Statewide civic-improv comedy tour looks to bridge divides in Minnesota communities
By Cathy Wurzer and Aleesa Kuznetsov
Published March 12, 2024 on MPR.org
The Minnesota Humanities Center is partnering with a local improv production company to host a civic-improv comedy tour.
In each city or town, Danger Boat Productions will produce a unique event that brings residents together for meaningful conversation about their hometown.
It encourages participants to reflect thoughts and feelings through improvisational comedy to promote dialogue, bridge divides and work across differences.
Applications are open through Friday for Minnesota communities to apply. Trygve Throntveit with the Minnesota Humanities Center and Tane Danger with Danger Boat Productions joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the Sketches of Minnesota tour.
CATHY WURZER: Perhaps you've heard of the Theater of Public Policy. It's a Twin Cities troupe that uses improv comedy to get people talking about big ideas and thorny public policy issues. Who knew laughing about tax increment financing could be so fun? Danger Boat Productions is behind that effort and a new one called The Sketches of Minnesota-- Civic Improv Comedy Tour. It's a partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. The goal, to promote dialogue, bridge divides, and work across differences.
If your community should be a stop on this tour, the sign-up deadline is Friday. Joining us right now with more is Tane Danger with Danger Boat Productions and Trygve Throntveit with the Minnesota Humanities Center. Trygve and Tane, welcome. How are you both?
TANE DANGER: Hello, thank you.
TRYGVE THRONTVEIT: I'm well, Cathy. Thanks very much. And many points for the pronunciation of my name.
CATHY WURZER: I'm trying hard here, Trygve.
TRYGVE THRONTVEIT: You did well.
CATHY WURZER: Tryg, I understand that I can call you Tryg. Is that right?
TRYGVE THRONTVEIT: Yes.
CATHY WURZER: OK. OK, thank you. Tell us about this project. How in the heck did you or Tane or both of you come to an agreement that this is a project that should be around the state of Minnesota?
TRYGVE THRONTVEIT: Yeah, thank you. Well, it's been our privilege to work with Tane on other projects with the Westminster Town Hall Forum and to get to know him in those capacities. And Tane shared with we want day over coffee that he had this dream of doing a tour around Minnesota, where a troupe listened to people having serious conversations and kind of played back what they heard and allowed people to laugh and bond over their shared and diverse stories about their community.
And that sounded like something that was right up the Humanities Center's alley. Our mission is to bring people together with high-quality humanities experiences, by which we just mean ways to tell and share stories about ourselves in the world. And we thought it would be fun to try doing that through humor. So we thought maybe the Humanities Center could bring its expertise and facilitating conversations that are serious and meaningful but depolarizing. And we could merge that with Tane and his friends' many talents. I am not an improv comedy artist. So we certainly needed to outsource that work. And that's how the idea came about.