OnStage: Success is no illusion OnStage: Declarations of independence OnStage: Parallel construction in 'Two for the Seesaw' Theater review: Scaled-down 'Les Miz' soars just the same - It's no ethanol plant or poultry processing facility, but Commonweal Theatre symbolizes economic development in Lanesboro. Next weekend the company opens Fillmore County's biggest construction project since spring 2006: a new theater. The focus will be on art as the lights dim and Frederick Knott's thriller "Wait Until Dark" is performed.
But more than simply producing one more play, Commonweal is now the biggest building and employer in town outside of the school district. "This facility becomes the center of our community," said Eric Bunge, Commonweal's managing director. "This is a company town, and that company happens to be Commonweal.
" The methodical growth of Commonweal and the assorted artistic endeavors that have flourished in its wake define Lanesboro, a bucolic jewel in the heart of the Root River Valley, and they illustrate the growing value of art centers in rural communities. Bunge grew up in nearby Preston -- which does have an ethanol plant -- and founded Commonweal in 1989 at the behest of the Lanesboro Arts Council. At the time, the town was several years into a renaissance spawned primarily by its location on the Root River bike trail and a sprinkling of B Bs that catered to sightseers in the bluff country of southeastern Minnesota.
"At first, I think the theater was seen as a curiosity," said Julia Borgen, who grew up on a farm outside Lanesboro and is retired after 25 years as a school secretary. There were people who feared the artists would take over the town, she said, and others who doubted that the endeavor would last. Slowly, though, a rapprochement took root, and Borgen feels "most people coming here to live today like the arts.
" Commonweal sells about 17,000 tickets to six shows year-round, a figure it hopes will rise to 25,000 with the new theater. Likewise, the annual budget will bump up almost 25 percent, to $740,000. If those figures hold, it could represent further economic development for the town.
Bunge cites a non-scientific survey of patrons at the Cottage Inn B B across the street that showed 35 percent had come to Lanesboro for the theater. "The bike trail brings people to town, but it doesn't keep them overnight," he said. To the outsider, there is whimsy in the notion of theater artists who might balance their day between studying the psychological impulses of Ibsen and discussing business at City Hall.
Bunge and Hal Cropp, Commonweal's executive director, don't take the bait when their twin identities as civic boosters and theater artists are brought up. "The theater should thrive and survive by being essential to the community," said Cropp. "Theater is supposed to be a gathering place, where people share stories, and we need to be aware of our communities -- to challenge people and to entertain them.
" Bunge, as earnest as a choirboy, said simply: "It is our duty to fill the theater with honorable work.
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