Actors and performers at St. Paul-based Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts are preparing to make their return to live theater in Minneapolis for the first time in three years.
Saturday night marks the opening night for We're Still Here which is an an original production by Interact Theater.
The group will hold a "preview" show on Friday.
"Theater is a collective artform and we need to have the energy because everything is structured through improvisation," said Interact founder and We're Still Here director Jeanne Calvit. "We need that personal interaction to generate ideas and to be creative."
Interact Theater, which Calvit opened 27 years ago, is a space for artist and performers living with disabilities.
Calvit moved to the United States from Paris where she worked with people with disabilities through community workshops.
"I started doing a lot of physical comedy, improv, and putting shows on with people with disabilities," Calvit said. "It got so much attention and no one else was doing it, so I ended up starting my first program in the 1980s and I got the idea to start Interact as a much more professional level theater."
In 27 years Interact has put together roughly 40 shows with performances in Europe, Australia, and Thailand.
"I could see there was a huge need and there were people with disabilities that were very talented. They were writers, singers, comedians, and those in the visual arts department. They were doing lower-skilled jobs like cleaning hotels and floors at restaurants. I thought these people should be putting on plays."
COVID-19 restrictions forced Interact performers and actors to the virtual world. Interact transitioned to a virtual program including lessons, rehearsals, and they even put on a virtual show.
The theater opened in-house in August 2021 and has remained opened since.
"That was terrible. I missed being on stage and acting," said Doree Borgrow, an actor who's been with Interact for 16 years. "Acting on the screen is hard because actors need to be able to touch and feel."
Borgrow is part of We're Still Here which tells the story of a Chicago newspaper going through the Great Depression in the 1930s. The story is told from the perspective of an advice columnist.
Borgrow's character is an aspiring bride who works as a typist at the newspaper.
"The show is very funny and there are a lot of funny moments," Borgrow said. "We have a lot of actors who are clowns and they're really good at doing clowny stuff."
Calvit said they wanted We're Still Here to be funny, joyful, and hopeful while relevant to what society has gone through collectively the past few years.
They looked into the past for a time that was difficult and they landed in the 1930s.
"There were so many points that designated with what was going on now in our times so we decided to place it in a newsroom where all these news things were breaking," Calvit said. "All of these people are working in a newsroom with personal dreams of what they want to do in their lives. It's comic, but it's relevant to what's happening in our society today."
We're Still Here has 13 performances schedule throughout the month of October at The Luminary in Minneapolis. The family-friendly show includes original music, poetry and choreography created by Interact artists.
Tickets can be purchased here with General Admission tickets priced at $25.
"There aren't many theater companies out there for people with disabilities," Borgrow added. "And it's not just for acting. They also have visual arts for painting and other things. Without Interact I'd probably be at home, sitting around, and doing nothing."
Interact is special to Borgrow for another reason.
"Without Interact I would have never found love. My boyfriend and I have been together for six years and this is the longest relationship I've had."
For Calvit, Interact is as rewarding today as it was when she started the company nearly thirty years ago.
"People will come here and they'll be very shy, soft-spoken, and sometimes they won't even speak," Calvit said. "Now they're singing and performing. You see a shift in their sense of self and their confidence."
