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Laughter is the best medicine, according to Luverne resident Brenda Winter.
She was the invited speaker at the Luverne Rotary Club’s weekly meeting Dec. 3 at Generations, formerly the Luverne Senior Citizens Center.
Winter portrays a senior citizen character named Marlene of the local comedy duo Marlene and Darlene, and she offered a sneak peek into the Dec. 22 Palace Theatre show, “Marlene and Darlene present The Nutcracker.”
Their performance will be the latest Generations fundraiser to support the construction project for the facility on Lincoln Street.
Winter said she and her sidekick actress, DJ Luethje, debuted their Marlene and Darlene stage act the spring of 2018 at the Atlas of Rock County banquet.
She worked with event organizer Lynette Hoiland on the banquet entertainment for the organization that offers caring and compassionate support programs in the community.
“The night was pretty serious, so we wanted something funny,” Winter recalled. “I started writing the kind of script where one person plays dumb and the other person educates her. It’s a fun way to convey important information to the audience without boring them to tears.”
Then in April, Marlene and Darlene headlined the Generations’ April Fools Day fundraiser, and again the sister duo educated attendees about plans for the new facility.
“That fundraiser made more than $80,000 and I’d like to think Marlene and Darlene are responsible for most of that,” she said.
Currently the group has $600,000 for the $2.5 million building project.
The Dec. 22 theatrical performance of “Marlene and Darlene present The Nutcracker” will take a similar approach.
“The title sort of pokes a stick at the current sleeping bear of the nutcracker controversy in Luverne,” Winter said. “Of course, I asked Betty Mann to be in the show and she jumped at the chance.”
In the Dec. 22 script, Marlene and Darlene move from “Leota in their Toyota” to their new home in Luverne where they join the active senior citizens group and take in the town’s attractions.
Betty Mann, president of the Rock County Historical Society and curator of the History Center’s nutcracker collection, a tourist attraction of more than 4,000 nutcrackers, portrays herself.
Some critics have objected to the promotion of Luverne as “The Nutcracker City.”
“Like everyone else, Marlene and Darlene want to support the building fund and come up with all kinds of fundraising ideas before settling on presenting ‘The Nutcracker,’ as performed by area seniors,” Winter said. “The gist of the story line is ‘Can Marlene pull this off?’”
George Bonnema, Generations president, also portrays himself in the production with a few other characters rounding out the cast.
“You know they say ‘real life mimics art’ and ‘art mimics real life,’” Winter added.
Two performances take place Dec. 22 at the Palace Theatre on Main Street Luverne. One performance is at 2 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m.
A freewill offering will be accepted at the door.
Proceeds from the two performances will be matched up to $5,000 through an anonymous donor.
“Along with the money, the purpose of the show is to keep the public’s attention on the Generations center,” Winter said, adding that it also addresses the topic of aging.
“We can think about aging with fear and dread, or we can make it a diminishing opponent by laughing at it.”