The Guthrie shows its face,
a place where Shakespeare plays
on theater stages,
in big drama displays.
Where its unique hallways
provide artistic room
for actor's words to flow,
and eloquently loom.
The architects have shaped
a place with its own style,
with aspects that engage
the patrons for a while.
The Guthrie shows its face
in Minneapolis,
revealing civic charm
in this Metropolis.
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Author Notes
The Guthrie Theater is located in downtown Minneapolis. It is a building of unique archetecture that houses several theater companies. Our daughter, Jodette, gave my wife and I tickets to see a play last spring as a combination Mother's Day/Farther's Day gift. It is quite an eclectic building the overlooks St. Anthony falls and the Mississippi River. That long overhang is a ramp that juts out to give patrons a lovely view of the area, complete with benched patio area. Those yellow windows above are in another viewing area for visitors. That long tower at the top, is actually a digital billboard, where the letters climb up it, to declare the main attraction. There may be as many as 4 plays going on in one of its many theater rooms.
According to Wikipedia, the Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in an atmosphere removed from the commercial pressures of Broadway. In 1959, Sir Tyrone Guthrie published a small invitation in the drama page of The New York Times soliciting communities' interest and involvement in a resident theater. Out of the seven cities that responded, the Twin Cities showed not only interest but also eagerness for the project, teaming with the University of Minnesota. This is the second building to house the theater company. The first theater was completed in 1963 in time for the May 7 opening of Hamlet. In 2006, the Guthrie finished construction of a new $125 million theater building. The design is the work of Jean Nouvel, and is a 285,000 square foot facility that houses three primary theaters: the theater's signature thrust stage, seating 1,100, a 700-seat proscenium stage, and a black-box studio with flexible seating. It also has a 178-foot cantilevered bridge (called the "Endless Bridge") to the Mississippi which is open to visitors during normal building hours. The outside of the building's walls are covered in large panels which display a large mural of photographs from past plays visible clearly at night.
This poem is an Ampeletum.
I was introduced to it by fellow FanStorian tfawcus.
The Ampeletum was created several years ago by FanStorian JeJo. The name is derived from "ampel-" denoting vines and "-etum" meaning a grove or garden (as in Arboretum). Thus, the name signifies the way rhymes keep twisting around, coming back to life.
It consists of four stanzas with a rhyme scheme of:
Abcb, bded, fgcg, Aehe where capital A is an exact repeated line.
There are just six syllables per line and any meter can be used.
This photograph was taken by the author himself, on a recent walk nearby it, on February 20, 2016.
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