3 minute read
Discover the Story of Lanesboro's New Theater District Mural
-ERIK PEARSON, ARTIST
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Big cities have big theater districts. In New York, it’s Broadway. Chicago has one, too. Minneapolis? The Hennepin Theater District. All are venues for great shows and fun entertainment. People love them and they help give those places a distinct personality.
Lanesboro has a theater district, too. Smaller, for sure, but one that offers wonderful theatre and live performances in two popular and historic downtown theaters: the Commonweal and the St. Mane. As we emerge from the pandemic, we look forward to Lanesboro’s theater district once again attracting audiences from Lanesboro, Bluff Country, and across the Midwest.
A beautifully-crafted, community-painted mural is scheduled to be installed later in 2021 on the north end of Parkway Avenue to celebrate our town’s cultural vitality. Created by St. Paul artist Erik Pearson, the mural is the result of a partnership between the Commonweal Theatre and Lanesboro Arts. Pearson worked with local students as Lanesboro Arts' first artist-in-residence in 2001. Four years later he transformed the large plywood panels guarding the Commonweal’s “construction zone” into colorful murals depicting unique aspects of local life. Those murals later graced the interior of the Intermission Restaurant.
Pearson designed the new Lanesboro mural on parachute-like material. It is a work that tells a story, drawing on ideas solicited from Lanesboro residents of all ages. More than 200 volunteers (both residents and visitors) worked indoors on hands and knees under Pearson’s direction, wielding brushes with paint generously provided by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s “Paint the Town” grant program. The plan is to permanently attach the now-completed mural to the south corner wall of the Manion Law Office Building.
Community stakeholders gave input on the design that honored the history of Lanesboro, representing nature, agriculture, townspeople, cultural and generational diversity, and more. The design Pearson created includes both fictional and real people from Lanesboro based on research and historical photos. In the design the two far left characters are on a stage. The six people to the right of them are in the audience. Then the two people on the far right are on the balcony. On the stage the fairy in the top left represents “A Midsummer Night's Dream” which was Commonweal’s first play performed in 1989, and she's holding the actual window of the building like a lantern. The lantern represents the “ghost light” left on when the theatres are not in use. The fairy is wearing a dress with an agricultural pattern. The next character down represents a musician as the St. Mane Theatre hosts both professional and community-based musical performers.
In the audience, the character with the broom represents Robert Greer, one of the first businessmen and Lanesboro’s first mayor. The woman above Mr. Greer represents one of the switchboard phone operators in town, and the phone line travels to each character ending in a guitar on stage. The other characters represent average community members throughout time, including a farmer, a casually dressed male, an historically dressed woman, and a young child. There are some fun details such as marquee lights in the background, a Commonweal Theatre logo on a program, and a ticket stub in a shirt pocket with details from both a Lanesboro Community Theatre show and an Over the Back Fence live radio show.
Maybe you’ve enjoyed plays and concerts in New York, Chicago or Minneapolis. You might also be (or plan to be) a regular patron of the arts right here in Lanesboro. Make plans to check out the new mural that will help celebrate the joy, beauty and power of art in Lanesboro’s own theatre district!
