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
Snorri arises, moves away, covers his face with his hands and exclaims,
“Oh, God! I never thought of that. What a blind fool I have been!” As
Asta starts to comfort him Sveinn appears in the doorway, sees them
and starts to turn away, but in so doing makes a little noise. Snorri
startled, quickly looks around and says, “Sveinn, come here. I have been
blind; will you forgive me?” Then he takes Asta’s hand and places it in
Sveinn’s, bids them good-by and starts to leave.
Sveinn says, “Snorri! Where are you going? You are not leaving us at this
time of night, and in sorrow?”
Snorri, returning, looks at the quaint little cottage, the waterfall, and
then at Asta and Sveinn, pauses a moment, and says, “Perhaps we shall
meet again—like the raindrops.” The curtain falls and the play ends.
Neither of these young men who wrote the play ever had any ambition
to become a playwright, a scene painter, or an actor. To-day, one is
a successful country-life worker in the great northwest. The other is
interested in harnessing the water power which is so abundant in his
native land.
When the play was presented, the audience sat spellbound, evidently
realizing that two country lads had found hidden life forces in
themselves which they never knew they possessed. All they needed, like
thousands of others who live in the country and even in the city, was
just a chance to express themselves.
Authors of play—M. Thorfinnson and E. Briem.
COUNTRY FOLKS
There are literally millions of people in country communities to-day
whose abilities along various lines have been hidden, simply because
they have never had an opportunity to give expression to their talents.
In many respects this lack of self-expression has been due to the social
conditions existing in the country, the narrow-minded attitude of society
toward those who till the soil, and the absence of those forces which
seek to arouse the creative instincts and stimulate that imagination and
initiative in country people which mean leadership.
Social stagnancy is a characteristic trait of the small town and the
country. Community spirit is often at a low ebb. Because of the stupid
monotony of the village and country existence, the tendency of the people
young and old is to move to larger centers of population. Young people
leave the small town and the country because of its deadly dullness. They
want Life. The emptiness of rural environment does not appeal to them.
The attitude of mind of the country youth is best expressed by Gray in
his “Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard” which runs as follows:
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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