Quilters wows 'em

Alvord had one. So did Doon. Akron's still runs. I've been in Red Cloud, Nebraska's, where Willa Cather played a variety of roles more than a century ago. Tons and tons of Midwestern communities had theaters, "opera houses" most of them were called, stages where traveling shows performed, where companies of the communities own players put on years and years of productions, some of them serious, most of them just plain silly.

Orange City's Mary Poppins, this year's "Night Show," an astounding success, was sold out weeks before production. And last night Jeri Schelhaas's gang of Sioux Center actress/musicians wowed a huge crowd big-time and brought them to their feet because Quilters was beyond priceless. If they don't sell out on Saturday, something's amiss in my old  home town. Come one, come all--Quilters is one great show, precisely right for the region, beautifully acted and sung, blessedly received by an audience who couldn't get enough of the stories eight women told.

Sioux County was a little short in community theaters a century ago--'twas verboten, after all, to some powerful Dutch Calvinist interests; but in communities all over the upper Midwest community theaters were a staple and often a scream. Dare I say it?--maybe today it's making a comeback. If Quilters has anything to say about it, community theater may well return with a vengeance, where it hasn't already. That would be wonderful.

The only drain on last night's stunning performance was the galling roar of race cars at the track little more than a few blocks away. But add the crowd at the track to the Quilters' draw and you'll still come nowhere near the number of locals who were home solidly planted in front of the TV. Pre-TV, pre-internet, pre-quick trips to Sioux Falls, community theater was the only show in town. For a long time, it owned the battle for a community's entertainment dollar. It lost out to advances--one might say--in technology and mobility.

But I wonder whether a new "do it yourself" ethic might just rediscover the joy that used to draw adoring crowds into multitudinous small-town opera houses all over the region. The biggest shows of the year at the local colleges are talent and dance competitions created, rehearsed, then performed by ordinary mortals, amateurs all, kids just doing their own thing, without pay or professional help. 

And there's something doubly entertaining about watching stage performers do their thing when you didn't even know they had all that talent in 'em. Where the heck did Tamara get that gallery of zany faces? Who'd a thought Missy could be that snarky?

Quilters was just plain wonderful. I've seen the play before, twice, both times performed by college theater departments, great successes, charming and memorable; but as my wife said on the way home last night, these women--many (all?) moms themselves--know the stories the Quilters script tells in ways that college kids won't until they're, well, older, until they've faced some dilemmas themselves. 

Seriously, last night, the Twin Cities had nothing on us. No way. 

What a great show. And right here in River City--ah, Sioux Center. The stories told from the stage last night are ours, just as those who told them are. And that's cool.

You got two more chances on Saturday. 

Don't miss it!