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Other stories in "Music & theater"

• Music on the Mississippi
  In southeast Minnesota, an unusual medley of rural and small-town venues draws delighted audiences.
• Summer nights in Solon Springs
  In Wisconsin, big-name musicians find their way to a small-town park.

Summer on stage

In resort towns, theaters offer a midsummer's-night diversion.

In 1951, an entrepreneur had big plans for Bemidji.

He brought a troupe of New York actors to the northern Minnesota town, set up a theater at a resort on the shore of Lake Bemidji and started a glorious season of summer stock.

Four weeks later, he was broke, and the actors were stranded.

But Bemidji's citizens had become hooked on theater. They raised enough money to pay the actors' room and board while they performed the rest of the season's plays, and enough to pay for their tickets home. Then the town raised enough to pay for a season the next year, and the year after that.

Now, the Paul Bunyan Playhouse is Minnesota's oldest professional summer-stock company, still run by devoted volunteers.

At summer theaters across the north woods, ambitious young actors and directors are gearing up for another summer of Shakespeare, Shaw and the high-energy musicals vacationers love — "Music Man,'' "Taffeta Memories,'' "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.''

They're light-hearted plays for light-hearted days. In Alexandria, a day at the beach usually precedes an evening at Theatre L'Homme Dieu, on the shores of Lake Le Homme Dieu since 1961. In Minnesota's bluff country, much of the audience arrives at Commonweal Theatre after a day of canoeing or bicycling along the Root River. Spring Green, Wis., is home not only to the American Players Theater but to Wisconsin's No. 1 tourist attraction, House on the Rock.

In Wisconsin's Door County, American Folklore Theatre performs under the stars in beautiful Peninsula State Park. The Peninsula Players are nearby, in Fish Creek; the troupe put on its first plays in 1935 in the back yard of a Fish Creek motel and now is the nation's oldest professional resident summer theater.

Of the theaters below, only the American Folklore Theatre and American Players Theater perform in the open air.

American Folklore Theatre in Fish Creek, Wis.  From June 18 through Aug. 30, it's staging "Fishing for the Moon,'' "Lumberjacks in Love'' and "A Cabin With a View'' in repertory. 920-854-6117, www.folkloretheatre.com.

American Players Theater, Spring Green, Wis. In repertory, it will perform "A Midsummer's Night Dream,'' "Ah, Wilderness!'' "Henry IV: The Making of a King,'' "Widowers' Houses'' and "The Belle's Strategem.'' 608-588-2361, www.americanplayers.org.

Big Top Chautauqua, Bayfield, Wis. It schedules musical revues and concerts by nationally known performers most nights through Sept. 6. 888-244-8368, www.bigtop.org.

Commonweal Theatre, Lanesboro, Minn. It's staging "Harvey'' in repertory with "Man of La Mancha,'' through Oct. 25. 800-657-7025, www.commonwealtheatre.org.

Grand Marais Playhouse, Grand Marais, Minn. It's staging "Almighty Bob,'' June 26-July 6; "How to Talk Minnesotan,'' July 24-Aug. 3; and "Don't Dress for Dinner,'' Aug. 21-31. 218-387-1284, www.arrowheadcenterforthearts.org/playhouse.

Great River Shakespeare Festival, Winona, Minn. "The Taming of the Shrew'' and "Merchant of Venice'' will be staged June 27-July 27. 507-474-7900, www.grsf.org.

Long Lake Theater, Hubbard, Minn. This small theater in the lakes country near Park Rapids is putting on "Taffeta Memories,'' June 4-28; "Guys on Ice,'' July 9-Aug. 2; and "Last of the Red Hot Lovers,'' Aug. 6-30. 218-732-0099, www.longlaketheater.net.

Mantorville Theatre Company, Mantorville, Minn. In the stone 1918 Opera House of this tiny village near Rochester, this company puts on old-fashioned melodramas with audience participation. They're not sophisticated, but they're fun.

This year: June 20-July 6, "Ax Me No Questions" or "Pines Are Never Blue but Ever Green"; July 11-27, “The Labors of Love”; Aug. 1-17, “The Road to Wasioja” or “Do You Feel a Draft?”; and Aug. 22-Sept. 7, “A Schreck in the Night” or “Yes! We Have Nosferatu.” 507-635-5420, www.mantorvillain.com.

Paul Bunyan Playhouse, Bemidji, Minn. It's staging "Little Shop of Horrors,'' June 11-21; "The Foreigner,'' June 25-July 5; "Laughter on the 23rd Floor,'' July 9-19; "Three Days of Rain,'' July 23-Aug. 2; "The Music Man,'' Aug. 6-16.
218-751-7270, www.paulbunyanplayhouse.com. Bemidji tourism, 800-458-2223, www.visitbemidji.com

Peninsula Players, Fish Creek, Wis. This season, "Greetings,'' June 17-July 6; "Born Yesterday,'' July 9-27; "The Lady's Not for Burning,'' July 30-Aug. 10; "Rumors,'' Aug. 13-31; and "Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,'' Sept. 3-Oct. 19. 920-868-3287, www.peninsulaplayers.com.

St. Croix Festival Theatre, St. Croix Falls, Wis. It's staging "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,'' June 19-29; "Dates With a Nut,'' July 10-Aug. 10; and "Sea Marks,'' Aug. 14-24. 715-483-3387, www.festivaltheatre.org.

Theatre l’Homme Dieu, Alexandria, Minn. "Quilters,'' June 17-28; Kevin Kling's "The Ice Fishing Play,'' July 1-5; Noel Coward's "Hay Fever,'' July 8-19; "The Middle Ages,'' July 22-26; and Larry Shue's "My Emperor's New Clothes,'' July 29-Aug. 9.
320-846-3150, www.tlhd.org.

Last updated on August 4, 2008