Ghosts, a solo show and how art gets made: Your Top 3 Winnipeg weekend picks for Nov. 30-Dec. 2

Winter has come to Winnipeg, but this weekend, you can get cozy with a one-man performance about a father andson by a former CBCRadio host, a peek behind the usually closed doors of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, or some Victorian ghosts.

Here are three picks from CBCMantioba radio personalities for the Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 weekend.

Colton Hutchinson'spick: Empire of the Son

Prairie Theatre Exchange invites you to experience the intimate relationship between a son and a father in Tetsuro Shigematsu's mixed-media solo performance, Empire of the Son.

Shigematsu is the former host of The Roundup on CBC Radio, as well as a writer andfilmmaker and now he's taken to the stage.

Near the end of his father's life, Shigematsu realized he knew little about the manand wanted to find out more, so he could passthat historyto his own children.

Through a series of interviews, Tetsuro Shigematsu found a new relationship with his father, Akira, and shaped a new opinion about him.

Empire of the Son takes a deep look at their relationshipthrough a unique lensliterally. Armed with film cameras aimed at miniature dioramas, scenes are created with the artist's words and the visual aid of the miniatures.

PTE's Empire of the Son gives voice to the quiet relationship between father and son

6 years ago

Duration 4:21

CBC's Marjorie Dowhos spoke to the star of Empire of the Son and former CBC radio broadcaster, Tetsuro Shigematsu ahead of the show's debut in Winnipeg. The play is part of Prairie Theatre Exchange's new Leap Series.

The result is a powerful experience, as audiences hear the words of Tetsuro Shigematsu and his father, and see the artist come to terms with their complicated relationship live on stage.

Empire of the Son runsatPrairie Theatre Exchange, located in Portage Place mall in Winnipeg, until Dec. 9.

Ismaila Alfa's pick: Behind Closed Doors at the WAG

When you walk into an art gallery, most often all you see is that beautiful finished piece on display but what got the artist to that point?

Behind Closed Doors is the latest exhibition from the WAG's New Contemporary series, and it explores the artist's process.

It's the brainchild of Jamie Isaac, the WAG's curator of Indigenous and contemporary art, and it features 10 artists from Winnipeg, or who haveWinnipeg roots.

The exhibit includes sculpture, collage, painting, drawing, photography, animation, and sound-based work, and features work fromIan August, Irene Bindi, Mia Feuer, Takashi Iwasaki, Shaun Morin and Melanie Rocan, Kristin Nelson, Matea Radic, Dominique Rey and Robert Taite.

As curator, Isaac collaborated with the artists in deciding how to best show their "laboratory of process."

While most of the artists are displaying previously completed works, August andBindi, who are both making their WAG debuts with this exhibit, were invited to venture inside the gallery's vault and pull an object from the collection to use as inspiration for the creation of a new piece for Behind Closed Doors.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is launching the new exhibit with afree eventFriday night, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Behind Closed Doors will run at the WAG until next spring.

Shannah-Lee Vidal's pick: Victorian ghosts at Dalnavert

It's a holiday tradition to hunker down on a cold evening, as you gather your loved ones in the parlour and share some ghost stories. Orat least that's what the Victorians would have been doing over a century ago.

A Christmas Carol is probably the best known Christmas ghost story, but many others came out of the 19th century. For Victorian society, ghost stories were commonplaceespecially ones set in the stark winter months, when death was top of mind.

But why were the Victorians obsessed with ghosts stories, especially at Christmastime? That answer will come this weekend in the form of a lecture atDalnarvert Museum by the University of Manitoba's Arlene Young, titledVictorian Ghosts for Christmas.

The lecture takes place at Dalnavert, at 61 Carlton St., on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

For more ghostly goodness, Dalnavert is alsohosting an event called Ghosts of Christmas Past on Dec. 6-8, featuring an evening of spooky Christmas stories from the era each night at 7 p.m.

If those holiday horrors seems a tad frightful for your little ones, they don't have to be left out. Each Sunday afternoon throughout December, Dalnavert will host storytelling telling sessions especially for a younger audience.

More information on schedules and tickets can be found on the Dalnavert Museum website.