Illusion Theatre brings award-winning play, "My Antonia," to Pine City

Illusion Theatre is bringing Willa Cather's vibrant character of Antonia to life with a statewide tour of the award-winning show, "My Antonia," and the show comes to Pine City Fri. Mar. 9. Theatre management, in collaboration with Pine City Public Schools, Community Education, the Pine City Public Library, Pine City Arts Council, and Heritage Theatre present this critically acclaimed production locally, funded in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, at 12:30 p.m. at the Pine City Elementary Auditorium on Friday, March 9th. All local partners extend a special, free invitation to PTC students, staff, and faculty.

"What a wonderful opportunity!" says Joan Bloemendaal-Gruett, Dean of Academic Affairs. "We have been extended an invitation to attend this award-winning presentation at no charge. It's not often such opportunities arise, and I encourage anyone who is able to attend," Bloemendaal-Gruett adds.

To reserve your seat at the performance, R.S.V.P./e-mail Bloemendaal-Gruett (BloemendaalJ@pinetech.edu) with your intent to attend no later than Fri. Feb. 25. Attendees must arrive and be seated by 12:15 p.m. on Mar. 9, for the production to start at 12:30.

About "My Antonia"
In 1918, Willa Cather wrote about 1880s European immigrants who came to the U.S. to make their American dreams come true. They endured bitter winters and struggled to make things grow in the hard, scrabble soil of the windswept Nebraska prairie. Moore's new adaptation is told through the memories of narrator Jim Burden, who after 20 years of living in the East, returns to his small prairie town to see Antonia, the Czech immigrant girl who shaped his understanding of life. The story is wrapped in an environment of the changing prairie created by the actors, set, and sound.

The one-and-a-half hour drama will relate to high school students and the public in the East Central Region of Minnesota -- an area also populated by Czech immigrants whose culture and language enriched local history. The 2010 production of "My Antonia" was the recipient of two Twin Cities Theatre Ivey Awards.

Photo at top: Actors portray a scene from "My Antonia." (photo courtesy of Illusion Theatre.)