BY LAURA GRUHLKE | Arts & Entertainment Editor
From October 1 through 10 the Marshall Performing Arts Center will be hosting the UMD Theatre Department’s production of “Spoon River”.
“Spoon River” is a performance adapted from Edgar Lee Masters’ book of poems titled “Spoon River Anthology”.
Director Tom Isbell claims, “It (Spoon River Anthology) has been described as the ultimate depiction of the Midwestern village.”
While there are over 240 poems in the book, this particular adaption will include around 60 of the poems with some added songs.
Compared to many big musicals this particular production has a relatively small cast of only nine, so each person plays around 6-7 roles in the telling of the poems.
Because the cast is smaller, the actors and actresses became a tightly knit group.
“It’s been a very collaborative process. I feel selfish even using the word ‘I’ with this because it has been such a ‘we’ process,” actor Erik Meixelsperger said.
Not only has this production brought cast-mates close to each other but also the community. Isbell said that he and his team have reached out to the Duluth community and asked for their participation in this production.
There will be a use of projections throughout this play and photos, which Isbell thought would bring a new experience to the theater.
Isbell and his wife went to the cemetery where some of the people who the characters of the play were based off of are buried. He took photos of the cemetery and the surrounding community that will be incorporated into the show.
Not only will there be the pictures from the community he traveled to but also from the Duluth community.
“We are going to end the play with pictures of the Duluth community. It’s going to be a very personalized and, I think, moving event,” Isbell said.
Earlier this year Isbell and his team reached out to members of the community to gather images of people's loved ones who have passed. He received many pictures and even some heartfelt stories from loved ones around the Duluth area.
Meixelsperger says that this production is not going to be what people expect. “The show really packs a punch to it and has a lot of heart to it,” Meixelsperger said.
To add a lighter note the play also includes a decent amount of humor in it.
“It will make people laugh and other times it will make people gasp,” Meixelsperger said.
This production isn’t your typical poetry reading. With the adaptations made by Isbell and other faculty at UMD it will be a community wide event.
“Spoon River” opens on Oct. 1. Tickets are available for purchase at the UMD Theatre Box Office on campus or online at www.tickets.umn.edu/UMDSFA/Online.