Remembering Randy Beard
Randy was a sweet soul and wonderful collaborator. Take your bow, Randy.
- Ron Peluso, Artistic Director
Randy (William Randall) Beard, playwright/creator of History Theatre's Beyond the Rainbow, the Judy Garland musical that was commissioned by History Theatre in 2005, passed away today. Randy was a casualty of COVID-19. History Theatre most recently presented his show in December of 2019 just months before the theaters closed due to the pandemic. This musical has been widely produced across the country with more than a dozen professional theater productions including Florida Stage in West Palm Beach, Meadow Brook Theatre in Detroit and Des Moines Playhouse.
Randy was always an absolute joy to work with and so loved BEYOND THE RAINBOW and the many productions and casts.
Randy had also penned a short play about his father's military service in World War II, in History Theatre's Under the Stars & Stripes: Stories of WW II.
For more than three decades, Randy had written for a number of Twin Cities theaters, including Park Square and Red Eye Theatre. For many years, Randy was an Associate Member of the Playwrights’ Center and wrote theatre & classical music reviews for the Star Tribune.
Daunte Wright
Again we mourn for the wrongful death of a young black man
Again we weep for his family, community and our city
Again we will stand against racism in all forms – in our house and all others
SAY HIS NAME
DAUNTE WRIGHT
Ron Peluso, Karen Mueller & Company
Remembering Rick Cardenas
1996. We worked with Rick and Interact Theater on Bob Beverage' Let Heaven & Nature Sing. This play dealth with the nearly 5,000 'numbered gravestones' at Faribault State Hospital. Rick and ACT (Advocating Change Together) worked relentlessly and successfully to get our Legislature to replace those 'numbers' with the names of the over 13,000 individuals who were anonymously buried at eight state-managed institutions throughout our state.Rick was a true champion for Minnesotans with disabilities.
- Ron Peluso, Artistic Director, History Theatre and C0-director, Let Heaven & Nature Sing
Let Heaven & Nature Sing
World Premiere November 30-December 22, 1996
Written by Bob Beverage | Co-directed by Ron Peluso and Jeanne Calvit
In 1946, families and individuals with disabilities like epilepsy and mental challenges lived in the shadows of American society. This play addresses the conflicts between privacy and secrecy, freedom and confinement, care and control, as well as sexuality, marriage, human dignity, faith and our compassion for those who are residents and caregivers at institutions for challenged persons. Audience members are encouraged to see the gifts, humor and humanity of every person they encounter. The play begins and ends in the present, but the majority of the action takes place in Faribault at the Minnesota School for the Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics between Christmas 1945 and 1946.
The cast featured Eric Wheeler, Cliff Poetz, Larry Hansen, Tinia Moulder, Merle McDill, Clark Cruikshank, Elizabeth Rae Peterson, Janet Hanson, Brad MacDonald, Amy Fisher, Jay Hornbacher, Jenner Snell, John Gustafson, Jeff Nelsen and Michelle Francois.
Pictured: Cliff Poetz, Eric Wheeler, Tinia Moulder. Photo by Gus Gustafson
Remembering Peter Ostroushko
Peter’s music is the musical heart and soul of Minnesota for me and always will be. Our collaboration with Roger Nieboer on FireBall: The Great Hinckley Fire, was a moment out of time, an endeavor in its own category and Peter was such an essential and heartful traveling companion on that journey. Losing Peter is a great loss for all of us—such beautiful artistry, such a wonderful human being and such a very dear friend.
- Joe Chvala, Director, Choreographer, Dancer of FireBall
Peter's haunting and beautifully crafted musical score made this dance/theatre piece one of the most stunning shows in our history.
- Ron Peluso, History Theatre Artistic Director
Click here to view the opening scene from FireBall: The Great Hinckley Fire Project
FireBall: The Great Hinckley Fire Project
World Premiere March 5-29, 2005 | Produced in association with Joe Chvala & the Flying Foot Forum
Conceived and developed by Joe Chvala, Roger Nieboer and Peter Ostroushko | Written by Roger Nieboer, with additional text and lyrics by Joe Chvala | Musical score composed by Peter Ostroushko
This show tells the tragic story of the Great Hinckley Fire of 1894. The story is set in Hinckley, Minnesota in 1894 and 1954. The show was a dance piece that used multimedia presentation during the production.
The cast featured Joey Babay, Jan Campbell, Terry Lynn Carlson, Joe Chvala, Brian Grandison, Karla K. Grotting, Michael T. Jacobsen, Sam L. Landman, Ryan McCartan, Dylan Frederick, Zoe Pappas, Martin Ruben, Amber Sausen, Joe Scrimshaw, Karen Weber and Pat Welch. Musicians: Peter Ostroushko, mandolin and violin; David Saffert, piano; Diane Tremaine, cello; and Mark Anderson, percussion.
Remembering Dudley Riggs, Brave New Workshop Founder
Dudley,
On my first visit to Minneapolis in 1975, I saw your show titled (I think) TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE; SO FAR. I was on leave from my H.S. teaching job in Pennsylvania, and I was so inspired that I went home and formed an "improv troupe" with my students. A few years later, I returned to Minnesota and saw (I didn't know it then that she'd become my better half) Sue Scott in a red elastic bag with the talented Beth Gilliland and Mark Bergren playing a beating heart! Very funny stuff! Amazingly, your work has touched the lives of thousands and thousands of artists and fans. In 2010, History Theatre was honored to tell your story DUDLEY: RIGGED FOR LAUGHTER! by Caleb McEwen. Your humor and politics kept us sane for decades. God bless you!
- Ron Peluso, History Theatre Artistic Director
Pictured: (left) Dudley Riggs, (right) Joe Scrimshaw as Dudley Riggs in Dudley: Rigged for Laughter! (2010)