RED LAKE — Over the November 18th and 19th weekend, the Patricia Players put on four performances of Rapunzel.
The Patricia Players is a performance group local to the Red Lake area. The group was established in 1976, and their first show was a rendition of a Christmas Story. The first showing of their show ‘Breakup” was preformed in 1994 and has been going most years since.
This rendition of Rapunzel was a Pantomime by English playwright Ben Crocker. A pantomime is typically based on a traditional fairytale with elements of comedy and music written in. This show featured an Irish hero, a war weasel, pirates, and a feisty princess. In the last few years, the Patricia Players have put on three other pantomime shows by Crocker: Cinderella, Robinhood, and Sleeping Beauty.
“What I liked most about this version was that the princess was a little more feisty,” says long-time Patricia Players member Janet Hagar. “A large part of the story is about Rapunzel’s journey outside the tower.”
The show was also a part of the Red Lake Family Entertainment Series (RLFES) line up. Out of 180 tickets available per show, 172 were sold for the Friday show and 153 were sold for the Saturday show.
The RLFES is a group that brings family friendly entertainment to the Red Lake area. With the COVID pandemic cancelling their lineup of shows the last couple years, the RLFES had worked to bring in the acts that had been booked prior to the pandemic. However, the November show was no longer available.
“The pandemic was really hard on the preforming arts, our whole year was up in the air,” says board member Renee Bausch.
After the cancellation hit, the RLFES had actually been contacted by the Patricia Players about doing a couple of the Rapunzel shows for them. The Patricia Players has a long-time partnership with the RLFES. They offered to preform two showings for the RLFES in addition to their two adult showings.
“I was like, yes! They really saved our butts,” says Bausch.
The RLFES had also given three tickets to each of the schools in the area to be drawn for, and advertised the show on CKDR Radio. Each of the shows had about 80% attending the RLFES shows out of the tickets sold.
“Something that amazes me is how quickly the tickets go,” says Hagar. “We usually sell out.”
The RLFES’s next show will be the Kif-Kif Sisters in January.
“We believe that bringing good quality live entertainment to Red Lake is so important, it benefits the kids in so many ways,” says Bausch. “It improves their creativity, and gets them off screens.”
The group is now planning their next season, and brainstorming new activities to bring to the Red Lake area in the coming year.
