2009 Season

Dear James

June 13th – July 12th, 2009
Sneak Preview Friday, June 12th, 2009

by Jon Hassler

Dear James was the first Hassler adaptation to be produced in Plainview, where it played to standing room only audiences at St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in 2000. Dear James focuses on the character dearest to Hassler’s heart, the memorable Miss Agatha McGee, upright resident of fictional Staggerford, Minnesota, who regularly sets the town on its ear with her sawtoothed tongue. At loose ends due to forced retirement from her longtime teaching post, Agatha despairs when she looks at the motley crew of friends gathered at her table for an excruciating Thanksgiving dinner. At one time, Agatha's respite from these small-minded, albeit kindhearted people was her Irish pen-pal James, to whom she poured out her feelings, but she severed that tie when she discovered he was a priest. Now, she signs on for a tour of Italy where, unbeknownst to her, James awaits. During her absence from Staggerford, a malicious neighbor finds their correspondence and lays it on the public pillory. Agatha returns to cold shoulders from townsfolk angered by her sharp commentaries, but finds consolation in her deepening relationship with James--and with the Church.

The Hassler Summer Sampler

Boxelder Bug Variations, a Tribute to the Late Minnesota Author, Bill Holm

Saturday, August 8th, 8:00PM

In Boxelder Bug Variations, Minnesota author Bill Holm muses on the lives of these humble bugs and how humans could use them as a model. Entwined throughout is the wonderful theme that in language and in music, majestic works often begin with a small theme, a variation, a trifle that captures the imagination.

Wisecracks from My Father

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up!

By David Harris

Saturday, August 22nd, 7:00PM

David Harris will delight audiences of all ages with this adept and wacky physical comedy show. What I Want to be When I Grow Up! is acrobatic theater in action! Follow the incredible adventures of a would be super-hero, professional bowler, adventure tourist and lasso slinging cowboy. Each adventure is packed with goofy fun, daring stunts, and amazing skill. Watch David dream the dream of becoming anything imaginable.
100% safe for audiences of all ages.

Revelations of Mann

by David Mann

Friday/Saturday, August 28th/29th, 8:00PM

David Mann’s solo shows are a guaranteed great night out! In this comic, compelling one-man show, David recreates his trials and tribulations as a young, somewhat Lutheran theatre teacher in a Catholic high school. Revelations of Mann will appeal to audiences who are still in high school as well as to those who graduated long agol

Leaving Iowa

(September 18–October 18

by Time Clue and Spike Manton

Leaving Iowa by Time Clue and Spike Manton. A toast to the classic family road trip in the station wagon, and to the idealism and character of the ‘greatest generation’, Leaving Iowa tells the story of Don Browning, a middle-aged writer who returns home and decides to take his late father’s ashes to his childhood home, as requested. But when Don discovers Grandma's house is now a grocery store, he begins traveling across Iowa searching for a proper resting place for his father. This father-and-son road trip shifts smoothly from the present to Don's memories of the annual, torturous vacations of his childhood. Don's existential journey leads him to reconcile his past and present at the center of the United States. Leaving Iowa is a postcard to anyone who has ever found himself or herself driving alone on a road, revisiting fond memories of his or her youth.

Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol

November 5—November 22

by Phil Olson

It’s Christmas Eve in Bunyan Bay, Minnesota, and cantankerous bar owner Gunner Johnson gets in an argument with his wife, Clara, tells her he's skipping Christmas, storms out, goes snowmobiling across the lake, falls through the ice on his skidoo and goes into a coma. He then comes back in his dream where he's visited by the folk legend, Sven Yorgensen, who plays the ghost of Christmas past, present, and future. Sven takes Gunner (Scrooge) on a journey similar to that in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol... only very different. Will Gunner come out of his coma and find redemption with Clara at The Bunyan? Find out!