They say you can never go home again. “They” have obviously never met Kara Schwartz and John Neumann.
During her tenure at Maple Grove Senior High, Kara had acted on stage and loved every minute. But since graduating in 2008, she hadn’t had a chance to perform musical theater at Concordia College in Moorhead, where she is now a junior. “I saw a Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre production of the play 13 and realized that was something I really missed—not so much being onstage, but that community effort, the energy they had together,” Kara says.
So in the summer of 2010, wanting to reconnect with the camaraderie that only high school theater can create, Kara fired off an email to her longtime friend and fellow MGSH grad (class of 2009), John Neumann. She threw out the idea of starting a community acting troupe in their hometown, with only MGSH alumni (or current high school students with MGSH drama experience) eligible to audition. “I wrote back, ‘Maybe we can think about doing something like that,’” recalls John, “and that was enough to get her moving.”
That was last June. By November, things had, “literally fallen into place,” according to John, and Home Base Theatre was well on its way to becoming a reality: financial backing had been rounded up, actors had agreed to audition and a tech crew had been assembled. “We were like, ‘well, now we have no choice! Let’s just go!’” John says.
Getting the Gang Back Together
For their first production, Kara and John decided on the play that inspired Home Base in the first place: 13. It was an appropriate choice because it focuses on a group of 13-year-olds trying to find a place where they belong—a place like Kara and John found in the MGSH theater department when they were teenagers.
And what better accomplice to recreate that feeling than their former theater coach? Kara and John wanted J.C. Lippold, drama director at MGSH, at the helm of their first Home Base production. J.C. signed on with no hesitation. “My first thought was one of excitement,” Lippold says. “There have been many people wanting something like this for years.”
To round out their homecoming, Kara and John asked MGSH choir director Beth Hellstedt to provide 13’s infectiously upbeat soundtrack. “They are my former students, so I was excited for any chance to work with them,” Beth says, noting that in their late 20’s, she and J.C. were the oldest people attached to the production. “After the first rehearsal, J.C. and I felt like proud parents; the kids are all grown up, doing their own thing!”
Tying Up the Loose Ends
It didn’t take long for John and Kara to realize that putting together a production from scratch is a daunting task. There was rehearsal space to find, funding to secure, tickets to sell, and choreography to create. They reached out to the community for support, collaborating with Stage Place, Escalate Dance and Theatre Studio and Yellow Tree Theatre. Beyond producing duties, John and Kara also found time to join the cast, as well.
Rehearsals ran five hours a day, five days a week throughout June. But the group, ranging in age from 16 to 29, was dedicated, and J.C. says their group dynamic was phenomenal—which is exactly what Kara and John hoped for all along. “The fun challenge has been helping them realize that they may be a couple years older or younger than the others, but they all have so much in common, including their motivations to be a part of this production,” he says.
In early July, Home Base put on five performances of 13 at the Yellow Tree Theater. The experience was so positive, Kara and John are looking forward to bringing Home Base Theatre back next summer for another production and possibly expanding the program into a year-round offering. They also hope to host a fundraiser or gala between now and the summer. “I have no doubt that it’s going to grow,” Kara says, “but I cannot say how.”
@
Learn more about Home Base Theatre online.
