Community Corner

Eagan's Rural Past Comes Alive, New Play Fest This Weekend

Lone Oak Days, the annual fall festival at Holz Farm, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

Lone Oak Days

Flash back to 1940s farm life during Eagan's Lone Oak Days this weekend.
Saturday and Sunday, Eaganites are invited to shed their suburban sensibilities and learn how to grind corn, make rope and churn butter at Holz Farm, a lovingly preserved homestead that dates back to the 1870s.

The fun runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days, Sept. 21 and Sept. 22.
Admission to Holz Farm (4665 Manor Drive) is free, though many of the individual activities require tickets, which cost 50 cents each.

Most activities are ongoing. Here's the daily schedule: 

Saturday

11 a.m. to 4 p.m.—Steve Howard and Phil Nusbaum

Find out what's happening in Eaganwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Noon—Kid’s Coin Hunt

1 p.m.—Men’s Chorus Performance

Find out what's happening in Eaganwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sunday

11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.—Czech Area Concertina

11 a.m. to 4 p.m.—Marv Gohman

Noon—Kid’s Coin Hunt

2 p.m.—Eagan Women of Note Performance

3 p.m.—Pumpkin Pie Eating Contest

Chameleon Theatre Circle's New Play Fest

The 14th Annual New Play Festival is set for Saturday, Sept. 21, and this year the Chameleon Theatre Circle has brand new work from as far away as Wellington, New Zealand.  

Each work will be given a bare bones staging at the Burnsville Performing Arts Center's Black Box Theatre from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free and the public is welcome to come and go as they see fit. The theatre company will also have coffee and food for guests.

Here's a summary of the plays that will be exhibited on Saturday: 

10-Minute Length:
A Dark and Stormy Night by Scott Dixon (Lanesboro, MN)
A fledgling writer gets some unusual help trying to come up with the most important story he's ever told.

But Soft by David Clow (South Pasadena, CA)
Romeo & Juliet - the characters - step out of a performance and reveal their thoughts.

My Broken Kenmore by Bridget Erin (Denham Springs, LA)
A Russian-American housewife tells her story of her husband's encounter with a magical, wish granting fish, and how it ignited her ambition and greed. The play is based on Alexander Puskin's poem (which was based on a Russian folk tale).

Role, Playing by David Ebenbach (Washington, DC)
Two people have a series of interactions, each of which is pretend --- but can they get to the point where they show how they really feel?

Full Length
The Antichrist Cometh by David MacGregor (Howell, MI)
An average, everyday man is preparing to host a dinner party with his wife when he discovers that he may, in fact, be the Antichrist. Clearly he is faced with a dilemma --- should the dinner party go on as planned or should he attempt to usher in the Apocalypse? Or perhaps a little of both?

The Death of Captain Hero by Amy Crider (Chicago, IL)
The star of 1970's Saturday morning cartoon show dies a scandalous death. His head writer, Chuck, wants to give his character the heroic death he was denied in life. But it's against FCC regulations to have a character die on a Saturday morning cartoon.

One Act
Daniil Kharms: A Life in One Act and Several Dozen Eggs by Nancy Cooper Frank (San Francisco, CA)
In Leningrad under Stalin, the writer Daniil Kharms finds himself caught between his muse --- a strange creature called Ignavia who punctuates each absurd story she tells him with the gift of a single perfect egg --- and as increasingly repressive regime. He knows that the gifts of his bizarre deadpan muse will lead to his imprisonment or worse, but how can he evade her?

Fall by Audra Lord (Wellington, New Zealand)
A family of Korean immigrants living in America struggles with identity, assimilation, and isolation in the aftermath of a mother's suicide. Based on a true story.

Serendipity by Lynn-Steven Johanson (Macomb, IL)
When James is shown into the hospital's waiting room, he assumes he is there for some preparatory work prior to surgery. But when Gisele enters, his day veers off in a direction he could not have imagined. The ditzy, 28 year old hair stylist is also there for some preparatory work for her upcoming breast augmentation surgery. At first the seemingly bizarre young woman who carries a hammer a crescent wrench in her purse takes him aback. But as they wait to be called in for their respective appointments,the two strike up a conversation and find they are mutually attracted to one another.

Theatre-for-Youth
The Worst Play in the History of Ever by Jeffrey Wolf (Aurora, CO)
Jeremy should feel great when his play is picked to be performed by his class. But when the director wants rewrites, his lead actor keeps fainting, and sock puppets invade the stage, not even the help of a Fairy Godmother may be able to save it from being "The Worst Play in the History of Ever".


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