Grand Opening

By John Hassler, Directed by Sally Childs

John Hassler Theater, June 28, 2007

When the Foster family arrives in Plum and the grandfather asks the name of his new town, he repeats the word sceptically, “Plum,” to the nervous laughter of the Plainview audience who knows that Plum is the pseudonym for Plainview, the town where author Jon Hassler grew up. In a sense, the audience is watching a play about themselves, or more precisely, a play about their grandparents. Outside the theater, the Catholic and Lutheran Churches still stand at opposite ends of the main street, and while the religious polarization presented in the late 1940s play seems silly today, life in a small town can still be difficult for the newly arrived and for the misfits.

In Hassler’s adaptation of his novel Grand Opening for the stage, he moves the misfits to the front of the story. For example, Rufus Ottman is on stage for the opening and closing scenes—and many of the scenes in between. Now in his 40s, Rufus doesn’t speak and has the vacuous look of someone with severe mental impairment. Many of the town’s people call him a “moron,” while his mother says he is simply “happy.” Kent Griffin does an admirable job of portraying Rufus, who is often led on stage and left to watch the goings on at Hank’s Grocery during the day. The community keeps an eye on him, gently leading him back to his mother or back to his favorite spot at the grocery when he wanders too close to danger. Yet others ask: “if this town can take care of Rufus, why can’t it make room for me?”

Other newcomers and misfits don’t fare as well in Plum. Sixteen-year-old Dodger Hicks (Nick Lange) is shunned by Plum’s adults because his parents aren’t married, his father is in prison, his mother entertains men, and Dodger tends to steal things. He is ridiculed by the children because he is several grades behind in school. Because he wants to belong so desperately, the other children prey on his vulnerability. Dodger’s parental instability (and implied childhood abuse) find little sympathy in Plum.

Another misfit, Wallace Flint, carries scars from childhood abuse and neglect along with epilepsy. Once a promising high school intellectual, Wallace has settled into a cynicism that easily moves into nastiness. Ethan Scot Savage marvelously captures that nastiness in the role, sneering his way into disfavor and ruining any chance of acceptance or support. Even the mostly sympathetic Plum resident, Stan Kimball (played by Merle Savage), shuns Wallace—as does Hassler and the audience. Yet the question must be asked: had the community taken care of Wallace as they’ve taken care of Rufus, would he have turned into such a bitter young man?

Catherine Foster’s (Mary Chick) membership in the misfit club comes not just from being an outsider from the big city, it comes from her desire to find and cultivate art and literature in the small town. The town however, doesn’t see itself in need of reforming. They are happy with their bookcase-sized library and the school board’s lack of interest in raising the intellectual level of its pupils. (There is a certain irony to be sitting in this theater in the Rural America Arts Center—surely the culmination of the efforts of people like Catherine, presumably over the objections of people like Mrs. Kimbal who insist that one author is sufficient for for the moral upkeep of the town’s literary interest—dedicated to bringing arts and letters to rural America, to Plum).

While these serious questions and critiques of small town Minnesota are prevalent in the play, Grand Opening is full of humor and delight. Mark Colbenson’s Grandfather character often steals the show with his stories, his confusion over where he is, and his faux gallantry toward the ladies of Plum. At times he seems to have lost any sense of appropriateness—he tells a morbidly funny story about a tragic train accident from his railroad days during a funeral service, for example. Merle Savage’s Stan Kimball is equally funny as he balances his role as the town’s only atheist and undertaker with being married to the leading Lutheran busybody.

With the addition of short narratives delivered directly to the audience by Brendan Foster, the story becomes Brendon’s. Played by 11-year-old Collin Chick, Brendan is presented with a series of choices which weight his moral standing against his acceptance into the social structure of Plum’s young. Chick plays the role well, and his breaks in character to deliver these monologues help Hassler underscore his major themes.

Director Sally Childs and the rest of the cast and crew have put together an enjoyable piece of drama that is well worth the drive to Plum (Plainview), Minnesota. The community actors do an exceptional job of bringing Hassler’s characters to life, and Grand Opening offers a unique opportunity to watch a play while sitting in the very same town being presented on stage. In fact, Wallace Flint, Hank Foster, or Mrs. Kimball may be sitting right behind you (so don’t laugh too hard if they aren’t laughing).

Grand Opening plays at the John Hassler Theater through July 15
Visit the John Hassler Theater for schedules: Jon Hassler Theater