Play tackles serious issues with humor
Trending
NEW ULM -- A free play telling the story of a rag-tag group of workers fighting corporate competition is coming to New Ulm.
At 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in the New Ulm Community Center (600 N. German St.) theater company Ten Thousand Things (TTT) will present "Park & Lake."
"It is kind of a story of all groups of people overcoming overwhelming odds," Co-Director Luverne Seifert said. "Oftentimes, especially in smaller communities, they certainly know that story when a big corporation moves into their community and all of a sudden that local hardware store or that local drug store no longer can compete."
The show focuses on coworkers at the Park & Lake Carwash who all live in a run-down communal space provided by the carwash in exchange for lower wages.
"Then they learn that the Park & Lake Carwash is going to be sold and bought by a corporation and they are all in jeopardy of losing their jobs," Seifert, who also performs in the show, said. "So they take matters into their own hands and they try to purchase the carwash."
Due in part to the traveling nature of the company the show has a small set. Audience members will have to use their imagination more than in a standard show, Seifert said.
While the show has a serious premise, Seifert promised that it was humorous. It is not a full musical, but does include a few songs -- one character is an aspiring singer.
The performance is part of a tour through greater Minnesota that TTT takes. They often perform in shelters, prisons and low-income areas.
"It is a big part of the theater company's mission to be able to bring theater to people who cannot afford to see it or do not have the ability because of bad luck, due to incarceration or whatever reason," Seifert said.
The prisoners are an interesting audience to Seifert. They are commonly people who have made a mistake or got addicted to drugs, the Sleepy Eye native said.
Many do not follow standard theater etiquette but Seifert does not find their comments irritating or disruptive.
"As an actor, it is so gratifying because you get immediate feedback on how you are being perceived, if your story is actually working," Seifert said.
The show was written by playwright-in-residence Kira Obolensky and the cast. Obolensky is in her final year at TTT through funding from the Mellon Foundation.
Connor Cummiskey can be emailed at ccummiskey@nujournal.com.