1987-88

1987-88

SEASON

STAFF
Lynn Lohr, Producer/Artistic Director
Lance S. Belville, Literary Manager and Playwright-in-Residence
Thomas H. Berger, General Manager/Tour Coordinator
Linda Twiss, Publicity and Marketing Director
Sean McCollum, Box Office Manager
Karen Koeppe, Group Sales Consultant
Glenn Morehouse, House Manager
Sue Spalding, House Manager
Philip Callen, Administrative Assistant
Patrcia Heisel, Acting Intern

Plain Hearts
October 17-November 15, 1987
By Lance S. Belville
Music and Lyrics by Eric Peltoniemi

The play consists of songs and stories about Midwestern prairie women from the 1890s to the 1920s.

From Founder and Director of this production Lynn Lohr:

“Behind the seven women onstage who are the Plain Hearts Band stand thousands of other women. They are our prairie mothers and grandmothers and their single women friends – farm women all. They stand in the sun, and in the dry wind, and in the blessed rain after a drought. Some of them are holding flowers in their hands, lilacs or humble cosmos or yellow bush roses. Some are carrying pails of eggs or milk, some are carrying children. They are not very well dressed. They are wearing work clothes. They are all beautiful. They are all very proud. They have come to hear their stories again. Plain Hearts is offered in gratitude for their humor, their hard work and their love.”

Cast “In the Time of the Grandmothers”
Capitola Klanpe – Chris Kliesen
Miss Gergen/Madame President – Rolaine Green
Mabel Bailey/Tomina Lund – Crystal G. Muirhead
Viola Fuller/Letha Foss/Hulda Imsland – Susie Cravens
Maude Meredith/Serina/Allettie Blick/Beatrice Kelly – Beth Gilleland
Mrs. Fuller/Jessie/Reporter – Wendy Smith
Mrs. Bailey/Avril Flatten/Florentine Pickles – Sherry Minnick
Understudy – Patricia Helsel

L-R: Beth Gilleland, Susie Cravens, Chris Kliesen, Crystal Muirhead

The Plain Hearts Band
Tambourine, lead & backup vocals – Susie Cravens
Acoustic guitar, lead & backup vocals – Beth Gilleland
Piano, lead & backup vocals – Rolaine Green
Acoustic guitar, oboe, lead & backup vocals – Chris Kliesen
Acoustic guitar, electric bass, mandolin, lead & backup vocals – Sherry Minnick
Acoustic guitar, lead & backup vocals – Crystal G. Muirhead
Acoustic guitar, electric bass, flute, accordion, backup vocals – Wendy Smith

Production Staff
Director – Lynn Lohr
Musical Number Staging – John Tsafoyannis
Musical Directors – Sally Reynolds & Rolaine Green
Scenic & Lighting Designer – Thomas H. Berger
Technical Director – Neil Jodeit
Costume Designer – Nayna Rayme
Stage Manager/Sound Technician – Philip Callen/Lisa Anderson
Lighting Technician – Pam Betsworth
Follow Spot Operator – Lynn Evans
Scenic Painter – Jon O. Erickson
Technical Assistants – Patrick Moran, Daniel Smith, Wayne Hendricks, Randall E. Seitz

Musical Numbers
ACT I
Plain Hearts – Entire Cast
Chickens – Karen & Cast
Grandma – Christine & Cast
Rubberneckin’ – Entire Cast
Rotten Michael – Karen
Death & The Farmwife – Entire Cast
Bergen Boys – Suzanne & Karen
Tree of Life – Ahna & Cast
Plain Hearts (reprise) – Entire Cast

ACT II
As Long as the Land – Jane & Cast
Nobody Knows But Mother – Ahna
Sparrow – Christine
DreamBook – Suzanne & Cast
Horn of Plenty – Ahna, Christine & Cast
We Are the People – Entire Cast

All songs: music and lyrics by Eric Peltoniemi, © 1983 Eric Peltoniemi Music, LLC./ASCAP
– except “Nobody Knows but Mother”: music by Eric Peltoniemi, lyrics anonymous (from a poem published in a 19^th Century farm women’s journal), © 1983 Eric Peltoniemi Music LLC/ASCAP

Mid-Winter Light (World Premiere)
November 28-December 27, 1987
By John Louis Anderson

This play tells the story of winter celebrations. Santa Lucia is the Nordic festival of lights. Lucia combines ancient, modern, spriritual and secular traditions in a wide variety of locations during the winter solstice season. Lucia has roots in the Viking tradition of “Midvinterblot”, which offered sacrifices to Freyja, their goddess of plenty. Saint Lucia was credited with breaking a terrible famine in Varmland during the middle ages. “White clad, with lights in her hair”, she crossed a lake in a miraculous boat reminiscent of Freyjay’s boat. She remains a powerful figure. In a time of year when the lack of light is a constant player in every human endeavor, Lucia comes with light to remind us that no darkness lasts forever. The time and place of the play is contemporary America.

Cast
Arnie Carlson – Steve Estenson
Ellen Carlson – Maureen Meyer
Kirsten Carlson, their 16 year old daughter – Kendyll Howard
Annie Carlson, their 6 year old daughter – Stephanie Johnson
Truda – Elizabeth Streiff
Kirsten’s Friends – Paula Bremseth, Sara Doffing, Lynn Jorday, Joy Langer, Nancy Seward, Naoimi Smith

Production Staff
Director – Jacalyn Knight
Scenic & Lighting Designer – Chris Johnson
Costume Designer – Nayna Rayme
Properties Designer – Daniel Smith
Technical Director – Scott E. Thun
Weyerhaeuser Technical Director – Randall E. Seitz
Stage Manager – Merry Ellefson
Assistant Stage Manager – Philip Callen
Technical Assistant – Paul Siegel

This production was presented in the Weyerhauser Auditorium of the
Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul

Gold in the Streets
February 6-March 6, 1988
By Marie Jones
Produced in association with Charabanc Theatre Company of Northern Ireland

The play is set in Belfast, Northern Island during three periods of its history. In each historical period, we see a woman who is forced, by different circumstances, to emigrate to England.

Cast
1912: The Story of Agnes Mullan
Agnes Mullan – Geanette Roberts
Willie John/Woman Cleaning/Georg Baxter/Employer #2/Cook/Newsboy – Suzanne Koepplinge
John Joe Mullan/Employer#1/Lady Glendinning/Sandy/Voice #2 – Megan Grundy
Molly Baxter/Maid/Jamesie/Voice #1 – Susie Cravens

1950: The Story of Mary Connor
Mary Connor – Megan Grundy
Taxi Driver/Mrs. Molloy, Cathleen Riley/Eilish – Suzanne Koepplinger
Mrs. Murphy/Teasie Murphy/Joan Wilcox/Mr. Lavery – Susie Cravens
Mrs. Connor, Bernie, Mrs. O’Leary – Geanette Roberts

1985: The Story of Sharon McAllister
BBC Newsreader/Daby McAllister – Suzanne Koepplinger
Sharon McAllister/Smicker – Susie Cravens
Maureen/Jessie/Sam McAllister – Megan Grundy
Beezer/Maisie McAllister/John – Geanette Roberts

General understudy: Kari Holmberg

Back row, Susie Cravens, Geanette Roberts – Front row, Megan Grundy, Suzanne Koepplinger

Production Staff
Director – Lynn Lohr
Scenic & Lighting Designer – Chris Johnson
Costume Designer – Nayna Rayme
Music Director – Richard Long
Properties Designer – Daniel Smith
Stage Manager – Scott E. Thun
Assistant Stage Manager – Philip Callen
Auditorium Technical Director – Randall E. Seitz
Technical Director – Michael Cottom
Carpenter – Peter Yackel
Technical Assistants – Paul Siegel, Pam Betsworth, Merry Ellefson, West Band Sound

Music for this production was written by Tom McLaughlin and Aldan McCann, lyrics by Marie Jones.

This production was presented in the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium of the
Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul

Somewhere Over the Balcony
March 9-March 13, 1988
By Marie Jones
Produced in association with Charabanc Theatre Company

This show is a surreal celebration of the human spirit in strife-torn Belfast, Northern Ireland, performed with a comic, explosive style, which suggests that laughter may be the only way of coping with the violence, degradation and occupation suffered by its citizens.

Cast
Ceely Cash – Marie Jones
Eleanor Methven – Rosemarie Noble
Carol Scanlan – Kate Tidy

Original music for this production was written by Rod McVey, lyrics by Marie Jones.

Charabanc Production Staff
Director – Peter Sheridan
Administrator – Maureen Jordan
Set Designers – Brian Power, Blaithin Sheerin
Stage Managers – Teerth Chungh, Nick McCall

History Theatre Production Staff
Technical Director – Neal Jodeit
Weyerhaeuser Technical Director – Randall E. Seitz

This production was presented in the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium of the
Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul

St. Paul Suite (World Premiere)
April 16-May 15, 1988
By Thomas Poole

A celebration of “the one million dollar hotel,” featuring aristocrats, moviemakers, churchmen, politicians, gangsters and more crossing paths in an impossible mélange of characters and an improbable series of situations that defy the constraints of time.

Cast
Teddy Dornbrush/Waiter/Trumpet Player – Scott Thun
Reporter/Mr. Bragelman/Count Orloff/Waiter – Grant Richey
John Dillinger – Jefferson Slinkard
Billie Frechette – Anne Devitt
Elegant Man/House Detective/E.H. Griffith/Houdini/Radio Announcer – George Muellner
Elegant Woman/Hilda Schaeffer/Cashier – Margo Andrews
Gloria/Society Woman – Mary Woolever
Anna/Kitchen Helper – Geanette Roberts
George/Mayor/Desk Clerk – Tom Patrick

L to R: Jefferson Slinkard, Anne Devitt, George Muellner

Production Staff
Director – Ron Troutman
Choreographer – Marvette Knight
General Manager – Thomas H. Berger
Set Designer – Chris Johnson
Costume & Lighting Designer – Nayna Rayme
Sound Designer – Ezra Gold/West Bank Studio
Stage Manager & Properties Designer – Timothy Wilkins
Assistant Stage Manager – Pam Bedsworth
Technical Director – Trevor Vasey
Auditorium Technical Director – Randall E. Seitz
Follow Spot Operator – Kevin Seime
Assistant to the Costumer – Rich Hamson
Fabric Artist – Janet Hall

This production was presented in the Weyerhaeuser Auditorium of
the Landmark Center in Downtown St. Paul