PREVIEW: zAmya’s A Prairie Homeless Companion to Tour 6 MN Cities

Take a few real-life stories, some live music, and a dash of small town parody in the mold of A Prairie Home Companion, mix it together, and what do you get? A hint of what it might be like to see the return of zAmya Theater Project’s A Prairie Homeless Companion, which hits the road next month for a performance tour that will take it to six Minnesota municipalities.

The focus, in case you don’t know zAmya’s excellent, socially driven work, is on homelessness – homeless in Minnesota, as fictionalized as the little town of Miserable Falls, MN. (Don’t put that in your GPS – it might take you to Dismal Falls, VA, which is an actual place.) In this show modeled on A Prairie Home Companion, a theater company from the city presents a show with a quaint depiction of small-town life in Miserable Falls, Minnesota. However, the actors find a very different reality than the community they’ve been spoofing – and the residents of the town take over the show to tell more realistic stories.

The play was written by Josef Evans, with music by Evans, Brian Laidlaw and Ash Hanson. It is directed by Maren Ward (well-known from the late Bedlam Theatre, and others) and Esther Ouray, with sound design by Peter Morrow.

A Prairie Home Companion was originally created back in 2019 in Southwest Minnesota, featuring stories gathered from real people experiencing homelessness in the region. This fall’s tour has been re-localized as a Northeast Minnesota adaptation, created with people across the housing spectrum through story circles held at Grace House in Grand Rapids, Servants of Shelter in International Falls, Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency shelters in Hibbing and Virginia, and Cass Lake Emergency Shelter on Leech Lake Reservation. Some participants from story circles will join the production and share their stories during the performance’s open-mic segment.

zAmya’s tour will kick off October 4 with the first of two performances in St. Paul, before heading up to Grand Rapids, International Falls, Duluth, Virginia (the actual MN place, not that Dismal Falls place in an Atlantic state), and Pupoksy:

Fri 10/4 @ 6:30 pm, St. Paul at 825 Arts
Sat 10/5 @ 4 pm, St. Paul at 825 Arts
Mon 10/7 @ 6:30 pm, Grand Rapids at Itasca Campus of North MN College
Tue 10/8 @ 6:30 pm, International Falls at Rainy River Campus of North MN College
Wed 10/9 @ 1 pm, Duluth at the St. Louis County Health & Human Services Conference
Thur 10/10 @ 6:30 pm, Virginia at Mesabi Range Campus of North MN College
Fri 10/11 @ 7 pm, Puposky at Wild Rose Theater

Tickets are priced on a sliding scale from $0-$40

See zAmya’s website for details by show: https://rb.gy/r5fk5

More about the play, homelessness in Minnesota, and zAmya:

The show runs two hours long, including an intermission
ASL interpretation will be provided at the October 5th performance in St. Paul.
$20 gift cards are available for people bringing the lived experience of homelessness
Content has mature themes (domestic abuse, drug use). Parental discretion advised.

The 2019 original was commissioned and supported by the Partnership Art Program of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership. In 2021, zAmya adapted and recorded the play as a radio drama. A second adaptation was created in Central Minnesota in 2023, in partnership with Oasis Central Minnesota. From Kris Jackson, a community participant in Little Falls:

“This is an amazing organization that myself and my children had the opportunity to be a part of. They provided a space for real people suffering in silence, alone and scared. A voice to tell their story, to express their struggles, to help participants heal while helping others.”

According to the latest Minnesota Homelessness Study conducted by Wilder Research, “Across the state, a concerning number of people are spending most of their time unsheltered. People who are homeless in greater Minnesota are more precariously sheltered” I.e., they spend more time doubled up, moving constantly, and having more repeat episodes of homelessness.

The lack of housing, and affordable housing, in Minnesota mirrors a housing crisis in our country. In Johnson v Grants Pass, the Supreme Court recently permitted cities to criminalize homelessness. We have hope for Our Future Starts at Home, a Minnesota movement and constitutional amendment that will help make stable housing affordable.

Since 2004 the zAmya has been changing hearts and minds through performances and workshops across Minnesota with partners including: Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District, Hennepin Theater Trust, Southwest Minnesota Housing Project, The Guthrie Theater, Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Annual Conference, Augsburg College, and more.

zAmya believes theater can change the narrative of homelessness. Our performances grow from stories lived by participants and crafted by our core artistic members. We share them because we know that if we want to unravel this crisis then we have to unravel the story. Informed by experienced advocates and direct service providers, zAmya is led by professional artists, and employs a core group of actors who’ve experienced homelessness to create the plays and guide the direction of the company.

Learn more at: https://zamyatheater.org/prairie-homeless-companion

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Amy Donahue

Amy Donahue is a staff reviewer at the Twin Cities Arts Reader. She interned with the magazine during the summer of 2017, served as a guest contributor while studying abroad in Europe that fall, and has moved up to regular old reviewing. She served as interim Editor-in-Chief in 2023.

She admits to being at least 50% terrified of contemporary German opera.