Media
History Alive! Lanesboro in the News
November 5th, 2022
Inspire(d) Magazine Touts HAL Director Playwright
Steve Harris has penned an excellent article focusing on Jane Peck, the founder, director, and playwright behind History Alive Lanesboro’s groundbreaking pop-up plays. The article appears in the Fall 2022 edition of Inspire(d) Magazine. Inspire(d) is an independent media company founded in 2007 in Decorah, Iowa. They create hyper-local positive news in print and online, featuring the people, places, and things that make our communities great. “We inspire our readers, while also promoting tourism, economic development, and town-pride” according to their site.
The full article can be read here. https://www.iloveinspired.com/jane-peck/
April 5th, 2022
2021 POP-UP PLAYS ARE A SUCCESS!
History Alive! Lanesboro’s 2021 Pop-up Play featured the year 1948 and was entitled Lanesboro WW 2 and Beyond. The show involved more than 50 area volunteers and was performed two weekends: September 18 and 19, and September 25 and 26 here in Lanesboro. Total of 8 performances attended by hundreds of residents from the area and other visitors.
The event was free of charge with donations accepted. The opening scenes were held at the Sons of Norway Lodge, 200 Parkway Avenue South, Lanesboro, MN with the walking tour of the downtown leaving there at 1 pm and 3 pm each of the four days. There was a total of seven scenes, mostly outdoors, with masks required for three indoor scenes. The tour covered four blocks total and the full production lasted approximately 1.5 hours. There was seating in scenes 1 and 5, the Sons of Norway Lodge and the St. Mane Theater respectively.
Lanesboro WW 2 and Beyond was the sixth pop-up play by History Alive Lanesboro; each a unique production of a different era of local history. Audience members were surrounded by the 1940’s! The audience moved around our historic S.E. MN town with character guides to outdoor and indoor scenes in locations accurate to the events portrayed.
This unique theater experience featured the tales of many local World War II veterans! After months of oral interviews, Jane Peck’s original script Lanesboro WW 2 and Beyond brought to the stage and streets local accounts of soldiers involved in the D-Day Invasion, German prison of war camps, the Norwegian Resistance, a Japanese nurse in Rochester, and farmers growing food for Europe. Area veterans Orval Amdahl, Don Ward, Bob Earley, Dr. Westrup, Paul Abrahamson, Ruby Nelson, and Signe Soma were portrayed in the production.
Jane Peck is the playwright and artistic director who wrote and directed the production. Jane researched and wrote the show with the assistance of the Lanesboro History Museum’s extensive archives of photos, obituaries, and newspapers. Jane interviews many local residents about their memories or their ancestors to gather content for the scripts produced by History Alive Lanesboro.
*This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Many thanks to Lanesboro Area Community Foundation and our individual donors.
March 5th, 2022
VOTES FOR WOMEN! RALLY 1920
Please celebrate with us the centennial of women’s voting rights or suffrage, which became part of our constitution on August 26, 1920. Votes for Women! Rally 1920 features five Minnesota suffragists who fought so hard for us. COVID-19 cancelled our statewide tour of this show, so we made a video for you!