's been really, really sort of magical to take advantage of the entire building.

So much history at this building.

And we've been touring, showing off the building.

And one man in particular was like, "I think I'm about to start crying.

I just feel so happy.

Wes", you know, he sort of looks up, he's like, "Wes has gotta be just beaming wherever he is."

And it just makes me feel really good to know that we've resurrected a community institution.

♪ Laying wide awake ♪ ♪ Facing myself for morning light ♪ ♪ Stranded out at sea ♪ ♪ Where there is no place good to hide ♪ ♪ Carrying the weight of everything ♪ - My first impression seeing Vision Studios was kind of a feeling of disbelief and awe to be honest.

To see the, like, incredible amount of work that went into rehabilitating the building and kind of making it into what it is now, the totality of it was really shocking.

The drum room, the vocal booth, the whole space in here, the kitchen.

Like, what studio has a kitchen?

That was really wild.

And then, of course, like all the work that they're doing in the upstairs to kinda get it ready for events and things up there, it's in and of itself just an overwhelming thing to behold.

- The Ivy is a beautiful spot for one.

It is classic, it's unique.

It has the charm of like that old feel building, but a little bit more modernized with some of the beams and lighting.

We also don't have any private small event spaces in this town.

We have nothing for small intimate groupings for under 100 people, unless you wanted to go to a restaurant per se.

But we wanted to have like a nice open space that is a little bit more unique, has a little bit of charm, some class, some character.

- I don't know how much longer the building would have remained a building had Jason not purchased it, you know?

And it's like it took a really unique person to invest what has been invested into it, to turn it into the space that is set up to become a really fun, really like inspiring asset to our community.

You give people hope, you give people joy, you give people things to do with their time, and you give inspiration.

Not only do I have a job, "Oh, what if I went down and recorded a song," and suddenly like, my life is just a little bit better.

You know, it's right here on the corner of the edge of Lincoln Park neighborhood.

We're a five-minute walk from all the downtown cafes, restaurants.

If you wanna go get a quick bite to eat, you can just strut out the door, be back in 20.

It's a really, you know, cozy and comfortable and dynamic environment where artists have been able to just feel at home.

- When I come in here, I think it's a sense of... It's very inspiring.

Again, keeping in mind like the history and all of the music that has come out of this space to know that Mankato has a space like this for us musicians to access and to be able to work with such talented people involved in this.

You know, this would be a great place for anyone to come and record.

(lively music) (upbeat music) (tranquil music) (tranquil music continues) - Today we're celebrating the Southeast Minnesota High School Art Show.

We've been doing this for many years, volunteer organized, and we continue to do this with schools throughout the area.

Goodhue, Lourdes, Byron, Kasson-Mantorville, all these school districts outside of Rochester, and some private schools are participating and showing artwork by students in high school.

Really wonderful opportunity for them to be able to show their work in a professional setting, and then experience the museum, and all of the other art that happens here.

- I got connected to this event through my art teacher.

So I was in a 3D art class, and we were creating busts, and she recommended that I could put my bust into this art show if I'd like to.

And I thought that sounded like a really cool opportunity.

It was a lot of trial and error and just like, I used lots of different reference photos of like people and multiple different, like mythical creatures, like goblins and stuff.

I like had like basically the entire face sculpted, and then I wasn't happy with where it was, so I decided to just like restart the entire face.

I kept working on it until I was happy with where it was.

- The families come in, and they can appreciate the art with their students, and see the students glowing, just kind of, you know, recognizing that their work is important, and that they're doing something valuable.

(upbeat music) - I do a lot of traditional pencil art.

I love animals, so I'll draw a lot of like cats and dogs mostly.

This year's just my mandala.

(tranquil music) This one is mine.

Mandala's like, it's like this circle piece and like, it's symmetrical, so there'll be like different segments, but they're all the same.

And so like, it goes around, and you will find them a lot in like churches and places like that.

(tranquil music continues) So I kind of just started with like the middle, and I'm pretty sure I cut it like this way.

So every line I would do like a triangle here and like every other I would just keep going.

And like, honestly, it was kind of just all made up.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, as long as it was symmetrical.

And the middle is like, kind of like your starting point, so you know how to build off of it.

I got mad at this a lot.

I got really frustrated with these outside parts specifically, like these ones 'cause they weren't going how I wanted it to.

Sometimes you just have to take a break 'cause if you're like upset while doing something, you're gonna criticize it a lot more.

And like if you like take a minute, and then come back to it later, you're able to like notice more things, and how to work around it.

Eventually I did get it.

A lot of this was honestly improvised.

- I've been an art teacher for 12 years at Goodhue School District, elementary, middle school, and high school.

Well, what I like doing, you know, kids are always so flattered when you're like, "You did such an amazing job on this piece.

I would love to have it in this Rochester Art Show where all these other high schools, they're gonna have some of their best artwork on display and I'd love to put yours with it."

And they're usually... I don't know if I've ever had a kid say no.

So just approach 'em.

And they're pretty excited.

- I've always really liked art classes and so like, I always like take art classes.

And my teacher comes up to me one day and she's like, "Do you wanna be in an art show?"

And I'm like, "Yeah, that'd be really cool."

- It's so important for our kids to be able to have their artwork outside of our building.

They come and they're like, "Oh my goodness, there's professional artists here.

Like, my artwork is in the same building as this."

And then seeing what other students are doing, like, "Oh, my stuff is on the same level as these other, you know, high schools that are exhibiting here."

So sometimes they'll be like, "Okay, I want something that's happened in their life."

Like they're processing something or they're like, "Oh, I really wanna like show this."

And then they're talking about these specific like aspects that they wanna show.

And just like them thinking about themselves, you know, self-reflection, sometimes they have to do that in school, but a lot of times, you know, it's memorization, it's, you know, give me these facts, and just like being able to think about their own life and how they're like processing everything too.

That's one of the big parts about visual art.

- I don't plan on going into a career like related to art, but I definitely plan to continue creating at home, like the rest of my life.

I like creating art because it's just like a wonderful way to express like emotion or just like imagination, different ideas, and just a really fun way to just spend your time and just like have a calm moment to just have fun.

So I've had my art on display other places, but this is definitely like the biggest event I've had it on display at.

So it's really cool that there's so many different people that are coming here to see it and comment on it.

I definitely love when people get to see my art and getting to know like their feedback on it, what they think about it, how it makes them feel.

It's all really nice to hear that.

- The students always tend to kind of like guide their family toward their artwork.

And sometimes the student is like, you know, very exuberant.

Like, "Oh my gosh, there it is."

And then the parents or the grandparents of their family, they get this kind of aha moment when they see their student's work because they're seeing it for the first time.

(tranquil music) A lot of really great work.

There's a range.

And, of course, you know, in high school, you're developing, you're growing.

But the other thing that I love about student art is that you don't see the inhibitions that you see in artists who have gone on to get their master's.

And so I really love kind of the raw talent, all of the things that the students are expressing.

And they bring out some really good skill as well.

(tranquil music continues) (tranquil music continues) (lively music) (happy music) - Okay, on our agenda for tonight is to block the act three sword fight.

So I will need those people on stage first so we can get that part done.

The rest of you hang out, review your lines quietly.

- I'm Joshua Whalen, the Executive Director of Matchbox Children's Theatre.

Matchbox Children's Theatre has been around for over 50 years.

It came about when two employees of Parks & Rec at the time, Janet Anderson and Bill Libby, had an idea to put on a puppet theater for children.

And that started and was very successful for the first year, but quickly grew into something else.

It became a full-blown children's theater.

So one of the first things that happened was Frank W. Bridges at Riverland invited Matchbox to share their stage.

And in over the 50-year history, there've been a season every year.

And it went from Frank W. Bridges, and then they went ahead and helped spearhead a project to get the historic Paramount Theatre back.

And spent a number of years on the Paramount stage doing productions.

And currently, we find our home here in the basement of First United Methodist Church where this stage that I'm sitting on is where we still host productions to this day.

Matchbox is important to Austin because for those of you that know Austin, this is a very unique town that is filled with so many creative people, musicians and actors.

And we have a vibrant history of performing arts.

And Matchbox Children's Theatre is where we can get people in at a young age and get them involved where they can get experience.

And a lot of the children that end up starting here carry on and do theater throughout, you know, middle school, high school, and eventually end up on Riverland's Theatre stage.

And a lot of those people continue to do it as adults.

And so it's an important place to bring young people in and allow them to be creative and to get those experiences.

- I'm Carter Peterson.

I'm an actor with Matchbox.

I am Duke Orsino in our current play, Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night."

I've been acting with Matchbox since I was in sixth grade, I believe, so about four years, three or four years.

I've been acting for longer than that though, probably five years I'd say.

Definitely with theater I feel like is the opportunity to play out the more imaginative side of things.

And I mean, you're given a script.

Getting to dress up and read off a script and learn these lines, you become one with the character, you know?

And it's really fun because there's this family dynamic and it just is a really fun experience.

And, you know, show night, the first show night, it's always scary, but after that, it's just like, you know, this is fun and I love doing this.

- So my history with Matchbox Children's Theatre, I did do a production many years ago, this must have been 15, 16 years ago.

And we did "The Magic Flounder."

And what was neat about that is it was the first time that that play had ever been done.

So Matchbox teamed up with this writer and was able to put on that play.

So I go back quite aways with Matchbox, but I have done a lot of theater at Riverland Theatre.

I met my wife there doing theater, and I have a long history.

Theater's something that I've loved my entire life and I've been a part of.

And periodically I would pop in and help out at Matchbox or teach classes or act in performances.

And I've enjoyed that over the years.

- There's definitely a very strong family aspect when it comes to everything, like a lot of people that I'm friends with, I've met through these plays, and a lot of them I knew before these plays, and it just made us closer, you know?

Because you spend so much time with these people, on interacting with these people on the play, you just get to know them and their character very well.

And it's just really good to be able to... It brings you the opportunity to just get closer with people and interact with other people, which is really nice.

I think the youngest kid I've seen here was probably like six years old, six or maybe seven, but pretty young, you know?

I mean, I was in sixth grade when I first came here and now I'm in ninth, you know?

And the fun never changes even as you get older.

I mean, I've seen fully grown men here before, beards and everything.

And it's still nice to see a group of family, even though there's such large age ranges, you know?

But there's always a sense of belonging no matter how old you are.

- My daughter is not involved with theater, which is something that I really hope to change.

She's got a lot of stage fright.

But as I've told her, there are many parts of theater that don't happen on this stage.

There's a lot that goes into crew and behind the stage.

There's a lot involved.

But I think I'll get her converted eventually.

She's gotta get bitten by the bug first.

So our season looks like two shows.

We have one in the winter and one in the spring.

We do do camps in the summer.

But one thing I would love to do is add an additional show to the season so that we have three shows a season.

The Halloween Warm-Up is a tradition that goes back, I believe, 30-something years that we've been doing that.

And that's a collaboration with the Hormel Nature Center.

And so the Matchbox involvement is we get all of our really great young actors and we put on a walkthrough play.

And it's very cool, very spooky.

You know, it's that time of the year.

And when the lights go out, people go through a tour in their stations where a little section will be acted, and you go through, and it ends up being this whole story through the Nature Center.

It's fantastic, and it's been a huge success.

We sell out every year.

If you don't get your tickets before, you don't get 'em at the door.

I know that because I've missed myself going and the tickets sell.

And so it's such a fun, fun thing to do.

So the theater is funded in a large part by the community through fundraising efforts and ticket sales.

The theater is also funded by grants.

And so we've been very fortunate to receive many arts grants from the state of Minnesota itself.

Four years ago, Jen Weibrand, a longtime Matchbox Theatre actress and supporter and teacher, and many things, four years ago created the Second Act Thrift Shop here in Austin, Minnesota.

And that has been a huge revenue generator for Matchbox's mission.

And through that we've also been able to help the community with affordable goods and affordable furniture and clothing.

So that is a wonderful way to support the community and Matchbox.

So I'm very new to my executive director role.

I've only been here two months.

Coming into Matchbox has been quite an adventure, and it's something I thought long and hard about before applying because it is something that has been important in this community for a long time, over five decades.

But it's something that I believe in and something that I'm very passionate about, and I decided to apply and go for it, and was offered the job, which I'm very grateful for.

It's been a fun experience transitioning into this role.

And I see so much potential for Matchbox and so many lovely people that are here to support it.

And I'm just very excited to do some work here.

- I definitely look forward to doing other plays here for Matchbox or potentially the high school in Somerset.

But, you know, Matchbox is my home place and it always has been, and I've always felt comfortable here.

You know, the people here are really great.

It's always a really great experience every time that you come here 'cause you know that they care and you know that they're really good people.

- And you just see him.

(children chuckling) I (indistinct) him four.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (lively music) - [Narrator 1] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

- Plague on it.

Let him let the matter slip, and I'll give him my horse, gray Capilet.

- [Director] Either use both hands or use your upstage hand because you're turning your back to the audience.

- I'll make the motion.

Stand here, make a good show on it.

This shall end without the perdition of souls.

- I have his horse to take up the quarrel.

I have persuaded him the youth's a devil, Sir.

- He is as horribly conceited of him, and pants and looks pale, as if a bear were at his heels.

- There's no remedy, sir; he will fight, he will fight with you for his oath sake.

He protests he will not hurt you.

- Pray God defend me!

- Here (indistinct) to shake him.

- [Director] "Give ground, if you see him furious."

Don't say that line until you shake hands with me.

- Okay.

- Come, Sir Andrew, there's no remedy.

The gentleman will, for his honor's sake, have one bout with you.

But he has promised me, as he is a gentleman and soldier, he will not hurt you.

Come on.

- Pray God, he keep his oath!

(indistinct cross-talking) - Go.

(swords clanging) (actors grunting) (swords clanging) - [Director] Everybody, lose their swords.

(swords clattering) (footsteps pounding) (indistinct) (children laughing) (children grunting) (swords clanging) - [Director] And then big breakaway.

Yep, and then Antonio.

- Put up your sword.

If you offend this young gentleman, I-- - [Director] Now Antonio rushes in and we get your line.

And you are pointed directly at Max.

Yep.

Broad like that.

Yes.

- Put up your sword.

If you offend this young gentleman, I for him defy you.

- [Director] Max, your sword needs to be in the other hand because Toby's gonna take it from you.

Yes.

- Nay, if you be an undertaker, I am for you.

- [Director] Yes, so now you two have just a little back and forth like that.

Yep.

(sword clanging) And just be very careful with that sword because then Aubrey, you're gonna notice the officer coming.

Yep.

And then say your line.

- O good Sir Toby, hold!

Here comes an officers.

- [Director] Yes, and then we all freeze and we hide our swords.

And you, honestly, if we can have you like stick it in the bush.

(actor laughing) Kind of, yeah.

- Mine's very hidden.

- [Director] Or like just kind of hide it or discard, yes.

You're like trying... Yeah.

(sword clattering) - That was not what I was gonna do.

- I don't have a sword.

- I'll just become blind.

- [Director] Yes, exactly, yes.

So then, wait, wait.