From the Artistic/ Technical Director
Sue Hennessy
Happy New Year!
It is my hope that I will share whats going on at the Playhouse with regular blog posts this year. Here is my first!
The picture above is me in 1980’s GMP production of “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds by Paul Zindel. I was stage managing the play when an actor dropped out and I was pulled in to give the speech about the cat at the science fair in the show. Sharon Eliasen painstakingly put the model cat together!
My connection with the Playhouse goes back at least to 1975 when I was 10 years old and in the vaudville show Wigwam Review. I had completely forgot about this show until perusing the archives in preparation for this season. I played “Edith Anne” a character created and performed by Lily Thomlin from the popular Laugh-In series. We don’t have any pictures in our archives but here is a story about the history of Wigwam Review from our archives.
News article from 1975 about the history of Wigwam theater in Grand Marais, MN
It is amazing how this community has loved performance and storytelling for so long!
Today, we need to acknowledge the error of naming a theater and show co-opting indigenous terms. We need to acknowledge and honor that fantastic storytelling was here long before any white settler had arrived.
I do not remember my first trip to the Playhouse. It was located in the old Lutheran church (now Betsy Bowen’s Studio) just down the block from my house and my Mom told me I used to follow my brother Tom down when he would go and work on tech. I do know I worked on many, many plays during my youth. Mostly as stage manager or doing tech. I was never a big fan of being on stage myself. I came back a couple of summers during college to work as Technical Director and then came back in 1998 to assist with the move into the brand new Arrowhead Center For The Arts. I originally was planning to be here for just the summer of ‘98 but well, things change and I’m still here.
After all this time I am still enamored of the power of this place. My perspective continues to change as I get older. To say I am passionate about this art form would be an understatement. To say I am passionate about this community theater is also an understatement. Theater is so complex. It is history, psychology, visual art, music, storytelling, science, math! There are so many areas to become an expert in or, as I am, a dabbler in many and friends with the experts! This Playhouse has had so many community members and theater professionals “walk across the boards” in 50 years. I have memories of the “Old Playhouse,” - playing in the orchestra in the loft , having a ghost experience while working alone there, having to run outside to cross from stage right to left (even in the winter!) memories of so many shows, tech work days, musical events ( including Frank Gillis Jazz concerts!), and we have made great memories at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts! Huge cast shows! Shakespeare festival! Summer repertory, and so many great plays!
Since coming back home to the Grand Marais Playhouse, I have learned the truly profound power the theater has in our community. In individuals, I have watched self-esteem, friendships, and a variety of skills grow. I have watched empathy grow on an individual and communal scale. The trust we build in rehearsal continues after the production is over. The Playhouse truly is building community! Community storytelling is such a human need and we long for it, as demonstrated this past year following the pandemic isolation we endured. The joy of those gathered both onstage and in the audience was palpable.
The Playhouse is celebrating 50 seasons in 2022. We had hoped to celebrate in 2021 but we are calling 2020 a “pause year” as we adapted to the new reality of a world-wide pandemic. 50 seasons! wow!
Here is a link to the Grand Marais Playhouse production History.
https://issuu.com/gmplayhouse/docs/playhouse_history.xlsx_-_sheet1
Enjoy some photos of past productions!
( if you have any Grand Marais Playhouse memorabilia, we want it! To scan or keep.)
What’s happening in 2022?
We are planning a huge season and we need you to join us! I am busily reading plays and finding the right mix for our acting community and for our audiences. Do you have an all time favorite? Let me know!
The schedule so far
An Evening of One Acts- February 3-6
The Half Life of Marie Curie March 10- 13
Summer Play #1- June 23-26& June 30 - July 3
Little Shop of Horrors July 28-31 & August 4-7
Summer Play #2- August 25-28 & Sept. 1, 2 &4
We are bringing Monroe Crossing back for a concert on September 3!!
We hope to have a halloween event and a fall production as well! Stay tuned!
Happening right now!!
We begin the new year in rehearsal for an evening of One acts and our annual community Youth play with High School students.
Auditions for the One Acts will be January 10th at 7:00 PM at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
A variety of shows have been selected and the final list will be decided by those who show up at auditions.
There are roles for men and women and a few for youth in grades 8 and up. All Participants must be vaccinated and up to date with boosters.
Rehearsals will be evenings 7PM - 8:30PM. Locations may vary. There is a $100 participation fee for all participants. Scholarships are available.
Performances are February 3-5, 7 PM and Feb 6 at 2 PM
The Community Youth High school show this year will be a two woman play featuring our graduating seniors. Half-life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson starring Elsa Garry and Greta Roth. The performances are March 10-13.
From Dramatists Play Service:
In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium. By 1912, she was the object of ruthless gossip over an alleged affair with the married Frenchman Paul Langevin, all but erasing her achievements from public memory. Weakened and demoralized by the press lambasting her as a “foreign” Jewish temptress and a homewrecking traitor, Marie agrees to join her friend and colleague Hertha Ayrton, an electromechanical engineer and suffragette. THE HALF-LIFE OF MARIE CURIE revels in the power of female friendship as it explores the relationship between these two brilliant women, both of whom are mothers, widows, and fearless champions of scientific inquiry.
“It’s rare to classify a show as both fun and educational, but Lauren Gunderson’s THE HALF-LIFE OF MARIE CURIE is just that—a 90-minute slice of history brimming with wit and wisdom, powered by two turn-of-the-20th-century female STEM stars.” —NewYorkStageReview.com. “A frisky, feminist crowd-pleaser, THE HALF-LIFE OF MARIE CURIE radiates empowerment—which is fitting, since it centers on the woman who coined the term radioactivity. …enlightening and entertaining.” —Time Out NY. “Written with insight, passion, and humor… [a] masterful script… With its engaging biographical narrative and timely historical message, THE HALF-LIFE OF MARIE CURIE will surely cement Gunderson’s reputation as the number one produced playwright in the US.” —DCMetroTheaterArts.com.
Please join us on stage, back stage, in the lobby or wherever you want to help!
No experience needed! Come be a part of the Magic!
We depend on your membership to keep going year after year. Membership support is a vital safety net that has enabled the Playhouse to weather many a storm, including this pandemic. Please make this season one to remember. Please join me in becoming, renewing or increasing your membership!
Thank you,
Happy New Year!
Sue