3/5/2008 9:23:00 AM Five plays and 'Five Flowers' later, local man keeps on writing
Spending most of his days with English classes and seen here in his classroom at Rushford-Peterson School, teacher Forrest Musselman of Mabel also is a playwright. This weekend his production "Five Flowers" will have its world premiere by the Lanesboro Community Theatre, with performances Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m., in the St. Mane Theatre in downtown Lanesboro.
By Lisa Brainard
EDITOR'S NOTE: Look for further information on the process of bringing "Five Flowers" to the stage in a series written by Dr. Jan Meyer in the Republican-Leader and in this publication.
Forrest Musselman has written plays for performance nearly as far back as he can remember.
"As a kid I would write little skits and make my brothers perform them for my parents," he stated. One of his earliest teachers, Ruth Black, had in fact said to him, "One day you'll be a writer."
And so, it seemed, his fate was cast.
Musselman has penned numerous plays for high school competition. He chose to take on a slightly older demographic - you could say he moved from high school seniors to aging seniors - in writing the new play called "Five Flowers." It will have its world premiere this weekend, performed by the Lanesboro Community Theatre Company in the historic St. Mane Theatre, next door to the new Commonweal Theatre building in downtown Lanesboro. Dates are Friday, March 7, and Saturday, March 8, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m.
Always writing
At Peterson High School, where Musselman graduated in 1989, he always wrote the class skits. He continued his studies and earned a degree at Winona State University in 1994 with a double major in theater arts and creative writing. At that time he thought he might become an actor. But he was still writing...
He laughed and asked where that would get a person, noting he waited tables five years at the Old Village Hall in Lanesboro. Musselman went back to school, earned his teaching degree and then got a position and helped develop the curriculum at the upstart Rochester Studio Academy.
He also had been directing - and sometimes writing - the Rushford-Peterson one-act plays for competition. When longtime teacher Gretchen Schade retired in January 2007, he found himself in a new teaching position. He had just completed working with extracurricular speech students before this interview.
He no longer directs the R-P one-act play, recently leaving that for a second Rushford playwright, Dan Munson. Musselman said it's unusual to have two playwrights in such a small area, but it's nice to talk to someone knowing the trade.
Musselman may have chosen to stay in this little corner of the world with his family, but his five published plays have been performed in 40 states.
"Collage" was his first effort, which was published by Contemporary Drama Service around 1998 or '99. His last four plays have been through Brooklyn Publishing. He noted they were written for high school competition or for middle school students. He said it's rare to see one of his plays, but last year Chatfield used his play "Chipped" for its one-act entry.
When asked how close his play topics come to real life, Musselman said "Our Song" - which was a finalist at the Rochester Rep one-act play contest - included nearly verbatim conversations with his son. Otherwise, the characters are combinations of people.
Enter the idea
Musselman moved onto his new play after he was contacted by Denny Bell of Lanesboro, who felt that not enough plays were being written for older people. They noted, however, that a lot of the audience members for community theater were older people.
"Nothing was speaking to them," stated Musselman.
Initially, the idea was to give performances in nursing homes. Bell felt he could get a grant to help fund the play writing. Yes, Musselman said he was interested. Michael-Jon Pease, then executive director of Cornucopia Art Center in Lanesboro, wrote the grant itself. The play is being presented in cooperation with the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council Inc. through funding from the Minnesota Legislature.
Musselman decided to write the play about an older woman living in an assisted living complex, putting a focus on her friends and maybe dealing a bit with her family.
He had conversations with others on how to treat the elderly, noting it used to be they would just move to a nursing home, which was seen as the end of life. But now many live in an assisted living setting. He looked at other cultures, too, especially after adopting a baby girl in South Korea. Musselman noted how children there are expected to take care of their parents.
"Why is it different here? Why is it changing? What do they value?" he asked, deciding to do a survey to try to get some answers and direction... to "get into their heads."
He distributed surveys at an assisted living complex in Rochester, where he had ties. Also his hairdresser, Barb Ristau at Town Clippers in Lanesboro, offered to hand them out to her clients.
"I got 50 back," he said of the two locations. He smiled, noting one man even wrote a poem about aches and pains that ended with a sexual joke.
The survey had around 15 questions including the number of years married and family members; where living; profession; positives and negatives of getting older; "three most important things" and "proudest accomplishment."
Musselman did discover themes for the play. The negatives included concerns over money and health, which he noted go hand-in-hand.
"The proudest accomplishment was always their family. That helped give me direction."
Writing
Musselman started the play with no plot. He said that was very different from his other plays, where he had a general outline of how the story would proceed.
"Five Flowers" was character-driven. There were many rewrites over a two-year period. Community members gave readings and then would help to fine-tune the script.
He credited Jill Underwood of Commonweal Theatre, who is directing the new play, for helping a lot. "She had ideas on where to take it," said Musselman.
The playwright used to write "Days of Our Roadsboro," a short soap opera performed each week in Lanesboro by The Over The Back Fence radio show company during its annual summer run.
Musselman said that by the end, he knew those characters so well that once he had a theme, he would automatically know how each would react. That made for fast writing. He could do that 10-minute script in an hour or an hour and a half.
Of the community involvement on "Five Flowers" Musselman stated, "I think it ultimately made the play a lot deeper. There was a lot of thought."
The name of the play is taken from the four generations - and soon-to-be-born fifth generation - of women all with floral names. Rose, the central character, is turning 80. Daughter Iris is 60 and granddaughter Lily is 40. Great-granddaughter Violet is 20 and about to give birth to the next generation. Musselman said a decision on the pending baby's name runs throughout the humorous play.
See the play
He noted that those in charge of publicity would, after the world premiere in Lanesboro, peddle the play to the Twin Cities theater market.
Musselman said if a theater picked it up, that would be nice because in addition to the prestige and building up of his name, he would get all royalties.
"The down side is you do all the work," he noted.
When a publishing company puts out one of his plays, that business gets a cut. However, the company catalog goes to 60,000 schools and he does not need to be involved in the marketing.
Musselman is married to high school sweetheart Melisa (Hoff), who is the chief of operations for StoryPeople in Decorah. Their children are Jackson, 6, and Sophia, who is 1 1/2 years old.
He looks forward to seeing the premiere of the play at Lanesboro - a town where he sends his son to school and hopes to one day live - although he said of such opening nights, "It's very surreal... strange... almost like an out-of-body experience."
Musselman also credited the Lanesboro Community Theatre members for their work and dedication.
"Five Flowers" is directed by Jill Underwood with sets by Eric Knutson and costumes by Heidi Dybing. The cast features Ceil Allen, Maureen Anderson, Karrie Ellingson, Nancy Huisenga, Terry Neneman, Jody Rinn, Tom Schramm, Tony Streng, Peter Torkelson and Cal Zutz.
Tickets are available at Associated Bank or Cornucopia Art Center in Lanesboro. This play is recommended for children over 13. Additional information is available at (507) 467-2787.
