The Tutor to Medea’s children (Rowan Jordahl) tells The Nurse (Sam Hagberg) a secret he has heard in town.
Medea (Libby Carlo) gloats over the grief of her husband, Jason (Landon Butler). King Creon (DJ Sceheele) looks on.
The Nurse (Sam hagberg) explains what the audience is about to see is a tragedy she wishes hadn’t happened as it did.
Instead of struggling against an obstacle brought about by COVID-19 this year, Hutchinson High School performers have incorporated it into their one-act play, "Medea."
"The whole idea in Greek theater is they already used masks," said director Jason Olson.
The alignment came about as a result of a series of decisions the school's theater program had to make this year. As the state and school carried out plans to stay safe in the midst of pandemic trends, the usual fall musical was moved to the spring. Students began rehearsals for it alongside one-act play practices. Most shows are presented locally, but one-act plays are part of a statewide competition. Rules for the competition changed this year.
"Schools had the option where you can do it on stage with masks, or you could do something on Zoom," Olson said. "I think it's one of the best one the kids have done with myself. But it's hard to know what judges are looking for this year. ... How do you judge one against the other?"
"Medea," a Greek tragedy, is based on the myth of Jason and Medea. It follows the actions of Medea as she finds her world threatened when Jason leaves her for a Greek princess.
"If anyone has heard anything about Jason it's usually about him trying to get the golden fleece," Olson said. "This is what happened afterwards. ... It's almost like a Greek version of a soap opera."
Hutchinson High School's show added a special touch with a "play within a play."
"We kind of put it in the context of a group who is retelling the story," Olson said.
The change allows room for a retelling, and for the addition of context. But another aspect of the show calls right back to the original translation.
"It's all in verse, which is interesting," said Landon Butler, who plays Jason. "The language and word choice is very different from what we've done. So the speech pattern we have to perform within each line was something we had to adapt to. Once we got it under our belts, it's actually been really fun to perform, because instead of reading lines you're kind of reciting poetry."
What stands out the most to Olson is the overall look of the show.
"I just think the costumes, along with the set, look really beautiful," he said. "The lighting is really a feature in the redone auditorium. It's an overall beautiful aesthetic."
There will be a public performance of the show, but it will be limited due to the 150-person cap on school activities. As a result, each student involved will have seven tickets to distribute, and a list will be made in advance. However, because "Medea" has no copyright, the school is able to display an online version. More information is forthcoming.
The performance for competition, however, has no audience. The group was tasked with recording a performance and submitting it.
"You definitely feed off the audience's energy, and it just doesn't feel like a performance (without it)," Butler said. "It just feels like another rehearsal. So having to get into the mindset that this is a performance ... I've had to adapt to."
Senior Natalie Kunkel typically works behind the scenes, such as playing in the orchestra for musicals. But she wanted to step out of her comfort zone and take to the stage before graduation. In "Medea," she is part of the chorus. In classical Greek theater, those performers take on the role of describing scenes and reacting to the action.
"I started off as a chorus member with a couple of lines, but then Mr. Olson decided to add live music into it, so I play the timpani and the gong throughout the entire show," Kunkel said.
The transition to the stage has been challenging, Kunkel said, as it feels like there is much more pressure. Before she had other band members to help her out.
"I learned to grow into it," she said.
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The Franklin House, originally known as the Sheppard House, was originally purchased by McLeod Treatment Programs in 1976 and still stands today. With the end of McLeod Treatment Programs, however, it will no longer be used as a home for young people in need of safety and stability.
Forty-four years ago, Judge LeRoy Yost and a group of McLeod County commissioners envisioned a program to help "wayward boys" get back on track.
Through the court system, they established a house where struggling boys could be raised with adults living on site, and find stability, structure and services they needed. It was only the beginning of what McLeod Treatment Programs would grow into.
"It was a very unique program, one of the first in the state," said executive director Sue Devereaux.
But after serving its last child on Dec. 31, MTP — now a private nonprofit — closed its doors. A variety of factors led to the program's end.
Over the years, as similar programs developed across the state, it became more common for referrals to come from outside the area to allow youth a change of scenery and a fresh start. That's why most of MTP's youth came from the metro area. But over the past few years, referrals slowed down.
"This year was more significant with COVID," Devereaux said.
That's partly because with children out of school, fewer human service professionals are seeing students on a day-to-day basis. As a result, it's harder to spot when something is going wrong at home, or when a student is making unhealthy personal choices.
"I understand the health crisis we're in right now, and that it needs to be that way," Devereaux said. "But kid aren't getting their needs met right now."
Students may also end up in programs like MTP because parents have asked for help. On the other hand, a court may direct parents to seek help. MTP also offered a supervised visit service, which created a safe space for kids to see their parents due to a court order, due to domestic violence, or even due to a fracture in the family. Staff could take notes on the visit and pass them on to attorneys as needed. But in the age of COVID, MTP had to close the visitation center.
With fewer referrals and MTP's visitation service no longer operating, that meant less income to fund programs and pay service providers.
"It's very sad for all the staff," said Deveraux, who has been with MTP for 30 years. "We made a difference in kids' lives. That's a positive, but it's emotional. It's not a nine-to-five job for anyone. It becomes your life."
McLeod County Health and Human Services Director Berit Spors said the county frequently used MTP's visitation service.
"We'll miss that," she said. "We'll have to rely on other providers, staff and friends to provide those visits."
The county will be able to use treatment programs across the state if it needs to make a placement, which won't be much of a change. It did not often use the local program.
"Generally when we need to make a placement it's an emergency," Spors said, "and (MTP) didn't take emergency placements."
LOOKING BACK
It all started at 135 North Franklin Street, Hutchinson. The original Sheppard House purchased by the county for MTP — then known as McLeod Group Homes — in 1976 still stands. After just two years of service, it became clear it wasn't just boys who needed a hand. A girls program was added, and with it the addition of the Franklin House in Hutchinson. Other changes came, too, such as the change from full-time, live-in staff to staff who were at the house in shifts. MTP also paid back the county's original investment and established itself independently.
As the program grew, it began honing its services to fit various age groups, and so for awhile in Glencoe it added the Christiansen House to serve young women and the Prism House to serve young boys. There was also Porchlight Residence, a short-term shelter for kids who needed somewhere safe. In 2003, Sheppard House received an addition.
"Every individual resident had their own treatment plan based on their needs," Deveraux said.
Treatment included subjects such as independent living, social skills, drug or alcohol safety or anger management. Some kids needed lessons on physical, sexual or emotional boundaries.
"A lot of relationship and communication skills (were taught)," Deveraux said, "anything they could take with them after they were done with us."
For many residents, stability was vital.
"Some kids came in and didn't have the best structure at home," Deveraux said. "Here we had a time to get up, time for school, time for chores. You had a time of day you could plan and prepare for meal time — nutritious meals. Some of our kids would come in and maybe they ... didn't know where their next meal would come from."
Providing safety and the stability of food, shelter and a bed was critical, especially for kids overcoming trauma or abuse. Others struggled in school because they had nowhere safe to rest, study and finish homework. MTP sought to address that need.
Typically, MTP had one staff person for each kid, which meant it could have 20-50 employees, not all full time. The number of employees began to decline over the past few years as referrals dipped, and further due to the pandemic.
Now, with the program ending, many lifelong commitments are coming to an early end. But, Deveraux said, the work mattered. It's not uncommon to hear from people who were helped in the past by MTP, even decades ago.
"That's the stuff you live on," Deveraux said. "That's the good times, seeing kids become successful. That's what keeps you going. I'm happy we made a difference."
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The Bonfire Bar & Grille along State Highway 22 near Litchfield closed in late January.
Dick Burgart and granddaughter Cecilia Vaillancourt, owners of Bonfire Bar & Grille, delivered about 745 pounds of food to the Meeker Area Food Shelf last March when restaurants around the state were closed due to COVID-19. Although Bonfire took a hit from the pandemic, Burgart stressed that restrictions were not the reason the restaurant is closing.
If you're looking to generate comments on social media, all you have to do is announce the closing of a favorite tavern and that will do it.
After almost 16 years of ownership, the Dick Burgart family posted on Facebook this past week that they were closing the Bonfire Bar & Grille in rural Litchfield. The response was rapid and heartfelt. Fans bemoaned its passing, reminiscing about good times and favorite meals such as prime rib night and the best chicken strips and steaks.
Although many may attribute the business' demise to Gov. Walz's mandate that closed restaurants during the holiday season, Burgart said that wasn't true. It was a more mundane reason — their kitchen manager gave notice and that was it.
“We were forced to close May 16 to June 10 and Nov. 20 to Jan. 10,” Burgart lamented. “Although the closures had a huge impact on us, that's not the reason we closed the bar. It had nothing to do with that. As I said in one of my posts on my Facebook page, my kitchen manager wanted to pursue other things. I don't cook and I never cooked. I didn't want to know what went on in the kitchen. We had the determination when she wanted to leave, we decided to close.”
It was never on Burgart's wish list or radar to own and operate a restaurant. His background was in financial services. It's what brought his family to Hutchinson in February 1975, when he was transferred here by Community Credit to take over when Bud Maynard left. From there, he went to First National Bank, which later became Marquette Bank and then Wells Fargo. He stayed 10 years. After that, he took a year's sabbatical to try something new. He worked in the computer field for Jerry Cornell and Duane Hoversten. In 1985, he returned to banking at First Federal. He retired in 2005 when Firststate Federal was sold to MidCountry Bank.
Suzanne's career was in education. She taught in Winsted and then in Hutchinson as a special education teacher. About the last 10 years of her teaching career she was a team teacher of ninth grade humanities at the high school.
Neither of them were looking for a new challenge but stepped up to help their son, Justin, when he bought the Bonfire on April 1, 2005.
Suzanne decorated the place and Dick pitched in to help one or two days a week. This changed with Justin's death Nov. 12, 2013. They stepped into run it.
They employed 11 people most of their tenure, including four cooks and seven bartender/servers, plus Dick.
“It's been a great experience,” he said. “As much as I preferred not to do it, it was a good experience. No qualms about it. We've had some wonderful, wonderful patrons. We appreciate everything they've done.”
Burgart credited the rural eatery's successful to the quality of its food and the customer service provided by the staff.
“I could find a new kitchen manager and all the help, but it wouldn't be the same,” he said. “It wouldn't meet my expectations. So, we just made the decision. We've been trying to sell the bar for five or six years, with no real interest. I have to say since we closed on Monday, interest has been coming from everywhere. If there are any legitimate buyers out there, I'm certainly willing to listen to people.”
Trust is important in relationships, and the Burgarts trusted their staff. So much in fact that they were able to pursue a favorite pastime.
"Because the staff we've had, Susie and I have been able to travel as much as we wanted to," Burgart said. "We've done a lot of traveling the last six to seven years. We've had enough confidence in our staff that we were able to go. I could do payroll remotely and bookkeeping remotely. We would go for a month at a time, California, Hawaii a couple of times. We were able to go pretty much when we wanted to. You don't find that level of commitment in your staff very often."
While he readily admits he'll miss a lot of the people, he won't miss the people who tried to come in the door without a mask.
“There have been a lot,” Burgart said. “There have been a lot of people who got really mad at me. I was entrenched in that. If you don't have a mask, you won't come through the door.
"I'll miss the fellowship," he added. "We have some loyal, loyal patrons that love to come there. I never thought I'd be the local watering hole/post. It's been great.”
FAREWELL TO FAVORITES
In the bar, the most popular drink was Captain Morgan Rum. They sold more of that than anything else.
“What amazes me, as much as we have traveled, brandy is a Midwest drink,” Burgart said. “We sold a lot of E&J Brandy. When we visited California, they don't have brandy. That's been my experience in many places. At the Costco liquor store in California, you might not find brandy.”
For beer drinkers the preference was for Michelob Golden Draft and Coors Light. They were the Bonfire's biggest sellers.
On the restaurant side, the most popular item on the menu pre-COVID was the salad bar. Also in demand was prime rib on Friday night and their burgers.
"People always liked our burgers," Burgart shared. "Last week on Saturday I think it was, I had four young men sit at the bar and each had a steak sandwich. The one who was the king pin said it was the 'best steak sandwich in the world.'"
For a small place, the Bonfire had a fairly large menu. Big sellers were the walleye sandwich, steak sandwich and all the burgers. Burgart admitted to being astounded by the number of people who ordered chicken fingers.
"Everybody's tastes are different," he said.
From the beginning they bought their buns and hamburger from Lang's Meat Market and then Benny's in Hutchinson. It's one of the reasons Burgart credited for their consistency.
"We tried to do things local as much as possible," he said. "It's been good. Our burgers have been fresh from day one. That's been part of the success."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Their next plans call for selling their house on Lake Minniebelle. The couple lives in a multigenerational environment with their daughter, Heather Vaillancourt, son-in-law, Marc, and grandchildren.
“Marc now works for the Children's HeartLink, a worldwide organization that provides heart care services,” Burgart said. “Their office is at (Edina), and Heather works here. Anywhere in between would be an equal commute. We would like to continue the arrangement. People might think of it as strange, but we found it a very workable situation for us. We've done it since April 2014. It's almost been 7 years. You have to take a poll with the rest of the people, but I think they feel the same. It's been very, very good. Marc and Heather both work and their youngest daughter is a freshman in high school. We can provide some of the transportation needs to make it easier for mom and dad. We love spending time with our children and grandchildren.”
With no bar and restaurant to operate, Burgart is looking forward to doing jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles and reading. His favorites: mysteries, action and historical fiction-type stuff. Last year, he read the whole "Outlander" series of about 10,000 pages.
"I learned a lot about the hospitality business," he said. "At my advanced age — 74 this past November — it's the perfect age for retirement."
