Audition!
We are holding an Audition for Border Crossing on January 5th at the Lake Street Cultural Center, 1516 East Lake St, 3rd Floor. 10am to 1pm. Participants must be there the entire 3 hours. To Register contact Off-Leash Area at 612-724-7372 or offleash@offleasharea.org - headshots not required. We are looking for 10 dancers (modern background, ability to project vocally and perform theatrically), and 10 physical theatre actors (strong physical ability, strong vocal creativity, and mask & puppetry skills a plus). For more on Border Crossing visit the Upcoming Shows page.

Workshop at Marcy Open School
OLA will conduct a multidiciplinary workshop at Marcy Open School this January, at which 3rd and 4th graders will explore their creativity through OLA's highly creative working process combining dance, theatre, and puppetry, coinciding with the creation of Border Crossing, our Spring show. These students will also have a chance to audition to be a performer in Border Crossing. The OLA Artistic Directors have a combined 25 years experience teaching from secondary school age to college students. Bring OLA to your school!

Mask and Movement Theatre Class at Macalester College
Co-Artistic Director Paul Herwig will teach a Mask and Movement Theatre class at Macalester College for the spring semester. After having taught hundreds of workshops while on tours during the eighties, Paul is especially excited to work more deeply with a small group of students. Paul's making a lot of new masks for the class, and using many from past OLA productions. Look for more workshops offered by Off-Leash Area in the near future!

Cultural Collaborations Grant from the MN State Arts Board
Marcie Rendon, Anishinaabe playwright and poet, is a recipient of this year's round of Cultural Collaborations Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She received the grant to write the text and assist in the development of Border Crossing. Marcie wrote the text for Predator/Prey, and assisted us in creating the text for Maggie's Brain. She also joined the OLA Artistic Directors for their recent trip to the Arizona/Mexico for Border Crossing to research life on the border. Congratulations Marcie!

OLA in Residence at Macalester College in Spring 2009
The Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department has invited OLA Artistic Directors, Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig, to direct the spring semester production, Our Town. OLA has been offered free reign to unleash themselves on this tried and true American play and will involve both the Dance and Theatre departments. Expect...well, expect anything is going to happen!!! Off-Leash Area is very excited and interested in bringing their interdisciplinary and highly creative process into the university setting. Contact Off-Leash Area to work with students at your institution.