The Wake

Outside, puddles slowly evaporate from the desolate wreckage that is the Lake Street reconstruction project. But inside the Heart of the Beast Theater on East Lake and 15th Avenue, community members of all ages and cultures are hard at work, preparing the pieces that will make up the 32nd Annual May Day Parade and Festival.

The Heart of the Beast May Day Festival began in 1974 with a small group of artists, but has grown to include 17 full-time artists and hundreds of community volunteers, and has attracted over 50,000 spectators to Powderhorn Park in the past.

The planning process for the parade begins early at two community brainstorming sessions in February and March. For the last 23 years, the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater has hosted the public meetings, which determine the yearly theme.

Sandy Spieler, a member of the Heart of the Beast Theater, described what goes on at these meetings as a series of questions to each individual about the state of their city, nation, and world. “What is it that makes you sad and angry? What gives you joy and inspires?” the brainstormers were asked. Based on the responses, Spieler asks a second question: “What does everyone wish this city to be like in 50 years?” The purpose of this query is to encourage the community to cross the borders that divide it, to get to know neighbors, and to share experiences. This year’s suggestions for Minneapolis in five decades include “better transportation for all, garden and community spaces, use of sustainable energy that works with the living systems of the earth, a sense that no one is illegal, and a state of peace for the city and world.” The participants then find a common “umbrella” that connects their ideas into a theme.

This year, the theme is “The Time Is Now.” Artists and volunteers have formulated storyboards of plans for the five subsections that comprise the middle of the parade. Each of the five sub-themes gets a section in the parade, complete with a float, puppets, and masked dancers. Because of Hurricane Katrina, the parade will begin with a great flood, symbolizing the disparities in our world, Spieler says. When the parade reaches Powderhorn Park, a ceremony featuring a giant sun puppet, a great tree of life, and over 300 dancers and puppeteers marks the finale. These final images are symbols of hope for the future and the rebirth associated with May Day.

Soozin Hirschmugl, co-section leader for “The Time is Now to Speak the Truth,” has been working with the Heart of the Beast for 15 years. Hirschmugl’s section focuses on Janus, the two-headed Roman god of doorways. “He’s the god of beginnings and endings … polar opposites, the past and the present,” Hirschmugl explains. A giant two-headed mask of Janus will adorn the float, while rolling doorways pushed by skeletons will precede and follow. This section also will feature dancers dressed in raven and crane costumes, to symbolize death and hope respectively. Hirschmugl enlisted the help of local organizations including South West High School, the Harriet Tubman Shelter, and immigrant rights groups to make doorways representing truths they believe need to be spoken. By crossing the threshold of the doorways, the skeletons, once “in the closet,” are brought to light.

A series of green banners stating, “All May Marry,” “All May Love,” and “All May Grow” surround the workstation for the “The Time is Now to Walk Hand in Hand” section. Ramon Cordes, an artist who began as a volunteer at the age of 12, describes this section as focusing on the physical connections between people. For Cordes, the best part of the process is coming together as a community to build. “It’s a great way to get your voice out,” he says above the sounds of about 100 busy volunteers and artists who are participating in tonight’s workshop. Like Cordes, many volunteers start as children and grow up in the theater, carrying on the tradition every year.

Tina Nemetz, a volunteer of 10 years, has created a banner for the “Hand in Hand” section reading “All May Be.” Her hope is to encourage people to put energy into loving, accepting, and being friends with others.

Tonight, Nemetz is working on a giant papier mache bookworm. This creature will be part of the “The Time is Now To Check Out Our Common Wealth” section. The new Minneapolis Public Library on Nicollet and Fourth Street will be opening two weeks after the May Day Parade, and this section celebrates the wealth of knowledge to be found and shared in the library system. The float for “Common Wealth” will feature a “Banned Book Band” along with the herd of bookworms.

Nemetz discovered the May Day Festival shortly after moving to the Powderhorn Park neighborhood. “One day I woke up and there were 50,000 people in my front yard!” she recalls. Since then she has attended and participated in the parade, along with her son and daughter. “This neighborhood has more artists than any other place in the state, per capita,” Nemetz says of the Lake Street-Powderhorn Park district. This contributes to the strong sense of community and cooperation that is present in the Heart of the Beast Theater. “Once you get over your fear and you go through the door, this is probably the most loving place that I have ever been,” she says. Nemetz encourages everyone to become involved with what she describes as “the most significant event of the year.”

Volunteers range from young children to students to older artists and community members. Most are from Minneapolis, but one woman had come from Viroqua, Wisc., bringing with her a foreign exchange student from Germany. The mix of cultures in the theater is obvious in the bilingual signs describing each station in Spanish and English.
Cordes emphasizes the economy of the materials used, including recycled grocery bags, newspapers, plastic containers, fabric, and cardboard. Even the clay is recycled and reused from year to year. Hirschmugl estimates that the clay used for the Janus mask mold is between 25 and 30 years old.

Kevin Long, who has worked as a technical director and freelance puppeteer for the Heart of the Beast Theater, sees the May Day Festival as a coming out after a long winter. He enjoys watching every spring as things go from the planning stages to conceptualization. Long and the rest of the artists and volunteers are well aware of the approaching deadline. Last year he stayed up until 4 a.m. the day of the parade, putting the finishing touches on his float. “Some of the paint was still wet as we pushed the thing out the door,” he remembers.

When asked if she thinks everything will get completed in time, Nemetz smiles and says, “It always does.”

The May Day Parade begins at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 7 and runs along Bloomington Avenue from 26th St. E. to Powderhorn Park. The festival in the park continues until dusk. Rain date is the following Sunday. A free public workshop is scheduled for Thursday, May 4 from 7-9 p.m. for those interested in being involved with the May Day Festival. For more information call 612-721-2535.