"BALLS is experimental cabaret open to artists of any and all disciplines at any and all levels of experience. We invite the artists to do whatever they want for 5-7 minutes. Nothing is screened or censored, so the audience end up as collaborators in our process. We crave audience feedback. The audience is invited and encouraged to talk with the artists after the performance, fill out questionaires and join the staff and artists, along with other audience members at Pizza Luce' in Minneapolis for late night coffee and the Worlds Greatest Pizza."

Leslie Ball is a proud native of Duluth Minnesota. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree form New York University. She received her education touring North & Central America as lead singer & lyricist for "Rue Nouveau". She currently resides in Minneapolis where she works as a writer, performer, director and producer. She is founder/curator of "BALLS", a weekly midnight cabaret for experimental work, now in its eighth year at the Southern Theater. She has performed solo on major stages across the country including The Guthrie Theater, the Walker Art Center, Intermedia Arts, The Dakota, and Chautauqua. She also performed at Carnegie Hall as a back-up singer for Gene Pitney. Her first solo recording "Loring Park" received critical raves and earned her the 1995 Minnesota Music Academy Award for Female Songwriter of the year. She starred in two independent films, "The Visionary" and "Beyond Bob" (featured in USA Today) She has been profiled in the New York Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly Magazine and in Mpls-StPaul Magazine's Ten Sexiest Issue. She is also a National Merit Scholar.

Some of the other soon-to-be-famous performers who have appeared at BALLS include: Jimmy Jahoda, Ken Bradley, Russ Rogers, Ben Bakken, Clyde Sheets, Danny Schmitz, J.Otis Powell, Derek Hughs, Matt Jensen, Brian Sostek, Kristen Van Loon, Michael McAllister and Marya Hornbacher.