It is graduation season and the Playhouse would like to celebrate the high school senior recipients of the 2020 Excellence in Theater Arts Award: Robin Henrikson, Jaymie Kirk and Aurora Schelmeske.
This $250 award is given each year to high school seniors who have excelled in their commitment to live theater by giving so much time, shared their talents, and helped create a positive collaborative environment within the Playhouse and community. These three young women have invested hundreds, dare I say, thousands, of hours to bring stories to life on the stage both by acting and by working on crews of many musicals and plays. Aurora took part in 24 shows, Robin 20 shows and Jaymie 14 shows. They have worked as leaders, mentors, collaborators and creatives, time after time. It is so hard to see them go, but it is also very exciting as we send them off knowing they have what it takes to create their own fabulous story! Break a leg!!
What is next for the Playhouse?
It’s hard to believe but these three young ladies have been participating in local theater for 11 years! Their contributions are many, and their talent and hard work have been much appreciated. Photo submitted by Sue Hennessy
Words haven’t come very easily to me these days as I talk about the future of the Grand Marais Playhouse. This is the fourth attempt at starting this article. Clearing the production of “Cinderella Tales” off the stage after its opening night performance in March and leaving the stage dark has left me, at times, feeling similarly dark. I have waffled back and forth between moments of anxiousness and sadness for almost 3 months.
I am saddened that we will not be doing our summer festival this year. It is always a lot of work and always a ton of fun! The intensity of the whole summer production process has been building community here since 1971. This will be our first summer off! Strange!
But the Playhouse doors are not closed! We are creative people and we keep finding ways forward. It is what we do! The “Show” must go on!
As I communicate with theaters around Minnesota and across the nation, I am awed by the resourcefulness and creativity of my colleagues in the field, as well as their undying optimism. Our art and our creative work is ancient and unassailable. The artform itself is essential to the human family and the means by which we create it teaches us many successful ways of moving through a variety of situations, this is just another. The future is a new work waiting to be brought to the stage. We need to have the patience and the tenacity to mold it just like any other production.
We do not know when we will gather in the theater again to share in the rewarding, communal experiences as we have known them these past 49 seasons, but we are confident we will. We continue to plan our 50th season as well as a possible fall 2020 virtual production.
Fortunately, the Playhouse has been doing some really good work with our strategic planning and we are ready to build into a larger educational role. The current predicament simply forced our hand a little earlier on the timeline than we originally planned but we are working hard and adapting quickly. I have kept myself busy this spring seeking financial support for our educational programming, learning how to go digital and preparing for what will be required in order to proceed safely as we become able to gather in small groups.
We are looking forward to beginning our educational programing in earnest this September. The details are yet to be worked out as we await the future course of action relating to the pandemic and our fundraising. There is much to look forward too. But right now we are excited to announce our first summer camp!
Our first adventure is coming up quickly! It will be a summer camp, June 8 – 26, for students grades 3 -12. We will be producing the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by Shakespeare. There are multiple subplots in the play and they will each be played by different age groups. The camp will include remote zoom meetings and outdoor gatherings. The current plan is to have kids from grades 3-5 meet weekday mornings from 9-noon, grades 6-8 meet from 1-4 p.m. Grades 9-12 meeting times will be determined as a group after registration is complete. To create the safest environment for participants, groups will be no larger than 8. These times may vary as they will be adapted after registration closes on June 5 at 5 p.m. The cost is $125. The Playhouse strives to remove all barriers to participation so please contact the Playhouse office with any questions. If you would like to provide a gift registration fee, please contact the Playhouse.
Please complete registration for the camp at grandmaraisplayhouse.com. No walk-on registrations will be permitted. Registration closes on Friday, June 5 at 5 p.m. No exceptions!! Payment and all forms must be received by end of day June 5. No exceptions!
Speaking of the 50th season, we are looking to fill holes in our archives. If you have any materials such as programs, posters and especially photographs from past Playhouse productions, we would love to see them. We can scan them and have them returned to you. Please contact sue@grandmaraisplayhouse if you have items to share! If you would like to be on the committee for the 50th celebration, or would like to help organize a display from our archives, please join us!
Grand Marais Playhouse Artistic Director Sue Hennessy provides this behind-the-scenes look at Grand Marais Playhouse activities.
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