Jill's Journal: PRT and the hot-flashers

Another season of Prairie Repertory Theatre in Brandon has come and gone, and I enjoyed every entertaining, laughable, musical moment of their three-week, four-show run here on our hometown stage, Brandon Valley’s Performing Arts Center.

PRT managing director J.D. Ackman and his troupe of talent brought an assortment of live theatre to life on our local stage, just as they have for a decade-plus now when they relocated their remote venue to Brandon. I, for one, remain ecstatic about their return to our fair city every summer. After all, a little culture never hurt anyone now, did it?

This season, like past seasons, the PRT troupe made us laugh – a lot. They kept our toes tapping – a lot. They even “heated” up a few of their audience members – once again, a lot. (I’ll enlighten you on that a bit later.) And it was certainly a treat to see three of our Brandon Valley High alums – Braden Paulsen, Jacob Hegland and Isaiah Dietz – bring a variety of characters to life alongside their fellow PRT cast- and crewmates.

The South Dakota State-based PRT presented a pair of all-ages shows in, “Sister Act” and “Over the River and Through the Woods,” the latter, J.D., assured me, would become one of my all-time favorites. And he was right. I’m ranking this show right up there with another of my all-time favorites, “Escanaba In Da Moonlight,” which PRT literally had audiences laughing in the aisles back in 2007. The show revolves around a group of fellas in a remote hunting cabin, and you can imagine the hilarity that would unfold in that environment. 

If you had the opportunity to take in “Sister Act” this season, then you know how Anoka-Minn., native Mariah Spillers-Taylor brought down the house with her boisterous voice in her lead role as Deloris Cartier. And without a doubt, her supporting cast of nuns, gangsters, altar boys, and of course, the musicians, certainly made the show a memorable one.

PRT also brought a pair of “adult audience” shows to the PAC with “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and “The Full Monty.” The first was a musical-comedy presented in the form of a series of vignettes connected by the central theme of love and relationships. The play’s tagline, “Everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit,” had me – and likely many of you – relating to the hilarity of our own personal love lives.

PRT’s season opener, “The Full Monty,” was a sure conversation starter around Brandon. It was brought up at Scooter’s during the Chamber’s morning Brew Crew, and I reckon was a topic at a few other morning coffee gatherings, too, hence the headline: “PRT and the hot flashers.”

Now, I will give Mother Nature a bit of the credit for the “heat wave” going on inside and outside the PAC. She’d dialed the thermometer up there pretty well and plopped in some uncomfortable humidity, too. But the real heat set in during the show’s finale. The show’s ending dance scene literally had my PRT season ticket-holder friend and the lady sitting in the seat right next to me generating a wind chill as they fanned themselves with their programs. 

I, on the other hand, had a good case of the goose bumps and was almost expecting a break in the show for a unexpected wind chill weather report.

Whether it was the weather or what was unfolding onstage, I, for one, am glad you’re here, PRT.