 | Live Comedy Takes The Stage Jun 28, 2010 Plenty of laughs are on tap as Pepitos Parkway Theater Launches live Standup comedy. National and all star locals are becoming a regular late night attraction at the Parkway. Advance tickets available on Brown Paper Tickets. Com |
 | World Cup Schedule Jun 28, 2010 Pepitos Parkway Theater
48th and Chicago, South Mpls.
Schedule
Friday July, 2nd
Netherlands vs. Brazil - 9 am Uruguay vs. Ghana - 1:30 pm
Saturday July, 3rd
Argentina vs. Germany - 9 am w55 vs w56
Tuesday July, 6th
w58 vs. w57 - 1:30 pm
Wednesday July, 7th
w59 vs. w60 - 1:30 pm
Saturday July, 10th
L61 vs. L62 - 1:30 pm
Sunday July, 11th
Title Match - 1:30 pm
Doors open 30 minutes prior |
 | Second act at the Parkway Theater Dec 4, 2008 By GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune
The people kept streaming into the Parkway Theater that hot September night, jamming the lobby so tight you couldn't move. They were waiting to watch comedian Lizz Winstead's "Wake Up World," a satire of morning TV with a political eye toward the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. On the mezzanine balcony above the lobby, Joe Minjares introduced himself as the Parkway owner and assured the restive crowd that the doors would open soon.
Several weeks later, Minjares recalled that surreal evening.
"I remember thinking, 'This isn't happening,' " Minjares said over lunch at his family restaurant, Pepitos. "And it hit me, maybe I should be thinking bigger."
Minjares bought the Parkway in the summer of 2007 from Bill Irvine, who had poured his soul into the place since 1972. It made sense. Pepitos butted right up against the Parkway, and Minjares could use the auditorium to continue showing films and bring in live local entertainment to extend the renaissance of 48th and Chicago in south Minneapolis. But the throngs that sold out three nights of Winstead's show put Minjares in a more expansive frame of mind.
"We want to do things for this neighborhood," he said, "but we are a national venue."
If big-name comics or small-time music acts come through Minneapolis, Minjares will make a pitch to put them into the 400-seat theater. For example, this weekend (including noon today), Mixed Blood Theatre has put in its production of "The Deaf Duckling," a short piece in both English and American Sign Language.
The 1930 art-deco movie house had been on the block for years, but Minjares got serious when rumors of a retail replacement festered. He put second mortgages on his properties, picked up a $10,000 grant from the Neighborhood Revitalization Program to fix the leaky roof and let loose the raw, creative energy of students from Minneapolis College of Art and Design on refashioning the interior. He ripped out the first few rows of seats in front of the newly constructed small stage. In place of fixed chairs, Minjares put in sofas and love seats.
What will it be?
The possibility for interaction with Pepitos is obvious. With a bar and restaurant next door, the Parkway has built-in food service -- not unlike the Bryant-Lake Bowl on Lake Street. But Minjares has limits for the synergy between Pepitos and the Parkway.
"I didn't want a nightclub and I didn't want a dinner theater," he said. "I wanted film, acting, comedy, my plays and music." Minjares has acted and written for the stage ("Last of the Kosher Grocers"), as well as pursued a stand-up career.
The Parkway's first brush with a national profile occurred in September 2007 with a poetry reading by singer Ani DiFranco, sponsored by nearby Amazon Bookstore.
Winstead wanted to be in the Twin Cities during the RNC, and it was natural for her to hook up with Minjares, a chum since their comedy-club days. The show, with its musical hootenanny, rated a visit by New York Times writer David Carr, who was blogging during the convention.
Comic and writer Joel Hodgson of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame, another old friend, has talked about doing something at the Parkway, as have Trace Beaulieu and political satirist Will Durst.
"It's a playground," Minjares said. "I want people to come out and play with me."
Or fight. He would even entertain the idea of clearing out enough room for a boxing ring to host the kind of retro, black-tie event that prizefighting used to be.
For the time being, film will continue to occupy 60 percent of the Parkway's time. Minjares is getting closer to nailing down first-run films (recently the Coen brothers' "Burn After Reading") and classics ("Hud"). He's also trying to balance time for local filmmakers, working up a film-noir series and figuring out how to co-produce with local theater groups. Some of his lofty early goals have given way to the reality that it costs $600 every day to turn the key and open.
"I'm not in this to compete with the big chains," Minjares said. "I want people to say, 'It's a cool place to go.' You're coming to our house when you come to the restaurant or the theater. We take it personally."
Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299
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Regular Admission $5
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Aug 14, 2010
9PM Doors open at 8:30
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