The little country theaterArvold, Alfred G. (Alfred Gilmeiden)
General
The little country theater
Arvold, Alfred G. (Alfred Gilmeiden)
Little Country Theater (Fargo, N.D.); Little theater movement; Theater -- North Dakota -- Fargo
When told that they would have to paint the scenery themselves, they
looked somewhat surprised. It is doubtful whether either of them had
ever painted anything more than his mother’s kitchen floor or perhaps
whitewashed a fence or the interior of a barn. They finally decided to do
the job. A painter was called over the phone who said he wouldn’t charge
the boys a cent for the colors if they painted the scene. Up in an attic
of a building near by there was an old faded pink curtain that had been
cast aside. It was thought to be no longer useful. Within twenty-four
hours the curtain was brought over and hoisted, and the floor of the
stage adjacent to the office was covered with paint pails, brushes,
and water colors. With dogged determination they decided to finish the
painting during the holiday vacation. A few minutes before midnight on
New Year’s Eve the last stroke of the brush was made. The quaint cottage,
the snow white-capped mountain, the tumbling waterfall and the steep
ascending cliffs were painted in a manner which brought many favorable
comments from competent art critics. The blending of the colors was
magnificent. It was genuine art. The beauty of it all was that these two
young men found that they could express themselves even on canvas.
Just as they had painted their scenery on the stage of the theater, so
did they write their play, acting out each line before they put it in
final form for presentation. Often they worked all night until four
o’clock in the morning. They called their play “The Raindrops.” The theme
is told in the second act of the play. The scene represents the interior
of an Icelandic home. It is evening. The family circle has gathered.
Some are sewing and others knitting. The children want to hear a story.
Sveinn, one of the characters in the play, finally says to them, “All
right then, if you are quiet, I will tell you the story of the raindrops
who met in the sky.” And he narrates the following which the children
listen to with rapt attention.
“Once there were two raindrops away-way high up in the clouds. The sun
had just lately smiled at them as they were playing in the big ocean, and
his smile had drawn them up into the sky. Now as they danced and sported
about in its radiance he decked them in all the bright and beautiful
colors of the rainbow; and they were so happy over being rid of the dirt
and salt that they almost forgot themselves for joy.
But somehow there seemed to be something that reminded them of the past.
They felt as if they had met before. Finally one said, “Say, friend,
haven’t we met before?” “That is just what I’ve been thinking,” said
friend. “Where have you been, comrade?”
“I’ve been on the broad prairies on the west side of the big mountain
that you see down there,” answered comrade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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