Mighty Corson Art Players keep community theater thriving for 40 years, unveil century-old stage curtain
Gracie Terrall/BV Journal
Brian Schipper, managing artistic director and MCAP board president, stands behind a wall of playbills from decades of MCAP performances.
Gracie Terrall/BV Journal
The MCAP theater sits 95 people. Before the current chairs were installed, audience members would sit on folding chairs, and prior to that, straw bales were brought in as makeshift seating.
Gracie Terrall/BV Journal
Cast members started a tradition of writing the cast lists on the walls backstage. Pictured is the cast list for Dark Deeds at Swan’s Place, which was performed in 1983. Alica Thiele was Sourdough Birthright in Dark Deeds.
The Mighty Corson Art Players will host its 40th-anniversary celebration this Saturday at the Corson Playhouse.
The event is from 3-10 p.m. and will include live music from 7-10 p.m. by Elizabeth Hunstad, food from Tony’s Catering, and Homestead Brew and Wild Prairie Winery will be set up for tastings throughout the evening.
“We’ve all put a lot of work and a lot of dedication into this, and we’re excited for having all of the community there and being able to share the theater is really neat,” Kylie Murray, board member and communications leader, said.
There will also be a Brandon Valley Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at 4 p.m.
Along with a celebration of the last 40 years of MCAP, the original, hand-painted curtain that hung on the stage in the 1920’s will be unveiled.
According to Murray, the curtain has been stored at the Brandon Police Department since at least 2007 and is in good condition with the exception of the exposed edges. The curtain will hang in the lobby behind a plexiglass frame for preservation.
“It’s 100 years old and it was meant to be seen and it’s a shame that it hasn’t been for as long as it has,” said Brian Schipper, managing art director and president of the MCAP board.
MCAP,
former theater groups
MCAP is the third theater group to perform in the quaint theatre. They took the stage for the first time in August 1982 with the show “Deadwood Dick” directed by DeLoris Gulson. The first theater group to take the stage of the Corson Theatre was the Corson Dramatic Club in 1925. The Peperites ran from 1934 to 1937.
Alica Thiele, a member of MCAP since 1982, said the company got its name from a sketch comedy skit on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson called the “Mighty Carson Art Players.”
“They called their little company the Mighty Carson Art Players because of Johnny Carson, and the town was called Corson and so it was a take on Johnny Carson’s company that did skits on his show,” she said.
One of the ways MCAP got involved with the community was participating in the Loyalty Day Parade every May, Thiele said. Although they took a brief hiatus, MCAP joined the parade the past two years.
“We’d get in the back of a pickup, and we’d all be dressed up in costume. They put a big banner on the side that says ‘MCAP Builds Characters’,” Thiele said, laughing at the pun.
Building history
The playhouse MCAP performs in has a history even longer than the theater groups themselves.
The building was constructed in the early 1900s and first operated as a creamery from 1921 to 1925, according to the Brandon Area History Book. At that time, the Brandon Township purchased the building for use by the Corson Dramatic Club and Corson Extension. It’s also where the township board held their meetings. Today, the building is still owned by the Brandon Township and is still used for township meetings and MCAP productions.
When MCAP first started, straw bales were used as seating for audience members. Eventually, they would switch to less messy alternatives like folding chairs until they were gifted the current earth-toned seating from a local school right before the 30th anniversary, Martha Smith, one of the founding members of MCAP said.
Schipper said an extension was built to the front of the building in 2012, allowing for a lobby outfitted with a concession area and new, main floor bathrooms. The lobby will now feature the original, hand-painted curtain that hung on the theater stage in 1925.
“When we first started that lobby was only half its size, so most people lined up outside on the sidewalk,” Thiele said. “During intermission, a lot of people would leave and go to the bar right next to the place… they’d sit down and have a drink. When intermission was almost over, we’d have to go over and yell an announcement that the show was starting again.”
The 2012 project also extended the basement and now houses MCAP’s costume and prop collection.
Cindy Bakke is the MCAP vice president and longtime costume designer. She has been with the company since 2003 and is also a professor and manages the costume shop at Augustana College.
“It’s really astonishing to realize that our little theater has been around for 40 years,” she said. “That’s a long time in our small little community. It’s just so exciting to be a part of what is becoming a very active theater scene in our area.”
Schipper said that before the remodel, the only bathrooms in the theater were in the basement where actors got ready. A curtain had to be put up so audience members could use the bathroom, which meant actors were unable to use the facilities for the duration of the shows.
An expansion to the stage was also added sometime in the 1990’s and was updated in 2019 by Schipper.
The original doors and windows of the building were kept, and the windows were turned into chalkboards inside the theater.
“I really do believe we’re pushing the edge of what’s capable not just here at MCAP, but we’re raising the bar of quality for the Sioux Falls theater region, and gosh, if that’s not exciting,” Schipper said.
