Pangea Theater reimagines Minnehaha and E. Lake St.

The smell of La Loma’s tamales wafted through the air. Jump ropes flew as kids jumped double dutch. In the back corner, there were performers – young and old – reading poetry to a crowd sitting on folding chairs. Neighbors gathered around a folding table near the center to paint tiles.
But outside, there were black SUVs and federal agents. This was Pangea Theater’s “We All, Every One of Us” mutual aid event on March 14 at 3020 Minnehaha Avenue.

As Operation Metro Surge (OMS) crashed down on Longfellow, Pangea Theater doubled down on its decolonizing practices to connect and support the neighborhood, according to executive director Meena Natarajan. Reciprocally, Longfellow reached back towards them.

Natarajan said that since its founding in 1995, Pangea’s central focus has been decolonizing practices. They focus on decentralizing Western Theater practices such as audience conduct codes and director-actor hierarchy. General manager Addlyn Carreras calls it “the crossroads of social justice and the arts.”

In practice, decolonizing looks like circles. In every strategy meeting, they sit in a circle to de-emphasize hierarchy. Before every meeting or rehearsal, they take two minutes of silence to focus.
At rehearsals, the director is not the dictator. Instead, the director asks actors, “What does it feel like you want to do?” according to Carreras. And rehearsals aren’t closed-door affairs – Carreras said 90% of them are public.

At performances in all of their spaces, audience members are welcomed personally at the door.

“You are immersed in the experience from the time that you come into the theater with music, lights, and how the actors are presented in the space,” said Carreras.

During OMS, the very thought of decolonizing practices came under fire. In December, they started hearing noise about arrests. “When people came to our rehearsal space, we were on the lookout. We walked each other to the cars,” said Carreras.

Eventually, OMS came to their doorstep (711 W Lake St). “ICE was right outside our door at Wrecktangle Pizza,” said Natarajan, referring to when pizza shop workers and community members chased ICE agents back into their cars. After that, they decided to move everything to Zoom – including the start of their production “The Mind Has a Hundred Thousand Gates,” inspired by 15th-century Indian poet Kabir.

“We’ve done this before, right?” questioned Natarajan. They already have a game plan from 2020. After the Third Precinct burnt down during the George Floyd protests, Pangea Theater stepped in to commission art.

This included poetry in the windows, a butterfly sculpture of locals’ hopes and dreams for Lake Street, and a book called “We Need Each Other,” filled with story circles from women who have lost children to gun violence and community volunteers.

“The work that we’re doing is healing work and has always been healing work,” said Natarajan. During that time, they realized, “We want to be part of this neighborhood, and they want us to be part of this neighborhood.”

So, Pangea knew what it wanted to do for Longfellow during OMS. They started reaching out to other immigrants in the neighborhood to provide lawyers and immigration information. They did some internal prep, too. “We put some signs up, and also got ourselves ready in case ICE walked through the door. We are immigrants and people of color, so we’re the target,” said Carreras.

But what Carreras and Natarajan didn’t expect was Longfellow’s response. “Our neighbors would not let us go for a walk alone. Even though we had our passports, they walked with us,” said Natarajan. For four months, their neighbors picked them up and dropped them off at work. “People called us constantly: ‘Hey, how are you doing? Are you okay? Do you need to go somewhere? Do you need a ride? Do you need this?’” remembered Carreras.

This translated into the theater, too. During Pangea’s April production of “The Mind Has a Hundred Thousand Gates,” they were nearly sold out every night with standing ovations. “At a time when every theater was complaining about not having enough audiences, we had our best show ever,” said Natarajan. Carreras estimates they had 1,200 attendees over the 12 shows.

PANGEA MOVING INTO FORMER HUB BIKE SHOP
Now, Pangea creating a permanent home in Longfellow to cement its relationship with the neighborhood. Last spring, they bought 3020 Minnehaha Avenue, where the Hub Bike Co-op used to be. Right now, they are finalizing a deal to buy the adjacent lot – 3024 Minnehaha Ave. – where they have performed several shows.

Pangea World Theater's Center for Peace and Justice has raised $3.5 million for the project, drawing contributions from the McKnight Foundation, the State of Minnesota, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Lake Street Council, and individuals. The theater needs $6 million to complete the project; they hope to have the funds by December 2026 and begin construction next summer.
But just like everything else they do, they want to center community buy-in. “It’s a two-way street. We have to raise money from people with a lot of money, but we also want our community to invest in the theater, too,” said Carreras.