When she was a little girl, Carol Ceynowa remembers playing Robin Hood in her hometown of Columbia Heights.
“My sister and I played Robin Hood all the time growing up,” Carol said. “She played Robin, and I played all the other parts. We had our own merry band."
Now, 60 years later, she and her husband Tim have written, directed, and produced their very own play based on the classic story.
Coming to the Palace Theatre in Luverne later this month, "Wanted: Robin Hood" will be the first play under the Rowdy Ravens LLC theater production company.
Alongside Carol's childhood nostalgia for the legend of Robin Hood, they chose the tale as the foundation of their play to bring new twists and turns to a story people already know.
"What's nice about adaptations is you're taking a familiar story and making it your own," Tim Ceynowa said.
While the couple wrote the majority of the story, they shared that the cast also helped shape the play.
"It's a wonderful cast, and the final product is based on their input," Tim said. "They take a character and say, 'This is how we want to play this.'"
It was the cast, actually, who encouraged Carol and Tim to take the leap and produce the play.
Cast members include:
Casey McKenzie as Robin Hood
Shawn Kinsinger as the Sheriff
Nicole Henrichs as Lady Marian
Jordan Degerness as Dunston
Chris Brown as Little John
Cody Henrichs as Will Scarlet
Tory Bohlke as Ginny
Berty Stearns as Annie of Riverwood
Katie Walgrave as Kate of Lockley
Haley Boltjes as Izzie of the Blue Boar
Tyler Johnson as David of Doncaster
Theo Babb as Arthur Tanner of Blyth
Tim Ceynowa as King Richard
Kira Degerness as Zoey
Katrina Brown as Lady Eleanor
D.J. Luethje as Phlegm
Dean Luethje as Spew
Anna Boltjes as Sweet Pea
Carol Ceynowa as Queen Wilhelmina
Both of the Ceynowas have previously written plays for the Green Earth Players community theater group. Carol has also designed sets, props and costumes, and she has worked directing plays.
This year, however, the calendar for the organization was full.
When the Ceynowas brought up that they’d written another play based on Robin Hood, cast members said they wanted to hear it, regardless.
“The cast said they’d really still like to do it, so we made it work,” Carol said. “We wouldn’t have done this play without their encouragement.”
“Wanted: Robin Hood” will be the Ceynowa’s third play they’ve written together. They also wrote “Alice in Wonderland” and “Back to Wonderland,” both performed by the Green Earth Players.
Tim shared that when they first started writing together, he was nervous.
“Carol has always been interested in us writing together, but I was always of the mind of ‘I don’t know,’” he said. “But she always encourages us to take risks.”
Both of their writing styles complement each other, he said. Carol uses her experience as an artist to bring images into the story, and Tim, a retired physician, brings in words.
“We really work well together, and we enjoy it,” Carol said.
Given how important theater has been in their lives, Carol and Tim said they are strong believers in making it accessible everyone.
Because of this, they’ve set the price for their play at just $5 a ticket. Additionally, students and one of their parents can attend the play free of charge.
“We’re hoping to give them an experience of live theater they maybe haven’t had before,” Tim said.
“We want it to be as accessible as possible.
“Wanted: Robin Hood” will premiere at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at the Palace Theatre in Luverne.
Subsequent shows will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 28, 2 p.m. March 1, 7 p.m. March 6 and 7 and 2 p.m. March 8.
Tickets are $5.
