Minnesota Atheists Meetup Group

Ken Takata Ensemble: Musical Settings for Literature

Free Admission

Saturday, January 31, 2026
2:00 to 3:30 pm

George Latimer Central Library
(Magazine Room, 3rd floor)
90 West 4th St.
Saint Paul MN 55102

In this show, we celebrate literary works from William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Paul Verlaine, and other authors. We’re performing musical settings of their texts.

The Austen settings commemorate her 250th birthday and her connection to modern literature and narrative forms. Some of the Shakespeare settings look at the links between both authors.

Other settings suggest ways to stage several of Shakespeare’s plays (Henry V, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, and more).

The Shakespeare settings also focus on the women in his plays. Only 16 percent of the characters in Shakespeare are female. Meanwhile, often at least half of the audiences who go to see Shakespeare are women. Is it possible to use musical settings to bridge this demographic gap and emphasize the words and perspectives of the women in Shakespeare’s plays?

Performers feature Sarah Callahan, Sophie Caplin, Laura Lenz Landstad, and Sarah Zuber on vocals.

Musical styles include glam rock, Western swing, European art song, early 1950s R&B, Scots-Irish folk music, New Orleans piano ballads, bossa nova, Weimer cabaret, jug band songs, homages to the Second Viennese School, period correct (i.e., circa 1600), parodies of radio ads from the 1940s, and several other genres, in other words, a little something for everyone.

You’re invited to attend Freethought Toastmasters (http://freethought.toastmastersclubs.org/), a club of Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org/). Build your leadership and communication skills in a supportive, freethinking environment; a place where you will find familiar faces you know from Minnesota Atheists.

Most club members do not RSVP on Meetup since they attend most meetings and coordinate through the 'Toastmaster' of the evening if they cannot attend, so don't let the low RSVP numbers dissuade you from attending.

Join us IN-PERSON or join us ONLINE! This meeting will be HYBRID, but we expect most participants to be there in person. For those wishing to join us on zoom, send an email to George.Francis.Kane_AT_gmail.com to receive the new URL.

We open the party room at 6:00 PM for socializing before the meeting. We encourage zoom participants to join the meeting between 6:15 and 6:25 to socialize and iron out any technical issues. Use the meeting url to access the meeting, this will allow you to join via your computer or smartphone zoom app and will use your devices built in speakers/microphone/video. Message us or comment below if you need the call-in alternative.

Schedule:
• 6:00pm - The party room opens for in-person attendees, a meal is provided
• 6:15pm - Join the Zoom meeting for a pre-social
• 6:30pm - Freethought Toastmasters Business Meeting
~6:40pm - Toastmaster calls the meeting to order
~6:50pm - Scheduled Speeches
~7:25pm - Table Topics: impromptu speaking opportunity
~7:40pm - Evaluations
~7:55pm - Closing
• 8:00pm - Meeting Ends, optional post-social

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. While in many other Toastmaster Clubs the culture deters any mention of religion, so atheists feel guarded and often stay "in the closet," this club provides not only training in public speaking, but also continuous education in topics of interest to atheists.

This club offers the opportunity to talk about a wide range of topics. We welcome people of all worldviews, but of course our members tend to be non-religious. We take current events seriously, but our politics range from capitalist to socialist, from liberal to conservative. Our ages run from the 20s to the 60s (and beyond).

If you decide to join, you can learn to be a better, more confident speaker. No matter what our worldviews, we are committed to mutual respect, tolerance, honesty, encouragement and constructive criticism. If you become a member, you will have the opportunity to prepare and deliver speeches regularly, and receive constructive evaluations of your speeches. It’s a great place to become comfortable as a speaker. With the help of other members, we learn to prepare and present effective speeches on a wide range of topics from humorous to serious. We also learn to think fast during our "Table Topics" sessions (impromptu speeches). We never know quite what to expect from our speakers, but we can always count on an interesting evening together.

As a club of Toastmasters International, we charge the standard rate with no additional club dues. To join Toastmasters, it costs $60 per six months (prorated depending on when you join) plus a $20 new member fee. The new member fee pays for the educational program and the general membership fee pays for district events (local educational sessions for the greater Toastmasters community), general overhead, and a Toastmasters magazine members can opt to receive in the mail.