RAAC presents an original production: Free Air by John Loch, directed by Keith Reed

A presentation by RAAC’s Front Porch Players Community Theater group, November, 2023, at the Steeple Center

Background: In partnership with the Rosemount Area Historical Society (RAHS), RAAC is producing a unique theatrical project. The Minnesota Historical Society has designated that a movie called Free Air was the first movie filmed in Minnesota. It was a silent film based on the book of the same title, written by Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize-winning Minnesota author, Sinclair Lewis. The movie was made in 1921 and was partially filmed in Rosemount. It was one of the first films with a strong female character, the first travelogue story showing the country, and one of the first films shot on-site rather than at a studio in Hollywood. As has happened to the vast majority of silent films, the movie and all copies of it have been lost. But the daughter of one of the producers kept a library of still photographs from the production. She connected with the RAHS and donated the collection to them. John Loch has re-created the story for the stage with live-action, photographs projected on a large screen, and accompaniment by live piano music and narration.

Story: The play opens with Claire Boltwood, a young socialite, enjoying dinner with her father, workaholic boyfriend Jeff, and others, at a trendy hotel in New York. When her father’s doctor, another dinner guest, recommends that he needs a vacation and fresh air, Claire decides a cross-country road trip is just the answer, and she’ll drive. Their car is shipped to Minneapolis where their adventures begin. After a flat tire, they meet Milt, the owner of the local garage in “Schoenstrom,” MN. The movie scenes for this small, rural town were filmed in Rosemount. Milt is immediately smitten with Claire and makes the life-changing decision to follow her west in his homemade jalopy. He keeps “accidentally” encountering them en route and comes to their rescue on many occasions. A budding romance begins that culminates in a dramatic scene at a train station in Glacier National Park.

Performances:

Gala premiere 5pm, Friday, November 10, 2023 (play at 7pm)

Saturday, November 11, 2 & 7pm

Livestream, Saturday, November 11, 7pm

Friday, November 17, 7pm

Saturday, November 18, 2 & 7pm