Old Log Theater
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The Old Log Theatre is the oldest professional
theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
in the state of
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. It is sometimes cited as the oldest continuously operating professional theater in the United States. It is located in
Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...
and is funded entirely by ticket sales and income from its restaurant.


History

The Old Log Theatre first opened in 1940 in Greenwood, in a dirt-floored log building now used as a scenery shop. Throughout its existence the theater has focused mostly on
screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...
, contemporary plays and British farces, though in its early years it operated as a
summer stock In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock the ...
company. The original building seated 270 people and during its summer season the theater presented a show a week.


Venue

During the 1950s the theater's popularity grew and late in that decade it found a need for larger quarters. Herb Bloomberg, a builder in
Chanhassen Chanhassen is a city about southwest of Minneapolis in Carver County and partially in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The southwest edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul suburbs, there is a mix of residential neighborhoods and rural ...
, was hired to design and build the new theater on adjacent to the original theater in 1965. The new building could seat 655 and was designed to look like a barn with a large lobby featuring a fireplace and a high ceiling. Herb Bloomberg went on to build and operate the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres.


Ownership

For 73 years the theater was owned by Don Stolz, who joined a year after its inception, when he was 23 and a graduate student in theater at
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
. Hired to direct, he also performed in ''
The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'' starting on his second day. The first show he directed that year was
Sidney Howard Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for ''Gone with the Wind''. ...
's ''Ned McCobb's Daughter''; he bought the theater in 1946 and continued to produce/direct the majority of shows and oversaw 600 productions. Stolz was instrumental in the growth of television in the
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
and became a radio veteran in the area. In 2006, several of Stolz's sons took over theater operations, though Stolz remained active in the productions, including a short speech before and after each night's performance. He died on February 14, 2015, at age 97. Greg and Marissa Frankenfield purchased the theater and restaurant in May 2013. Greg Frankenfield is cofounder and CEO of Magenic Technologies, a Minnesota information technology firm. The Frankenfields are theater enthusiasts and producers who have been on the boards of several local theatre organizations and invested in West End and Broadway productions. The current theater has been reconfigured to seat 560; a remodeling in summer 2014 included a deeper stage and new sound and lighting systems. They renovated the restaurant, which seats 250, and reopened it as Cast & Cru in fall 2014.


Audience

An estimated 6 million people have attended productions at the Old Log Theatre.


Alumni

Theater alumni include actor
Charles Nolte Charles Nolte (November 3, 1923 – January 14, 2010) was an American stage and film actor, director, playwright, and educator. Career Nolte was born in Duluth, Minnesota and moved to Wayzata, Minnesota with his family in the early 1930s. ...
, who spent three years with the theater,
Loni Anderson Loni Kaye Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress who played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations. Early ...
, actor Nick Nolte, Julia Duffy, and long-time Twin Cities news anchor and actor Dave Moore.


References


External links


Old Log Theatre
*Don Stolz is interviewed by Lael Grathwol, Northern Lights Minnesota Interview TV Series #188 (1991):

{{coord, 44, 54, 38.18, N, 93, 33, 27.57, W, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Buildings and structures in Hennepin County, Minnesota Theatres in Minnesota Tourist attractions in Hennepin County, Minnesota 1940 establishments in Minnesota