The ACGC Drama Department will present a one-act play – “The Frozen Standoff” – on Thursday, January 16th at 7 p.m. in the ACGC High School Theater. Admission is $5.
Director Thomas Dougherty Rosengren wrote the play which is based on the Willmar 8 – a group of ladies who stood up to their bosses at a bank in Willmar in the 1970s demanding workplace equality as they were training in men who would then get promoted. He says there are 16 students on stage for the production and he could see them standing up for themselves just like the characters they portray.
Rosengren says the students have 10-minutes to get their set prepared and 35-minutes to perform and they will compete against 8 other schools in the region during a competition on January 24th at Dassel-Cokato, and two of them will go on to the state competition. He says the students have been preparing for the past 6 weeks and he’s hoping they get a good crowd on January 16th.
ACGC senior Elizabeth Thyen has been doing musicals at ACGC for 6 years and “The Frozen Standoff” is her second one-act play. She says she’s in the role of Irene.
Thyen says she had not heard of the Willmar 8 until she got involved in this one-act production of “The Frozen Standoff.” She says it’s impressive how these women impacted their community and she’s eager to show the public how hard the students have been working on this production.
ACGC 9th grader Makaylen Carlson says she plays a meek character named Shirley who finds her voice during the course of the protest. She says the story of the Willmar 8 teaches important lessons.
Carlson says this is her second one-act play at ACGC and she’s also performed at the Barn Theater in Willmar. Rosengren has been directing musicals and one-act plays at ACGC for 9 years and has also directed at the Barn Theater in Willmar. He says 4 of the Willmar 8 will be speaking to students at ACGC on January 16th and will also attend the performance that evening. He says he had students watch the movie “A Matter of Sex” starring Jean Stapleton which was based on the story of the Willmar 8.
On Jan. 3, 1967, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys refused to be sworn in after receiving a U.S. Army draft notice. Wilson said he was a conscientious objector.
In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Two Virgins” record sleeve, which showed them posing nude, was declared pornographic in New Jersey. Police seized copies of the album.
In 1970, members of The Beatles recorded their last song together, “I Me Mine.” George Harrison later used that title for his autobiography.
Also in 1970, singer Davy Jones announced he was leaving The Monkees, a year after Peter Tork quit the group.
In 1974, Bob Dylan and The Band opened a brief tour. Several dates were recorded for the live album “Before The Flood.”
Also in 1989, “The Arsenio Hall Show” made its premiere on Fox.
In 1991, the sitcom “Blossom” premiered on NBC.
In 1992, singer Jim Kerr of Simple Minds married actor Patsy Kensit in London. They have since split up.
In 2004, singer Britney Spears married childhood friend Jason Alexander in a spur-of-the-moment wedding in Las Vegas. The marriage lasted 55 hours before they got it annulled.
In 2017, singer Janet Jackson gave birth at the age of 50. She had a boy she named Eissa (EE’-sah).
In 2019, Lifetime TV began airing the six-part documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.” Kelly was later charged with sexual misconduct. He was tried and convicted of sex trafficking in New York in 2021 and of making child pornography in Illinois in 2022.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer-songwriter Van Dyke Parks is 82. Singer Stephen Stills is 80. Bassist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is 79. Actor Victoria Principal is 75. Actor Mel Gibson is 69. Actor Shannon Sturges (“Savannah,” “Port Charles”) is 57. Jazz saxophonist James Carter is 56. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 53. Musician Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk is 50. Actor Jason Marsden (“Ally McBeal”) is 50. Actor Danica McKellar (“The Wonder Years”) is 50. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez (“The O.C.”) is 49. Singer and former “American Idol” contestant Kimberley Locke is 47. Actor Kate Levering (“Drop Dead Diva”) is 46. Actor Nicole Beharie (“Sleepy Hollow”) is 40. Drummer Mark Pontius (Foster The People) is 40. Singer Lloyd is 39. Guitarist Nash Overstreet of Hot Chelle Rae is 39. Actor Florence Pugh is 29.
The G.A.R. Hall and Meeker County Museum was closed over the holidays, but is back open. The normal hours for the museum at 308 North Marshall Avenue in Litchfield are Tuesday through Friday from 10-to-4 and Saturday from noon-to-4.
Museum Executive Director Danelle Erickson says the Civil War Roundtable is coming up on January 9th at 1:30 p.m. at the G.A.R. Hall. She says George Romano will be talking about Swedish inventor John Ericsson and his connection to the U.S. Civil War.
Erickson says you can find more information at meekercomuseum.org or on Facebook and Instagram. She says donations to the Meeker County Museum are welcome at any time.
The Finnish custom of melting tin will be demonstrated on Sunday during an open house in the Centennial Room in Cokato. The 25th annual event will be held to celebrate the New Year on Sunday from 1-to-4 p.m.
The Centennial Room is located at 175 4th Street Southwest in Cokato. Everyone is welcome to stop in and enjoy the demonstration in which tin is melted and then thrown into a cold bucket of water. The resulting shape is supposed to reveal what kind of year you can expect.
The tin is provided, but if you wish to keep your tin after the demonstration you will need to purchase it. It is also acceptable to bring in tin from previous years to be recast. For more information, call the Cokato Museum at 320-286-2427.