Area residents are invited to assist a University of Minnesota acting professor in writing a play during a three-day workshop next week in Luverne.
The event is free and is open to anyone age 14 and older.
Luverne Seifert (no relationship to the town of the same name) is a professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.
Ideally, Seifert would like 10 to 15 persons to help him write the play.
“If we get fewer people than that, I will work around it. If we get more than that, it will be wonderful,” he said.
A grant through the Minnesota State Arts Board is allowing Seifert to conduct the local workshop focusing on physical comedy and play reading. A similar workshop will be conducted next month in Virginia, Minnesota.
After the completion of the workshops, Seifert said he will take the local input back to the Twin Cities, where professionals perform the finished script for his play called “Into the Weeds.”
The performance will take place in mid-March, he said.
The final play will contain characters developed by the local actors and their vaudeville performances from the workshops.
“I am trying to make it about a restaurant,” Seifert said, with customers performing vaudeville acts as they enter.
The workshop would show participants how to develop classic vaudeville routines from their everyday situations. Timing, rhythm and comedic storytelling would be emphasized.
In Luverne the workshops will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12, and from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, at the St. Catherine Pastoral Center. Participants should use the North McKenzie Street entrance.
On Sunday, Feb. 14, Seifert’s residency will conclude with a staged reading and comedy demonstration of his play at the Palace Theatre.
The public performance begins at 2 p.m. There will be an admission charge.
Seifert said he was a member of the French theater troupe (Theatre de la Jeune Lune) and liked the vaudeville-type of performances.
“They are always fun to work on,” he said.
Research into vaudeville in Minnesota led Seifert to choose Luverne and Virginia because of their historic theaters. Both were built as a result of the highly popular vaudeville performances on the East Coast.
Seifert said he also chose Luverne for its strong community theater support through the Green Earth Players.
To register for Seifert’s free workshop, email seife014@umn.edu or call 612-414-2032.