Taking something classic and making it your own sounds like a classic yooper tale. This weekend the Ontonagon Theater will host the latest in its series of shows turning stories found in the public domain into classic yooper tales. The theater began the tradition nearly four years ago. Executive Director Eric Hopper says he couldn’t have imagined how popular the shows have become since the first performance of Alice in Yooperland.
These are our biggest shows of the year for the Ontonagon Theater. So the community has embraced them and come out and supports them. I think it ties back to community theater in general. You know, you have a lot of people within our community getting up on stage and maybe doing something that, is a little out of their, their comfort zone, a little out of their normal wheelhouse. And it’s really neat to see the community come and watch their fellow community members up on stage performing this – Eric Hopper, Executive Director, Ontonagon Theater for Performing Arts.
Friday night the Ontonagon Theater will premiere an Upper Peninsula take on the French fairytale classic, Beauty and the Beast. Retitled Yooper and the Beast. Hopper says audiences should expect some laughs from the show and plenty of entertainment.
So now, Yooper, who is the main star, is a male Yooper-born man whose, dad is a big hunter and he kind of wants him to do the manly things that a UP hunter would do. But Yooper is more of a gentle soul and he bakes thimbleberry pies sews dresses and plays Finnish pokas. So, there are a lot of kind of underlying character roles that fit the Upper Peninsula theme, including, like I said, he bakes thimbleberry pies and also ternary toast. – Eric Hopper, Executive Director, Ontonagon Theater for Performing Arts
On stage will include performers from the Ontonagon Community Theater group and the Habor Town Players. Friday and Saturday shows will begin at 7 pm. On Sunday Yooper and the Beast will have a matinee show at 3 pm. Tickets cost 10 dollars for an adult and 5 for a student. Learn more about the Ontonagon Theater for Performing Arts, here.
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