About the Jon Hassler Theater

The 223-seat Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, located in the heart of southeast Minnesota's beautiful Greenwood Prairie, is celebrating its ninth season of professional theater in 2008.
The Theater is an affiliate of the Rural America Arts Partnership, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.  The Partnership believes that the arts and humanities are vital to the life of a sustainable rural community.  The Partnership also includes among its affiliates the Rural America Writers’ Center, which offers workshops for aspiring playwrights and writers of prose and poetry, the Rural America Center for the Humanities and Community, which sponsors Up for Discussion, a monthly open forum on topics of interest to the community, and the Plainview Area History Center, housed in Plainview's oldest church building.

The JHT itself is housed in the Rural America Arts Center, a former International Harvester implements dealership. The building is one of a few thousand of similar design that populated the rural American landscape beginning in the late 1940s.

The Theater is named for famed Minnesota novelist Jon Hassler, who spent his middle school and high school years in Plainview in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Hassler's popular novel Grand Opening is based on his Plainview experience.  Productions of Hassler's stage adaptation of Grand Opening were presented at the Theater in 2000, 2001, and 2007.  Other stage adaptations of Hassler's novels include Simon's Night, Dear James, and Rookery Blues, all of  which have been produced in Plainview along with Hassler's original play, The Staggerford Murders, which he recently worked into a novel.
The seeds of the Jon Hassler Theater took root in 1985 with the Lyric Theatre of Minneapolis, founded by JHT artistic director emeritus Sally Childs.  In 1999 the Lyric began staging plays in Plainview and in 2000 the Lyric moved its headquarters to Plainview. In July 2008, we honored Jon's passing by planting a red oak in front of the Writer's Center.

THE RED OAK Among the four season’s perpetual jokes Is the winter appearance of overdressed oaks. Refusing to fall with the sleet and the snow, The oak leaves cling, lifelike, through fifty below Until they are nudged by the force of the sap That rises to fashion the oak a spring wrap. I hope when it’s autumn and winter for me I can look as alive as the overdressed tree, And during the lengthening nights I can cling To my wits and my heart—the token of spring, Only releasing them into the sod The moment I’m dressed in the glory of God. —Jon Hassler

Past JHT productions include:
2000: Grand Opening by Jon Hassler; To Whom It May Concern by Carol Hall; On Golden Pond by Ernest Thompson; Gifts of the Magi by Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts.

2001: Old Man Brunner Country, adapted by Ron Duffy from Leo Dangel; Chin Music by John Calvin Rezmerski; Boxelder Bug Variations, adapted by Sally Childs from Bill Holm; Simon's Night by Jon Hassler; The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt; Grace and Glorie by Tom Ziegler; Grand Opening by Jon Hassler.

2002: Talley's Folly by Lanford Wilson; Dear James, adapted by Sally Childs from Jon Hassler; Honk! The Ugly Duckling Musical by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe; Morning's at Seven by Paul Osborn; How to Talk Minnesotan the Holiday Musical by Howard Mohr and Drew Jansen (co-produced by Troupe America, Inc.).

2003: The Spitfire Grill by James Valcq and Fred Alley (co-production with Buffalo Gal); The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler; How to Talk Minnesotan the Summer Musical by Howard Mohr and Drew Jansen (co-produced by Troupe America, Inc.); Honk! The Ugly Duckling Musical by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry; My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra by David Grapes and Todd Olson.

2004: Proof by David Auburn; And the World Goes 'Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb; The Drawer Boy by Michael Healy; The West Side Waltz by Ernest Thompson; Guys on Ice: the Ice Fishing Musical by Fred Alley and James Kaplan (co-produced by Troupe America, Inc.).

2005: The Odd Couple by Neil Simon; Seascape by Edward Albee; Bordertown Café by Kelly Rebar; Pump Boys and Dinettes by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann (co-produced with Mainstage Management.), November 25th-January 1st.

2006:  Trick Boxing by Brian Sostek; Rounding Third by Richard Dresser; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown (co-produced with Nautilus Music-Theatre); Rookery Blues, adapted by Sally Childs from the novel by Jon Hassler; Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula (one-man version); The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh.

2007:  Grand Opening by Jon Hassler; Mercy of a Storm by Jeffrey Hatcher; Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom; Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol by Tom Mula (four actor version).

JHT’s seasons run from June through December.  The theater presents performances on Thursday evenings at 7:30PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00PM, and Sundays at 2:00PM.  Thursday matinees are offered for tour groups at 1:30PM on selected dates.  The theater seats 223, and has welcomed groups from as far away as the Twin Cities, Iowa, the Dakotas and Madison, Wisconsin.

The JHT utilizes professional designers, directors, actors, stage managers and technicians.  Many actors and all stage managers are members of Actors' Equity Association, the American Union of Actors and Stage Managers, working under a Small Professional Theatre Tier 4 contract.  Local housing is provided.
In addition to its in-house productions, JHT also plays host to Plainview Elgin Millville Consolidated High School's annual production, and welcomes performing groups including the Rochester Radio Theatre Guild and the Rochester Barbershop Chorale to its stage.    

The operation of the Jon Hassler Theater is currently under the supervision of General Manager, Carter Martin.  

Plainview is located approximately ninety miles from the Twin Cities, less than twenty miles from Wabasha, less than twenty-five miles from Rochester, less than forty miles from Red Wing, from Rochester and less than fifty miles from Winona.  The little country town is only minutes away from Carley and Whitewater State Parks, Lake Pepin and the mighty Mississippi River.  Other nearby attractions include Wescott Orchards in Plainview, L.A.R.K. Toys Carousel and Antique Toy Museum in Kellogg, the National Eagle Center, Arrowhead Bluffs Museum, historic Anderson House Hotel, and the Wabasha County History Museum in Wabasha.

Markets Served
Rochester                                                        41.80%
Plainview & Surrounding                               17.36%
Twin Cities                                                        6.79%
Winona/La Crosse                                             5.38%
Wabasha/Kellogg                                              4.20%
Other Highway 52 Corridor                              3.63%
Zumbrota/Pine Island                                       3.03%
Other Wisconsin                                               2.69%                         
Austin/Owatonna/Faribault/Albert Lea             1.85%
Lake City                                                           1.83%
Red Wing                                                          1.72%
Other Highway 61 Corridor                              1.72%
Kasson/Mantorville                                           1.46%
Byron                                                                1.28%
Oronoco                                                            1.12%
Other Minnesota                                               0.77%
Other States                                                       0.68%

The JHT is a member of the Wabasha-Kellogg Chamber of Commerce and CVB.