(soft music) - Stay tuned for On Q.

For KSMQ public television, I'm Eric Olson.

We meet Lindsey Williams, theater director at Riverland Community College right here in Austin.

And we're also going to speak with Shari Jenson, the new executive director of the Albert Lea Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce who will be joining us in the second half of the show.

It's all coming up On Q.

♪ Local ideas that matter to you ♪ ♪ Sharing our region's unique point of view ♪ ♪ Telling the stories that you never knew ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ ♪ On Q ♪ Welcome, my friends, to the theater Welcome to the theater, right, Lindsey?

If anyone knows what it takes to put on a theatrical production, Lindsey Williams, my guest.

She runs the theater program at Riverland Community College.

Welcome.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- We were chatting before, we both came to Austin about the same time.

It's just a little over 10 years.

11 years you've been in the theater program here.

- Yep, I started the fall of 2011 at Riverland.

So yeah, this just finished my 11th academic year of teaching there.

- So that's, let's see, from the Minneapolis area originally, if I'm correct, and cut your theater, theatrical teeth out in California.

- I did.

I grew up in Minneapolis, and then my family moved out to California when I was in high school.

So I spent about 16 years all over Southern California, about 10 years in LA, and then some of it in the Orange County and San Diego areas.

And yeah, Working in all sorts of different types of theater.

I mean, I acted, I directed, I produced, I stage managed.

I think I was just trying to get as much experience as I could doing as many different things as I could.

- Did you bring that to California?

Were you already interested when you were in Minnesota?

The theater bug, as they say, when it hit you.

- It's true, it is a bug.

It bites you.

Yeah, and then you're hooked forever.

No, I was.

I was really lucky growing up in Minneapolis, it's such a great vibrant theater community.

So I was really fortunate to have drama as part of my school curriculum growing up and to have places like the Children's Theater Company and the Guthrie.

I mean, I got to see some incredible theater when I was really young.

I was so fortunate to have that experience, and I think that's part of why I'm so passionate now about theater education and getting, you know, especially kids and young people exposed to theater as early as possible 'cause it makes a huge impact being able to just go see shows and get to see all the different things that theater can do.

So yeah, I was really loving it.

I think it was a big part of my life all through my childhood, but it wasn't really until I got into college that I saw that it was something that could perhaps be a career path for me.

And I started to take it more seriously and eventually get my theater degree.

- And then getting to Austin.

- Yeah.

(laughs) Well, my husband and I have been living in LA for about 10 years at that point.

And you know, we both kind of hit the point where we were ready to move somewhere a little bit quieter.

LA is great.

It's a wonderful place, but it can be a challenging place to live to.

It's expensive and it's crowded and there's so much traffic.

We were tired of all of that.

So when I started looking for academic jobs, Minnesota was high on the list of places because of my family roots here and I still have family here.

And actually growing up, I spent a lot of time in the Rochester area.

We had some family friends that lived in this area.

And so it was an area I was familiar with and felt comfortable.

So yeah, the job at Riverland came along and it was just meant to be.

- Well, the whole region's fortunate to have you here doing this.

[Lindsey] Thank you.

- You're at a organization, a college where there are a lot of technical skill trades.

It's not, I mean, it's liberal arts, but it's also, the theater department is somewhat smaller than in a four year institution.

Does that bring about extra challenges or rewards or is it the same basic work that you do with students?

- I mean, yeah.

Ultimately, we're always trying to do the same basic work.

But yes, I mean, there are challenges and rewards to it.

I think where, where Riverland is so fortunate and the Austin community is so fortunate is that this vibrant theater department has existed for over 50 years now.

And we have to credit Frank W. Bridges who got things started back in the late 1960s, and then Jerry Girton who was in my position for many, many years.

And they really created a department that isn't just for the students, but for the whole community.

And so, yes, our main focus is education and providing really great learning opportunities for our students, but we serve the entire community of the region.

We welcome community members to come and participate in our productions, as you know, and you've been in some of them.

And to come and see our productions to get involved in what we do.

And we're really fortunate to have that.

I don't think there's a lot of academic theater programs like ours out there that have so much community support and involvement.

And you can just see from the audiences that come out to see the shows and the people in our community who have done so many shows with us that we're just tremendously fortunate to have that kind of support here.

And so that was something that really attracted me to Riverland and I think is just one of the biggest strengths of our program is, yes, we're a small academic department, but because we have that support from the community, it doesn't feel as much like a small program.

We have so many wonderful experienced theater people here in town.

They help just provide so much more diversity and richness and support to what we do.

- I wonder about the young people here, the students primarily you get.

Do you ever, have you ever had a light bulb moment?

I'm just fantasizing about this, but that the student hadn't done a show before or thought about it, but didn't do it.

And then they're there and all of a sudden, hey, I really kind of like this.

- Yeah, I have.

I've been lucky to have a few of those, and it's always so much fun to see when they get bit by that bug, like you said.

Yeah, we always say, if we can just get them into their first show, you know?

I'll meet students in a class, and we'll say, hey, come audition for a show, come be a part of what we do.

And if we can get them to do just that first one, then we know we've got them, you know?

Then once they've done that first show, they have such a wonderful time, they make so many friends, they have so much fun, then we don't have to try to beg them to come back and do the second show.

Then they're gonna come back and they're gonna keep being a part of it.

So yeah, it's been really fun to see those aha moments happen.

- And I know that there's an academic, like an achievement.

Students do better at other facets of their education if they're involved in some kind of arts.

- Yeah, or just any of our student life programming.

That's something that's a real challenge now with COVID, so much of our academic programming was moved online, and more and more is coming back to campus now.

But you know, I've never been against online education.

I think having online classes is a wonderful thing, can be really beneficial for a lot of our students.

But when they're taking too many classes online, they're missing out on all of those in person extracurricular, you know, creative endeavors, like being a part of the theater show.

So that's something we're really working on now in this kind of post COVID theater era is getting students to understand that yes, take the online classes, there's benefits, but there's still reasons why you wanna be on campus.

And it's to come and see the plays or to be in a show or to be involved in the choir or with a student organization because that's such a vital part of the college experience.

- That must be all of your colleagues are probably dealing with the same issue.

Is it like a globe, kind of a industry-wide?

- It is, really.

It's college-wide it's industry-wide.

You know, but I think fine arts in particular, COVID has really affected what we did.

And so we're all kind of learning about this new normal now, because there are some things that won't change and there are some things that have gone back a little bit to we're producing live shows again in the theater.

But yeah, I think the students that I see who do come to campus who get involved with the shows, you know, yes, it's a lot of work.

And so sometimes when you're taking a full load of classes, I mean, you won't believe how hard some of those students work.

You know, they're in school all day and at rehearsal all night, and they're probably some of the hardest working students on the campus.

But they do.

They have a support network of peers.

They have some structure and just this creative outlet, something that they can pour themselves into that you're not gonna find in a regular classroom class.

So I think that's really special about our program too.

- And you have a few staff members too.

Others that, if you're watching us right now from Austin, you may have heard the names or known them in the past.

Why don't you run those folks down who help you?

- Yeah, we're really a team of three at the Riverland Theater Department.

Susan Hanson is our other theater faculty member who's been here for many, many years, done many shows.

She directs some of our shows.

She teaches them the classes.

And so, you know, most of the students get to work with both of us in their time in the department, which is great because we come from very different backgrounds in theater.

She has a lot more TV film experience.

She'll go and direct a Shakespeare play whereas I'm the musical theater person.

I wanna do like the big musical, you know?

"Little Shop of Horrors."

And so it's great because they get those two different experiences.

And then we're so fortunate to have John Dio as our technical director who's taking care of all of the sets, the lights, the sound, all the technology, you know, and he's wonderful as well.

So our students also have opportunities to do things like work behind the scenes.

We have work study jobs where they can learn from John, building sets and hanging lights and running the sound board.

- Well, that's the thing too.

The smallness helps.

Because a lot of big college or public theater programs, you're never gonna get, you know, my son when he was young and in high school came and worked building stuff in the theater, and it's helped.

It's really gave himself confidence 'cause I'm not a handy person.

I'm not a handyman.

So those kind of opportunities you would not get in a larger institution.

- Yeah, and we really, we don't say no to students.

If someone comes to us and says, I'm interested in trying this, or I'd like to try stage managing or I'd like to try lights.

Great, we need your help.

There are those opportunities to get involved, and that's not always the case in a large university.

If you already have, you know, 10 students who are getting a degree in stage management, the stage manager jobs are already taken.

And so a student who's never stage managed before might not have that chance.

But we had a student just this past spring who was a first time stage manager and said, I'm interested in trying this.

I wanna do it.

And she did, and she did a fantastic job.

So there's just those opportunities if people are interested, they can try things and get those experiences.

And I'm a big proponent of getting as many different experiences in the theater as you can, not just acting or just being on the crew 'cause we get, too, the students who just wanna do the tech work and they're afraid to be on stage, but try auditioning for a show once.

Try being up in the light booth for a show because the more you can learn about all the different pieces, the more job opportunities there are for you, the more skills that you have.

But the more well rounded you'll be in whatever you do in the theater.

- That's very, very important.

I mean, our businesses are very different, but I do, That's the one thing I tell young people.

If you can, don't intern at a big station.

Everybody wants to go.

Where we live here, it's all Minneapolis.

I wanna intern at the bright lights, big TV station.

And I say, that's great.

You're gonna answer the phone.

Period, you know?

I worked there.

I know that's what interns do.

So yeah, you can put it on your resume, but if you come to Austin, you'll get to do everything.

And the same with the theater.

- Well, it's one of the benefits of a community college too because we are smaller and we're able to be so much more individualized, you know?

Students who go off to a four year theater program, they might audition their freshman year, their sophomore year and not get cast in a show until they're juniors are seniors.

But if they come to Riverland, and we can cast students in shows the very first semester that they arrive, We have so many opportunities, and they can just build up so much more experience that then they can transfer to that four year university and take with them, but now they have eight shows on their resume that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

So I think, again, it's a really big strength for a smaller school and one like us that we have a lot of opportunities for such a small program.

- In our final minute here, I just kind of wanna go in a big picture question.

In theater and shows, I'm no expert, but you see a lot more of gender changing with roles of classics.

I just went up to the Tempest at the Guthrie and all the leads were, if it was a man originally, it's a woman.

Is that a phase?

Is that a permanent change or it'll be, we'll never know?

What what's your guess?

- Yeah, Well, and there's a production of "Company"% on Broadway too that just won a Tony award and it's the same thing.

They flipped the gender.

So usually the lead character, Bobby, is male, and they've now made her female and switched it.

So yeah, I think, you know, my personal feeling is that theater is meant to speak to us and where we are today.

And so when you have a show, a play like the "Tempest" that was written hundreds of years ago, my question is always, how do we make this relevant for today?

How do we make this a show that modern audiences will relate to and take something away from?

Because if we just put on the show the way that they put it on hundreds of years ago, that wouldn't necessarily resonate with our modern audiences.

So I think that's one tool that directors are using because it does force us to look at the material in a different way, because maybe in the past, roles weren't being written for say, women, that would, yeah, perhaps allow them to play characters of power or characters with different skill sets.

And so it gives modern actors a chance to tackle some of those roles, but I think it's really exciting, you know?

I don't wanna see a museum piece.

I don't wanna see a show that's done the same way as it's been done every single time for the last, you know, decades or hundreds of years.

I wanna see what's something new that we can bring to it.

How can we make audiences relate to what they're seeing on stage?

- Wonderful.

Lindsey, thank you for the time for visiting.

Congrats on your work at Riverland Theater, and have a great semester in school year.

- [Lindsey] Thank you so much for having me.

(soft music) - Well, if you have ever wondered what a local Chamber of Commerce does to keep a city thriving, we're gonna learn a little more about that right now on On Q.

Today, we have with us Shari Jenson who is executive director of Albert Lea Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce.

Welcome, Shari.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- Yes.

So how did you come to be in the business of Chamber of Commerce?

What the skills did you bring to the position?

- I'll be honest with you, this is my first Chamber of Commerce position.

My background is actually in nonprofit management, but have been involved with a lot of chambers.

I've had the opportunity to live in a lot of different places and was always in a involved with the chambers there, so.

- And it's been about two years that you've been in Albert Lea Freeborn County.

- Yes.

I came in during COVID, and I'm still here.

- [Eric] Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

- Right.

- I know there's an interaction with the business community that the chamber is sort of, if I could say the voice of the businesses, because they all are too busy to speak about business issues.

Is that sort of it?

- It can be whether they're too busy or they've got things going on, and they just don't know how to handle them.

They don't know where to go for help, whatever the case may be.

We get a lot of phone calls on a lot of different things.

- Oh, from your members in the public.

- From the community members.

Yeah.

It's amazing just some of the random calls we get, but it helps us to know more for sure.

Things that, you know, questions we may never ask, and then we find the answer.

- And the chamber is not a government organization.

It's a membership organization.

So the businesses in Freeborn county who choose to join pay like a dues.

- [Shari] Exactly, exactly.

- Right But you get a lot of calls that have nothing to do, because the public might not understand, and they see the chamber, oh, we'll just call them.

They'll have the answer.

- Exactly, exactly.

Kind of an information hotline, right?

- And your staff.

Talk a little bit about who helps you in this mission.

- We are a small staff, a staff of two, and we also have a receptionist.

So in Albert Lea, we've joined forces.

We now share office space with our Economic Development Department and also our CVB.

So we all share a receptionist for each of the entities to help save on cost.

- Sure.

And where are you located?

- We are right on Broadway.

Just up from the lake.

- Okay.

And there's a lot happening in Albert Lea this summer with like improvements with the roads coming in.

- Right.

They just finished fixing Bridge, which has been, I mean, it's beautiful.

Took a nice drive down bridge Bridge Avenue, and it's nice and smooth now, and they're working on Main Street.

- And so, that was to mitigate the flooding also, right?

- On Main Street, yes.

That was part of the issue.

- And is that done or where are they at?

- Oh, no.

They're in the first phase of that.

So we've got a lot of roads torn up right now.

So it's a little bit of a detour situation over there, but it's gonna be great in the end.

- And pardon me for not being from Albert Lea or Freeborn county, so I'm asking things as a visitor.

What's the other thing by Fountain Lake?

The big that's being built.

- [Shari] The water tower.

- Okay.

It looks like it could be.

That's gonna be the water, new?

- Yes, we needed to replace the water tower.

So there was a lot of discussion on whether it would stay in the same place or whether they would move it, and it was decided that it would be most cost affected to keep it where it is.

So they're building the new water tower.

- Okay, so it's just re revamping or making it bigger or by something.

- Bigger, better.

All the stuff.

- What has surprised you most in your time here to this area and in your position.

Is there anything that's?

- So I grew up in Albert Lea, And growing up, I thought that all I wanted to do was leave Albert Lea.

And you know, there's nothing to do here, that whole thing.

And so I was gone for a long time and came back.

So now being in my position and learning so much more about the community, you know, my brain at this age is a lot different than my brain at that age, and I can see so much more of what our hometown and Freeborn county have to offer.

So that's been the most interesting, I think.

- Many downtowns, there are still empty storefronts anywhere, you know, pretty much anywhere you go, except Rochester maybe these days with all the expansion going on there.

But has Albert Lea, did COVID really throw a fast ball to Albert Lea more so, or what's the economic health vitality of the area?

- I think, economically, we're doing great.

Obviously, we're faced with the same challenges that a lot of other communities are.

We've got our housing challenges, we've got our childcare challenges.

And of course, it seems like everywhere you look, businesses are hiring.

But as far as businesses closing, we were very fortunate in that we didn't lose businesses over COVID.

We just did our best to help them all make the adjustments they needed to make so they could survive and then continue to thrive after COVID.

- They often say about chambers is that small businesses are the key to a growing community, as opposed to like the biggies, Albert Lea Select Foods or Mrs. Jerry's, they're the big ones.

Is that true in Albert Lea too?

- You know, I think we need, them all.

It depends on, you know, it just depends on what the needs are based on the individual, based on your community.

But I feel like they're all important, and we've got some great small businesses, boutiques, small restaurants, that kind of thing.

But obviously Albert Lea Select Foods, Cargill, places like, they're wonderful supporters of the community, and we need them.

- And your industrial park has many various skilled industry, industrial businesses that serve other big companies.

It's really, it's interesting to look through the names and see what they make.

- And the connections too.

It is very interesting.

- Talk a little bit about that.

- And those are things that I didn't realize either, you know, and just even the career forces, the different folks that work there and the things that they do that support the community.

And I'm of course drawing a blank on names right now, but it has been really interesting to see.

- And of course, Albert Lea is home to community college, the Riverland Community College in Albert Lea.

And just a couple of years ago, I know they expanded, I believe it was the auto mechanic area.

There's a big, they received several million dollars of state funds for new buildings, so that's kind of on the rise, and truck driving also is going to the community college.

- Right, and a lot with manufacturing all the different things.

I've been fortunate, I got my start at Riverland.

So it's been kind of fun to see the changes with Riverland too, since I got back, and we're fortunate to have a board member from Riverland and do a lot of partnerships throughout our chamber committees with them as well.

- Oh, is that, would that be in a way of like, they have students and the businesses have need?

Like how to train them?

- Exactly.

We have a business education collaborative committee that works together to see if there are ways that we can partner these two, partner Riverland with the business side of things, whether it's to create new programs or to educate students and businesses on the programs that are available to find ways that they can connect.

- Oh, okay.

- In hopes of filling some of these business needs.

- So even the big employers are looking, need workers at this time?

- Yes.

We work with the school on Future Forward, the Future Forward program to connect businesses and students and teachers.

- [Eric] Oh, talk a little bit about that.

I don't know about that.

- So that's through the school, and what it is is you can go online, individuals or businesses can go online and register, and it'll link them up with the school.

So that whether a class may need a speaker to come in to talk about the business, or if the business wants to learn more about what the students are learning and that kind of thing.

- So it's called Future Forward.

- [Shari] Future Forward.

- And so that's a way for the business to come in and say, hey, maybe you haven't heard of us.

Here's what we do.

Maybe you can join us.

- You may have a future with us, right?

- Okay, yeah, very nice.

'Cause Albert Lea Select Foods, those are great, good companies and been there a long time so there's some stability there if were looking for work.

- Yes, and of course, Mrs. Jerry's, like you mentioned, they're wonderful.

And you know, we're really blessed to have all the great supporters in our community that we do.

- For the long time, people in the area, They wonder about that I-90 and 35.

How come it hasn't just become a massive, it's a great intersection and people drive on I-90 and they see these massive oasis things, and it really hasn't, there's some there, there's trails, but it's not, I don't know if, that's probably not a question for you.

- Well, I think that, yeah, trails gets, obviously they're hopping out in that area and a couple hotels have gone up out there, which has been good as well.

And then on 90, of course, we've Bird Dale Harley, so during Sturgis, you know, we get a lot of traffic through town during Sturgis.

- Oh sure.

'Cause they're on their way out or back.

- Right, right.

- Okay.

- And so then hopefully directing them into town so they can see our beautiful lakes and all the rest of the things that Albert Lea has to offer.

- And Freeborn mower co-op is building a new-- - [Shari] They've got a new building.

- Are they, it's not done yet.

- [Shari] it is.

- Oh, it is done, okay.

Which was right there.

Are they in the same?

- So no, they're now off 90, when you take 90 and go out that way, they're-- - Oh, okay.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for joining us, Shari, it's been a pleasure.

- [Shari] Thank you.

- And that's all for today.

Thank you very much for joining us On Q.

For KSMQ public television, I'm Eric Olson.

See you next time.

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