Nov 4, 2007 2:11 pm US/Central
Couple Turns 3-Car Garage Into 38-Seat Theater
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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For five years, Ilse and Paul Herwig have been putting on original works in a 38-seat theater they fashioned out of their three-car garage in South Minneapolis.
CBS
If you like watching theater in an intimate setting, there's a place you can go to experience a live performance among just 38 seats.
A husband and wife acting team in South Minneapolis is giving new meaning to the term "neighborhood theater," putting on productions in their three-car garage.
"Basically the garage just came with the house and as soon as we walked into it we thought, 'Wow, we could do shows in here,'" said artist and homeowner Jennifer Ilse. "Then a year a later we said, 'Yeah, why not?'"
For five years, Ilse and Paul Herwig have been putting on original works in what they call a highly visual and physical style.
"We really love the audience and we want the audience to laugh and cry at the kinds of shows that we do, just like they do at the Guthrie or the Children's Theater, except we don't do as commercial a work," said Herwig.
A friend of the couple runs sound and lights during the shows, and the couple builds the sets and either creates the costumes and props or collects them from thrift stores.
"Even behind you, where the audience sits, there must be 40 bins of props and costumes from past shows," said Herwig. "When they sit in here, they're just surrounded by all the stuff that you make shows with. By the time the show is over, they've completely forgotten they're in a garage."
From the outside, it looks like your typical neighborhood garage. It's only when you look closer you notice the odd details, like costumes drying on the line. If you cut through the tomato garden, you've got what looks like just another garage door but is actually the backstage entrance.
Ilse is trained dancer, and Herwig has studied theater arts in Paris. They run a non-profit arts group called Off Leash Area with other shows staged at marquee theaters in the Twin Cities.
After garage performances, a box lights up for donations. Those who gave money to add insulation against the cold now have their names hanging as decoration. And all the neighbors have been invited to enjoy front row seats.
"We have one neighbor that's grumpy, but everyone has to have a grumpy neighbor. It's just par for the course," said Ilse.
The theater group has won an Ivey Award for excellence, but the unusual homeowners say their garage has given them so much more.
"We had such a great time. There's great artistic freedom, but it's also just really fun," said Herwig.
The couple's current show is called "A Gift for Planet BX63," about a girl from a distant galaxy meeting a space-traveling salesman. It runs Sunday afternoon, then again next Friday and Saturday. For ticket information, call (612) 724-7372.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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