Lakeland PBS presents Common Ground brought to you by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Production funding of Common Ground is made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community, Member FDIC.

Welcome to Common Ground.

I'm producer/director, Scott Knudson.

In this Part 2 we take an inside look at Bemidji Community Theater.

Mary: Well my husband and I design the sets together.

I usually get this idea in my head and then we try to make a small model and this one was kind of difficult because I had in my head what I wanted the cave to look like but he thought I wanted the cave to be higher so at first he had this like ramp where the dragons came out of and I said no that's not quite it and we had this little statue that would gotten somewhere and I said well it's kind of this idea but not really that idea and I'm kind of a stick person drawer and so I'm not good at that so to try to say to him who's a carpenter how it should look but we finally got it but it was difficult.

My first issues with theater I was really a designer before I was a director so I designed for other shows and I really loved that part.

That's kind of my artistic part I think, that and designing costumes and so then when I became a director it was being able to put all of that together that makes it really fun but having my husband as a partner in that design process makes it a little easier because I'm not sure I could have explained what I wanted to someone else or I think they might have been more frustrated because my husband was frustrated because we couldn't get that cave but we finally did so we always try to find different sorts of things.

I think people that come to my show realize that there's going to be some hidden aspect to these shows.

I do it for them and I do it for me because it's just again part of that creative process and always trying to be something different.

I don't want people to come and say, oh it's another one of Mary's sets.

I see it all looks the same.

I don't want it to look the same.

I want a house to open or something to turn or a trap door or something of that sort just I think kids need to have their imagination stimulated more than just the little phone or ipad where everything is done for them.

I want them to be able to actually see it and then imagine what it must be like.

Kristine: One of the gifts that Mary Knox-Johnson has is to be able to envision what people will look like in the setting.

The Reluctant Dragon had a wonderfully versatile set where it could be the town or it could be the dragon's lair or it could be any things.

It had many levels.

It had stairs.

It had an upper level.

It had the house that opened up or closed depending on where you were and so it was easy to try and address the different scenes.

Now with the Reluctant Dragon we also used because the stage at the Chief Theater is somewhat small.

We use every opportunity.

We use the alleys coming in from the back.

We use the aisle coming down from backstage past the audience.

There's stairs in front they can come up.

In fact one of my favorite photos from the Reluctant Dragon is the dragonettes sitting on the stairs reacting to something so you have them sprawled down the stairs, you have Dennis the dragon, you have the knight who is going to vanquish him turning out to be an old friend of his.

You know one of those wonderfully campy things and clearly this was set in a fantasy world so to create the fantasy world we use a combination of the colors on the stage, piecing together the costumes so that they both fit the individuals, fit the era and this fantasy world and we go from there to try and create what's going on.

All the while we're getting ready for Reluctant Dragon we rehearse at our building at BCT and then eventually we get to the stage and they have to get used to the stage and as soon as they're used to the stage we start them in costume, especially shoes, because you have to move around on stage and so they'll start by having to wear their shoes during rehearsal and then we'll put them in if they're going to be in a skirt, we might put them in a rehearsal skirt and eventually they get into their costumes because not only does it make you your character but it tells you what you can do.

Clearly a woman in a long dress can't stride along the stage.

There's a different kind of walking depending on your costume.

Our dragonettes and our reluctant dragon had to get very used to these skin suits and the cover-up and the jackets that went with them so that they could, the hats with the horns, so that they could see and hear and move appropriately.

The first time they wore their horns and their headpieces they kept banging into each other because they were standing too close so dress rehearsal as it evolves is a very important part of presenting a show because it gets people accustomed to the costumes, then you have to get people accustomed to the lighting and I believe we use 16 microphones during the Reluctant Dragon and it gets them accustomed to the sound of each other and knowing when a mic is hot or not because if you make a mistake you're not supposed to show it on stage but then when you go off stage you can't say, oh darn that was a mistake, because the microphone might pick it up.

If the sound person isn't quick enough to damp down your mic so it's just a whole learning curve and the purpose of the dress rehearsals is to get people accustomed to the build up of the whole package.

Ernie: Then comes opening night which is a big deal.

Everyone's keyed up and it's just amazing.

No matter how bad the rehearsals have gone they all seem to come through on opening night and from then on it's just fun.

Vicki: It's a large group but really committed and, and really doing the best for community theater.

Kristine: Bemidji Community Theater started in the early '80's and just find a place to do a show wherever.

They entered into a contract with the Paul Bunyan Playhouse to use the Chief Theater about eight, nine years ago but we always wanted a home of our own and we started looking and had several efforts fail of trying to find a home of our own.

Vicky: We knew we wanted to stay downtown and we knew we needed a space big enough to house all our costumes and props and furniture and and we have a lot because people have been very generous donating things for us and this building came up for sale when Book World closed.

Ernie: But it was a kind of a dream.

It was a lot of money to buy this place and you know, we said well unless we can get a grant we can't afford to do it but then we approached the USDA Department of Agriculture and they had a grant program for underserved communities and we convinced them that we could be better served with a community theater here in Bemidji.

They agreed to a 40-year loan and so we took advantage of that and bought the place.

Vicki: Which we're all very excited about because it allows us to have everything in one place.

Mary: So all of their materials were somewhere.

Some was in my garage, my studio, my house.

Some is in Kristine's basement.

Some is...

I'm not even sure we know where it all is but it was also in two storage units so now in this one space everything is consolidated and I'm still trying to clean out my house and bring everything in that belongs to community theater but it's wonderful and they have been able to hold rehearsals there, have a couple of fundraising events and so it was just wonderful bringing the community in.

They also take part in the Night We Light activities and so as I say the sky's the limit.

It used to be the community theater had to do everything according to someone else's calendar but now they can set their own calendar and they can say we're going to have a workshop in our space and we're going to deal with puppets or we're going to bring someone in and do some dance in our space.

Kristine: We started having our meetings there.

We started cleaning up and gathering things that we were going to use and the ultimate plan was to have a small performance space in the building in order to do some of our smaller shows.

We really don't need a 310 seat theater to do a small show that typically gets a hundred people.

We want to make theater more accessible and intimate.

The problem with that was that we have to do some renovation to the building in order to do that and as it turns out we have to do more renovation than we thought.

Ernie: After we bought it there are a number of things we had to do.

We had to put the panic bars on the door to get people out quickly and then we have a shop in the back and the neat thing about that is that we can spend several weeks constructing our set materials to move next door to the Chief Theater which is our primary residence the day before we start rehearsals or the construction on stage so a lot of the initial construction work is done here and then we just move it next door.

Vicki: At the back of the building is a mezzanine that comes out that we're going to be able to utilize for rehearsal space because it's just a big empty space back there.

That'll be rehearsal space and we'll also be able to put some classrooms up there that we can have classes in and we're planning on doing some educational, theater education stuff for adults and kids and that's... we really want to get kids involved.

Ernie: When you have an active place like this especially next to the theater and right downtown it, it adds to the the ambiance of downtown Bemidji.

Vicki: When we got this building we jokingly called it the theater district of Bemidji which I guess technically it is because we have two theater companies on the same street.

It's kind of like Bemidji's broadway.

Kristine: We want a space where we can have a stage here and the audience here or switch it around depending on what is needed for the particular play involved.

The ceiling will be raised again like it was and we'll have a light bar around the center, hang lights and the old office space that was also upstairs will be our technical booth, sound, lights, those sorts of things.

Ultimately that is our goal to be able to have shows in there.

Certainly it will not be big enough for a big musical like Reluctant Dragon or anything else but we want a space where we could have Dial M For Murder and have that be an intimate space where people feel the mystery and the tension involved because they're right there and so we want to have a multi-use facility that will meet all of the community's needs.

You could have meetings in there.

You could have a wedding in there, a small wedding.

We could rent it out for a birthday party if we wanted to so those are the sorts of things we want that building to have multiple uses.

Mary: So one of the goals of community theater because we say we are of, by and for the community is to get into the community as much as possible.

So the library called me and said they were doing All The Worlds of Stage or something similar to that for their theme this month so could I send someone over there and I said I could send Dennis D Dragon in costume if you would like to have him and so they said yes.

So Dennis Dragon went to the library with his son and daughter who were also dressed in renaissance medieval type costuming and it was interesting.

I stayed there and watched and first he started with his scottish accent and met some of the kids in the audience had seen the show so they were familiar with him and then he took his headpiece off and took his crown off and then talked to them as a person not using his scottish accent and talked about theater and auditioning and, and doing a show and things of that sort so he was able to talk to the kids about the reluctant dragon explain why he used that accent as the character, talked to them about the importance of reading and the enjoyment in portraying a character that's in a book alive on stage and so that was our experience with working with Kitchigami Regional Library and the Reluctant Dragon.

So we'd like to do that as much as we can with our productions.

Vicki: We want to reach as many people as possible with the theater and some people can't make it into the theater.

Either they can't afford it or they can't get there at the times the show was available so they had an opportunity to present part of the production at the Bemidji Library.

The lesson, moral behind it was to be yourself.

Be your true self.

Whatever your dream is, whatever your talents are use them and don't let anybody try and and force you to be something you're not.

[inaudible] [sawing noise] Kristine: In 2019 Bemidji Area Sculpture Walk had their 20th anniversary and Cate Believeau's wonderful idea was to have people recreate famous statues, be live and then tell the story of the statue.

They managed to block off the streets, identified sculptures that they wanted to represent and then they came to BCT to partner with BCT, so the actor sculptors could have a place to use the bathroom, could get dressed and be available for people to come in and look at the space and have a preview of the space and the space plans.

Mary: They have a tours.

If you've been around Bemidji you'll see the sculptures on corners and, and in various places and they put that collection together and they'd have tours of the sculptures and one day of the sculpture walk week they have live actors perform either with the sculptures or the person who the sculpture was about or the person who made the sculpture and they have live people do little performances on some of the corners.

Ernie: It's kind of reverse right?

Usually sculptures portray people and here was people portraying sculptures.

It was a lot of fun.

We had a lot of people downtown here looking at the various sculptures.

I think there wasn't too much spray paint on the floor when we got finished.

Mary: And that was a lot of fun.

We painted people white and we painted people gold and got all the costumes together and they came in here and dressed and and got their parts and and their little tiny little speakers with their microphones and this was also a place where they could clean up afterwards because who wants to walk around with gold or white paint all over you and that was a lot of fun to partner with that.

It's again it's arts in the community and we, we love to support any arts in the community.

[and as you were] [are we okay, was that good?]

[you guys are awesome] ]okay, thank you] Mary: I would like to see this new space fully renovated and it's difficult because we're working with mostly volunteers and so we can do it in bits and pieces at a time.

I wish we could find some Minnesota millionaire who'd say, I would love to give you a hundred thousand dollars because I would really get us on our way.

I think we're doing quite well with what we have so far.

I would like to see the building eventually become so busy that people are in and out all the time, wondering what's happening so offering workshops and we have a number of those in the works, as well as we have our rehearsals coming up now and our auditions but I would like to see it even bigger.

I think that it could be a place... we call it a performing arts center.

That's its official name so we would like to see recitals held there maybe piano lessons taught there.

Vicki: Offer workshops on acting, offer workshops on directing, offer workshops on technicals, aspects of theater, get some kids workshops going on, how to audition, how to fill out a resume, what are head shots?

All those theater aspect parts that will set us up to go on into the future to train the young people and to take our place.

You know we're not getting any younger so we're gonna you know we need in order to keep Bemidji Community Theater going into the future we need to train our young people so that they know how to get going.

Kristine: If you want to become involved in community theater, just ask.

We need people to sew.

We need people to help build sets.

We need people to iron, to help clean.

We need actors.

We need people who can run sound.

We need people who can run or learn to run lights.

Any skill set that you have we can use and if you're just interested as an audience member you can become a member of BCT.

It's a member organization.

All you have to do is fill out the membership form.

It's fifteen dollars for an individual, twenty dollars for a family.

That membership entitles you to one free ticket to BCT so it also gets you on the mailing list so that you know what's happening, you know what's going on, you know what's coming next and if you see a need listed.

I just took care of the old house and I'm getting rid of some furniture and I wonder where it should go or I have some vintage hats.

Call us.

So that's how you can help Bemidji Community Theater and it never hurts to donate money.

Okay, but try to do it not in too many spots okay?

All right that looks lots better.

Okay no hands in pockets ever.

I'm going to sew your pants pockets shut.

I am.

Mary: I think this whole community connection is what's so important.

I've always said that about community theater.

That we need to get into the community because the community is us.

We live in the community.

We're concerned about the community.

Kristine: Live theater is important to any community in my opinion and Bemidji Community Theater is happy to provide that during the winter season because summer is covered with live theater but the experience that an audience member has is to be transported to another time, another place with different people that they don't know portrayed by people that they do know and in that way they can not only connect with the play but have the magical amazement quality that you have when you sit in a theater and you say, that guy used to teach math and then, oh my gosh, look at him now and get excited that you knew somebody who could do that and I think that it enriches the community.

It enriches the actors in a way that's very hard to describe.

It's just completely amazing and as a whole it gives the Bemidji area a chance to have arts and culture right here with us, without having to travel to go see the Guthrie Theater, to go wherever and so it provides excellent opportunity for both participation and for audience enjoyment.

It enriches us tremendously.

[music] Ernie: People really like the arts.

I think one of the things where really is driven home we have a number of school shows and it's just amazing the feedback we get from the teachers and the kids themselves that you know I've never seen a live show before.

This is amazing and hopefully that will stick with them and they'll continue to be involved and participate in the arts.

[background voice] Mary: I think Bemidji itself is like a diamond with many facets and so I always say it's the mecca of art especially so having Bemidji Community Theater is just one more facet in that diamond so people can go see live theater anytime of the year.

It can be summer, fall, winter, spring and it's just another little aspect or if they want to get involved in theater.

Again community theater runs the entire year so there's always something that's happening depending on how involved they want to get.

If they want to work behind the scenes we can do that, if they want to be on stage we can do that because we have so much of a variety.

Vickie: Community theater is supported by the community.

You support us when you come and see our plays.

You support us with your donations.

You support us when you talk us up to other people when you've seen a really good play and you tell your friends, you should go see this.

It's fabulous.

That helps but we are dependent on the community and we love to have people come in and see us and ask questions and get involved and as I said we have a myriad of things you can do in connection with, with community theater both on stage and off so you know we're nice people.

Come see us.

We're fun.

Scott: Thank you so much for watching.

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If you have an idea for Common Ground in north central Minnesota email us.

Production funding of Common Ground was made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community, Member FDIC.

Common Ground is brought to you by the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.

If you watch Common Ground online consider becoming a member or making a donation at lptv.org.