An Evening of Music and Film:
The Poor Nobodys perform music composed for the 1917 Swedish drama,
A Man There Was
Saturday / January 28, 2023 / 7:00pm / $10 suggested donation
The six members of The Poor Nobodys (Jenna Wyse, Christa Schneider, Chris Hepola, Eric Struve, Chris Duba, and Albert Perez) have been playing together since 2008. They have written and performed many original scores for both classic and new films, including Night of the Living Dead, Douglas Fairbanks’ The Black Pirate, and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger. In 2022 they received a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. The grant supports a tour of the band’s performance of a live score accompanying the screening of a silent film: the historically important Swedish film A Man There Was, based on Henrik Ibsen’s epic poem.
A Man There Was (Terje Vigen) was released at the same time many Scandinavian immigrants were arriving in Minnesota and building communities here. The film about a Swedish sailor who takes on a British blockade to find food for his family will have special significance for many families in Minnesota. The film is also considered to be one of the finest examples of Swedish silent film. The running time for the film is about one hour.
The Poor Nobodys have collaborated with venues such as the Trylon Microcinema, the Southern Theater, and the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis; the Minnesota History Theater in St. Paul; the Ark Center for the Arts in Viroqua, Wisconsin; and many other venues in the Midwest and beyond.
This event is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.