Art Hounds: Shakespeare in Grand Marais, the Jayhawks in Aitkin and dance by the lake

## 'As You Like It’ puts Shakespeare to music in Grand Marais Scotty Reynolds, producing artistic director of Mixed Precipitation, is shining a light on the Grand Marais Playhouse. The theater is staging a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It" this summer. Music and lyrics are by Shaina Taub, the creator of the Broadway musical “Suffs.” This local production opens Thursday and runs through Aug. 9 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. This is Artistic and Technical Director Sue Hennessy’s final summer production before she retires in spring 2027. She has two more community plays planned for this fall and spring. **Reynolds says:** “’As You Like It’ is one of Shakespeare's fantastical rom-coms, which has lots of fun frolicking and gender bending happening in the forest of Arden. The way \[Taub] sets it to music using a multi-generational cast is just really special, fun, magical; it makes you laugh and cry, kind of within 20 seconds, with its sweetness and earnestness.” ## The Jayhawks headline Nature Rocks in Aitkin Stephanie Mollet loves the arts and music scene of her hometown of Aitken, Minn., where she is the executive director at the Aitken Area Chamber of Commerce. She recommends the annual Nature Rocks concert put on by the Long Lake Conservation Center. The Jayhawks are headlining this year’s fifth annual event. It’s the Minnesota band’s only concert in its home state this summer. Martin Zellar & the Hardways open, though the whole event kicks off with a special performance by kids from Long Lake’s camp, who have been learning about live music this week. The concert, a fundraiser for scholarships at the Long Lake Conservation Center, takes place July 18 at the Aitken County Fairgrounds. Attendees should show up early to grab a picnic table or bring your own chair and shade umbrella. Mollet says to arrive by 5:45 p.m. if you want to hear the children: “I'm really excited to see it because these kids — let me tell you — it's amazing the things that they know and how much they care for the area that's around them.” ## Dances at the Lake brings movement to the Lake Harriet Rose Garden Jose Leonardo Santos is an anthropologist at Metropolitan State University. A big fan of the arts, Santos particularly enjoys watching dance. He recommends bringing your lawn chair to see Dances at the Lake, which takes place at Lake Harriet Rose Garden July 17 and 18 at 7 p.m. This year’s event, organized by KASM Dance Collective, includes 15 dance troupes in various styles. Santos says there’s something special about seeing live dance performance in that beautiful outdoor setting. “The thing I love about dance is that it's totally immersive, right? A video of \[a dance performance] is not the same thing; you've got to be there to enjoy it. Dance can be just like the funnest little thing, or it can make you cry, and you don't even know why because there's no words, right? It forces you to just go off of your senses.”