Among Other Things

Tradition: The show must go on, and it did

The Port Polson Players' final summer season presentation, "The Voice of the Prairie," is another unusual selection when compared to normal summer theatre fare. But it's a good one.

Karen Lewing told me "We've been waiting for just the right cast to put on this play, and this year we have it." The three-person cast is composed of veterans Neal Lewing, Mike Lozar and Alicia Bullock-Muth. And they handle the sometimes difficult staging and portrayals in true professional style.

Actually, the plot, which incorporates the early days of radio, reminded me of Garrison Keillor's popular "A Prairie Home Companion," which has played on public radio stations every Saturday night for years.

Unlike Keillor's program which is comprised of guest musicians and separate unconnected skits, "The Voice of the Prairie" is a collection of separate skits that are connected.

The main theme centers around the relationship of Davey Quinn and Frankie the blind girl. Davey, who has a natural gift of story telling, is persuaded by radio promoter-con man Leon Schwab to tell those stories over the radio. Davey is reluctant because he can't see the listening audience. He's used to spinning his yarns face-to-face with folks.

But he agrees to try. After a hesitant start, Davey warms up quickly to his ability to tell stories, most of them concerning his adventures with Frankie the blind girl. His listening audience begins to wonder if Frankie is a real person or a figment of Davey's imagination.

Which is it? That's for you to find out by seeing the play!

The three-person cast keeps busy assuming various roles. Neal Lewing is Davey's father Poppy, Frankie's father, Leon Schwab, the Rev. James, the newsstand vendor, the watermelon man and the jailer.

Mike Lozar is David Quinn, Davey and various off-stage characters and voices.

Alicia Bullock-Muth plays Frankie, Susie and Frances Reed as well as off-stage characters and voices.

Unfortunately, the opening weekend coincided with Polson's Festival weekend, a Friday night concert in Riverside Park and a Saturday night concert at the fairgrounds.

Less than 30 people were in the audience that Friday night. I couldn't help but think how difficult it would be to play to such a small gathering.

Adding to the challenge was some type of reception with very loud music next door in Boettcher Park. That music intruded time and again into the play setting.

The various skits take place in a tavern, the back room of a hardware store, a farm, an alley, a street, an expensive suite at Kansas City's Muelbach Hotel, a train platform and box car, a shed and a jail cell.

Tradition dictates that "the play must go on." And it did — delightfully so.

The Voice of the Prairie is well-worth seeing. It plays at the John Dowdall Theatre on the Polson Golf Course's "old nine" Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Final performance will be the Aug. 27 matinee.

Call 883-9212 for reservations.

Most difficult to write

The most difficult subjects for me to write are the tributes to prominent community people who have died. They've contributed so much to their communities.

No words can do them justice and over the years there have been hundreds of those folks.

Most recent who come to mind are Ina Davis, Dean Knutson, Bill Edelman, Susie Hanson, and Enoch Richwine

It's impossible to try to list them all. To get an idea, though, here are a few that come to mind — many of them well before the present generation: John Davis, Norin Johnson, Don Johnson, Fay McAlear, Jean and Mae McIntire, Golden Bibee, Les Baldwin, D.G. Ellenwood, Dr. Walter Tanglin, Tella Loman, Homer and Mildred Murphy, Phil Timm, Steve Demers, Mike Turner, Joe Keys, Blanche Harding, Wayne Mahugh, Bill Bishop, Don Lincoln, Ward and Mary Benkelman, Neva Tollefson, Bob Lambeth, Max Stark, Harold Gregg, Chuck Harball, Leland Schoonover, Rich Stripp, Clint White, Father Leonard Jensen, Walter McDonald, Ralph Sheneman, John Dutzar, John Dowdall, Bud Morse, Ralph Tower, Bill Burley, Don and Mary Bartell, and so many more.

I'm so grateful to have known each of them. Each had a positive impact on their community. They blazed many a trail.

And you know what? It's heartening to know that despite their death, there are countless others who have picked up where their predecessors left off. How fortunate we are.