New play opens Nov. 13
Home Land Security, a world premiere play by D.K. Iversen, opens at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at Metropolitan State University’s Minneapolis Campus in the Whitney Stagedoor Theater.
From leaving home and breaking in, to farm policies, foster children and Federal Protective Services, Home Land Security uses black comedy to explore the intergenerational effects of war revisited on Mamie Jorgensen’s family farm in Blue Earth, Minn.—first as a daughter in the 1960s struggling to make sense of the effects of war on her mother, as a wife and mother in the 1980s holding a family together alone, and finally, to the current day threat of her daughter being sent to Iraq.
“I felt compelled to write this play,” said playwright Iversen, “with a number of images and ideas in mind, beginning with a palpable sensation of the need for mercy, especially regarding the impact of our actions on children. This play allows a kind of black humor, which pervades the endangered personal and economic situations in which these characters find themselves and the land on which they live. They are, as a species, facing extinction on many fronts. Rural America was once the backbone of a way of life that connected this country, its politics and generations of servicemen and women who defended us all.”
The winner of Metropolitan State’s 2007 New Play Contest, Home Land Security was developed with the playwright in the theater program’s ongoing new play workshops and is produced by Theater Underground and the Metropolitan State Theater Program with Gail Smogard, theater program director. Smogard, Camille D’Ambrose and Scott M. Rubsam are collectively directing, with scenery by Kirby Moore, costumes by Elin Anderson and lighting by Michael Wangen.
Additional performances are Nov. 14, 15, 21 and 22 at 7 p.m. Matinees are Nov. 15 and 22 at 2 p.m. Metropolitan State and Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) students are admitted free of charge. General admission is $5. As space is limited, call 651-793-1550 to make a reservation. The Stagedoor Theater is located in the Whitney Fine Arts Center on the Metropolitan State and MCTC campus off Loring Park at 1424 Yale Place. The parking ramp is at 15th Street and Hennepin Avenue. Persons with disabilities who need a reasonable accommodation should call Disability Services at 651-793-1549 or 651-772-7687 (TTY).