Letter to the editor: Huppler

Letter To the Editor:

Dear readers:

This year marks a major milestone for the Mantorville Theatre Company. We are embarking on our 40th season of summer melodramas in the Historic Mantorville Opera House. To commemorate the event, the MTC Board has selected four of our favorite shows from the past four decades, to reprise for our audiences. I am personally looking forward to being a part of the audience for each and every show this summer, because in my own three-decade-plus relationship with the Mantorville Theatre Company, I’ve been privileged to act in all four of the shows. For reasons that will become apparent, allow me to briefly discuss them in reverse order:

Sandra Hennings Miller has supported the Mantorville Theatre Company as a Board member, actress, costumer, playwright and director. This year, she is reprising one of her popular scripts. “How Now Brown Cow” or “Don’t Bully Me” has all of the elements of a classic melodrama: villainy, heroism, pure hearts triumph over evil – with some elements of bovine humor and not a few references to the “immortal Bard” (Not to worry – no iambic pentameter!). This year, the season has been extended beyond Marigold Days, with Sandra’s show playing the last weekend in August and the first three weekends in September. Patrons will want to check the specific dates because there are a couple of normal show dates without shows.

Sandra Miller and I were both members of the first cast of our third show “The Wedding Will Out” or “A Night in the Nutt House”, written by Mantorville native, Gregory David Miller, and directed this year by Robert Soland, another member of the original cast. Many of you will recognize Greg Miller (no relation to Sandra, except their mutual love of the art) as the artistic director of the Rochester Civic Theatre. If Neil Simon were to write a melodrama starring the Addams Family, it might have turned out something like this. Humor abounds in this tale of lightly twisted personalities, with a switch from the typical format, in that true evil is personified in the form of the villainess. Real treats in the show are the antics of the three Nutt sisters, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that two of the original sisters were my wife, Lynette, and the MTC’s Business Manager, Kristine Knutson.

Now, in a previous version of our second show “Curse You Jack Dalton”, we also had Bob Soland, Kris Knutson, and myself in the cast (If you get the impression that the Mantorville Melodramas are habit-forming, you might be right!). This year’s edition is directed by Laura Marie Kuisle, who also directed a show last year and has been involved in the technical aspects of both MTC’s and Byron’s shows for the past many years. Jack Dalton is a “stock” script displaying all of the features of classic melodrama. It is our most repeated show in the history of the Mantorville Theatre Company, and sure to delight audience members, again.

This brings me forward to the first show of our 40th season: “She Aspired to Greater Things” or “Up the River Without a Paddle(boat)”, written and directed by Cheryl Frarck.  Among the original cast members were Lynette and me, and Cheryl, herself, and also the aforementioned Greg Miller. I’m confident that if you start with this show, you’ll be sure to return for more the rest of the summer. You can find more information in Mantorville stores or on www.mantorvillain.com.
All of these shows are special to me, but “Up the River” particularly rings home. You see, unlike what you will see on stage, about six months after we closed the first edition of the show, the “heroine” agreed to the supplications of the “villain”. This year’s June 15 premier is four days after the 29th anniversary of our entry into connubial bliss (Happy Anniversary, Lynette!)

Karl Huppler