Seven performers from the Twin Cities will join actors from the Grand Cities to perform an adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt's "The Visit," from Aug. 8 through 11 at the East Grand Forks Heritage Village at 219 20th St. NE.
The play opens when a wealthy woman returns to her hometown, from which she was ostracized when she became pregnant as a young girl.
She returns to the now-decaying town with a surprising proposition: she will write a large check to help the town out of poverty, but she wants justice.
The town must first murder the man who impregnated her.
"We were drawn to the play because of that question: In this time of economic strife, what would you do to save your town?" Darcey Engen said. "It starts out very, very funny, and as the hour and a half proceeds, it starts dealing with the issues in a really dramatic way."
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Engen, chair of the Theater Arts Program at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, and Luverne Seifert, head of the Theatre Performance program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, are directing the summer theater program, which visits East Grand Forks , Albert Lea and Blue Earth, Minn.
The program is one of many theater programs funded by Minnesota's Legacy Act, which provides funding to arts and cultural heritage projects throughout the state.
"Ours is unique in that we don't use a theater; we use a site-specific location," Engen said. "And we don't do it for the community; we do it with the community."
The dark comedy begins outside and takes audience members to different locations throughout Heritage Village.
"In the middle of the play, the audience is split into three small groups and will journey in three different locations," she said. "Each group will see different scenes, but each scene will reveal the same information they need to understand the play."
At the end, audience members will come together inside the church for the final act.
The traveling theater is also different from most in that it includes actors from each community it visits. Engen and Seifert held a casting in Grand Forks and sent scripts to each of the actors.
They will arrive with the other Twin Cities actors at the beginning of the week to rehearse with community actors.
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"It's challenging mostly for the actors in these small towns. They have 15 hours to figure it out," Engen said. "The whole thing is extremely unique."
If you go:
• What: "The Visit," a traveling summer theater program.
• When: 7 p.m. Aug. 8, 9 and 10; 1 p.m. Aug. 10 and 11.
• Where: East Grand Forks Heritage Village, 219 20th St. NE, East Grand Forks.
• Admission: Advanced tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com or at the door for $15.
Maki covers Arts & Entertainment and Life & Style for the Herald and can be reached at (701) 780-1122, (800) 477-6572, ext. 1122; or jmaki@gfherald.com .
