LAKE BENTON, Minn. (KELO) — In every city, big and small, amenities tend to come and go. But in the small town of Lake Benton, Minnesota, there’s been one consistent form of entertainment for well over a century.
In the heart of the town, you’ll find history hiding in plain sight along Benton Street.
“From what I understand, we’re one of two original opera houses left in the state of Minnesota,” Lake Benton Opera House Vice President Dave Norgaard said.
The Lake Benton Opera House, as it stands, dates back to 1896. A year prior, fire destroyed the original wood structure, though some of the scorched timbers still remain.
“Over the years it was an opera house, and then vaudeville, the traveling acts, and then it got made into a movie theater, probably back in the 40s, and then this thing changed. It fell into disrepair, and it sat here with busted out windows,” Norgaard said.
The building was actually scheduled for demolition in 1970, but was saved from the wrecking ball. By 1977, it joined the National Register of Historic Places.
“It’s a tremendous effort, the amount of hours that go into it, it’s a labor of love, it has turned into for me anyway,” Norgaard said.
Norgaard got his first taste of the theater more than 30 years ago when his daughter auditioned for The Sound of Music. A year later, it was Norgaard who ended up on stage.
“A week before opening, they were short a person, and they hammered on me a little bit, and so I filled in,” Norgaard said.
“I came over, auditioned and got the lead role, and I pretty much been here ever since,” board president Alan Riedel said.
Riedel arrived in Lake Benton in 1998. He’s graduated from actor to director and board president.
“When I’m actually directing a show or working on a show, I probably put in 60 to 80 hours a week here, along with my normal job,” Riedel said.
He’s not the only one working overtime; the current crop of actors continues to come from far and wide.
“They’re from all over. In Rent, our farthest one right now is coming from Brandon, South Dakota, so we do get people that drive quite a ways just to be in some of these shows,” Riedel said.
“It is a small community theater, super tight-knit. But it’s also big enough that we can share our interests with everyone in the area,” actor Emma Lipinski said.
Lipinski is from Ivanhoe, Minnesota — 15 miles north of Lake Benton — and started doing children’s theater at the Opera House at age eleven.
“I’ve always had an interest in performing, and this is really what ignited my interest. And I’ve grown since then. It’s been a great place for me to find out who I am, not only as an actor, but as a person,” Lipinski said.
Rent is her tenth production at the Opera House.
“I’m playing the role of Maureen Johnson. She’s a super fun character to play,” Lipinski says.
But Lipinski is the first to admit there’s something more important than the script or part.
“The people are what bring me here and what keep me coming back,” Lipinski said.
Riedel says Rent has a cast and crew of about 30 and is entering its second weekend of shows. It’s one of four productions this season that got its start back in February.
“Most of the time that’s one musical, two plays, and we have a board of 12 to 15 people, depending on the years, that decide those shows,” Riedel said.
And Riedel feels fortunate to be working in a space like the Opera House.
“When you look around the theaters in the Midwest, the small town theaters, not a lot of them have a building like this, right? Sioux Falls, I believe, has the Orpheum, a little theater there that people can go to. But if you go to Brookings or Marshall or Luverne or those, there’s not a lot of small town theaters, right, that actually have a theater building like this,” Riedel said.
It’s a labor of love for everyone involved.
“We rely heavily on donations and people that like the place,” Norgaard said.
Norgaard says the organization has gotten creative with its fundraising over the years, including the installation of new seating.
“We didn’t have the money for that back in 2000. But come up with the idea, we sold the seat for 100 bucks. You could buy a seat, and if you look in the back of all these seats, there’s little nameplates. By the time we got them installed and had to write the check, we had all the money to pay for them,” Norgaard said.
The Opera House hopes to fill the seats for years to come, though it still stings every time shows like Rent come to a close.
“The end of the run is always bittersweet. ‘Geez, it’s finally over’, but it’s also kind of sad. The friendships you’ve made. You know, when you tear the set down all that hard work and it’s all over. So, it’s bittersweet at the end of every run,” Norgaard said.
And if Norgaard has a say, the Lake Benton Opera House’s best days are still ahead of it.
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