There is always something going on at The Palace, the restored Vaudeville theatre here in town. They schedule movies every week. This week there were kids’ movies. This weekend there is a murder mystery play put on by The Green Earth Players, our local community theatre group. A TR Roosevelt reenactor from Medora, ND is coming on the 16th, and a concert pianist is coming at the end of the month.
One of my former psychology colleagues from ND is obsessed with the Titanic disaster and has put together a one woman show of a Titanic survivor, complete with an authentic period costume. I plan to connect her and The Palace organization so perhaps she can perform here. She is a perfect fit for the venue. I also plan, in the fall, to avail myself to The Green Earth players as a volunteer and perhaps an actor. We shall see what I end up doing. I should really love to act.
You live in a small community that needs actors and tech help for its theatre company. How could you help? What roles would you play if you had to be on stage? Why are they called The Green Earth Players?
Trail Baboon 
I’m uncertain as to how to interpret that last sentence, “I should really love to act.” Are you saying you would love to act or are you saying you should love to act if you were to volunteer to be cast?
I am not an actor, never have been. At best, I am awkward at inhabiting anyone but myself. But when my daughter was in high school and active in theatre, Robin and I were the only parents who volunteered to help with costuming and that was enjoyable. We also did some volunteer work at the old Guthrie.
A little earlier, i had a cottage industry making props for professional photographers. That called for experimentation with a wide variety of materials and more close realism than the stage would require, so I would probably volunteer myself as a prop and set person.
Who knows why they have chosen to call themselves The Green Earth Players? There’s probably a reason. Why don’t you ask?
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I know why. I wanted Baboons to do some research.
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1. I would try out for the chorus if there was a musical.
[I did this when a Winona group put on Fiddler on the Roof, summer of maybe 1984. Tried out for Golde, got in the chorus, but ended up not having time to participate.]
2. And I would tell them to import Ben for lighting.
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Ha! Thanks–
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At the college shows, I’m responsible for all aspects of the show — for the production side.
So when I go to other theaters just to do lighting, it feels like a vacation! ‘You mean that broken set piece isn’t my problem? Great!’.
I get a few college kids trained on the board so I can just say ‘Change that timing’ or ‘Add 12 to 50%. Good, update.’, but then they move on and I’m back to doing it myself.
Acting is fun. And the energy backstage or onstage is so different from anything else. But memorizing lines is getting harder. I joke I may get all the words in, but not necesarrily in the right order. Is that important??
You better have good people around you to cover your ass.
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I think that last sentence applies to every aspect of theatre!
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I was a theater geek in high school and did some theater in college as well. I have a bit of onstage experience but preferred backstage. Sets, props, costumes, prompt, makeup. My years in the bakery business kept me from exploring any theater options once I moved to the Twin Cities. Staying up late for theater and getting up at 3:30/4 in the morning for bakery work don’t mix very well. I haven’t explored it since I’ve retired – seems like a younger person‘s game to me at this point – please don’t tell Jessica Tandy or Hume Cronyn that I said that!
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They won’t have an opinion.
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Dick Van Dyke? Isn’t he over 100 now? I think someone took away his drivers license after his accident a few years ago.
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I just looked up the Green Earth Players, and they look like they are very active, and have a lot of fun. I couldn’t find, however, anything that says why they are called Green Earth Players…
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Good Evening,
I was at a Parkinson’s Disease Event today with husband, so I did not get to reply for most of the day. I looked up “Green Earth” and found that it is a phrase often used for environmental projects and causes. It also refers to a pigment used in ancient oil painting.
So that makes me wonder if the Green Earth players refers to some of the rock deposits and outcroppings around Luverne? Or perhaps they are actors devoted to environmentalism?
Meanwhile, I consider myself someone who enjoys theater as part of the audience, and that is how I contribute. At this late date I will not be on stage.
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When I hear the words Green Earth I think of the expression “God’s green earth”, which may be something like a sanitized version of “in hell”…for instance, saying “there is no way on God’s green earth I would ever vote for a MAGA Republican”.
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My high school had an excellent theater program and several of my friends were very involved in theater (and went on with it as a career). I could get through singing auditions but failed dancing and acting every time. So I got involved backstage, from building scenery and stage crew to props “master” to publicity and ticket sales.
If I got involved in community theater now, I’d probably stick to a behind-the-scenes role. I’d be too nervous to get in front of an audience and remember lines, much less deliver them convincingly.
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