A Prairie Homeless Companion
by Josef Evans
Northeast Minnesota Tour, October 4th-11th, 2024
Saint Paul | Grand Rapids | International Falls | Duluth | Virginia | Puposky
A Prairie Homeless Companion, NE MN Ensemble
Cast (In order of appearance)
Host: Maren Ward
Producer: Corey Walton
Ricky: Marcia Barnes
Lacey: Annette Bryant
Production Assistant and Joanie: Caroline Mannheimer
Dave: Robert Blood
Mom and Daughter: Kris and Swazi Jackson
Mason Persons as themself
Special Guests
St. Paul: Gerald Blackbird, John Tribbet
Grand Rapids: Julee Jackson, Dustin Witkofsky, Rick and Kathleen Blake, Aaron
International Falls: Ariana Daniel and The Northland SOS Singers
Virginia: Tammy Shoots, Shawna Bovey, Jessica Sanders
Duluth: Shawna Bovey
Puposky: Sandy Hennum, Waaban Northbird, Dennis Springer
Production Staff
Directed by Esther Ouray & Maren Ward
Written by Josef Evans
Songs by Josef Evans and Brian Laidlaw & Ashley Hanson
Technical Direction/Sound Design - Peter Morrow
Technician - Mik Finnegan
Company Management - Esther Ouray
Stage Management - Kallie Melvin
Props - Esther Ouray and Shannon Kemp
Musicians - Peter Morrow and Atim Opoka
Front of House Tour Manager - Malik Bush
This production was developed in collaboration and includes contributions from past cast and crew including Eric Avery (direction and set), Brian Laidlaw and Ash Hanson (music and scoring), Kevin Springer (sound design), Darwin Dyce, Marvin Howard, Jenn and Izzie Lamb, and Arminta Wilson (cast).
Song Credits
Sweet Potato Jamboree and The Runaround - Music and Lyrics by Josef Evans
House a Home, Miserable Falls Theme, What’s Standing in the Way - Music and Lyrics by Ash Hanson and Brian Laidlaw
zAmya Staff:
Maren Ward, Artistic Director
Deb Ervin, Operations Manager
Esther Ouray, Company Manager
Katie Clower, Administrative Coordinator
zAmya Board Members:
Amber Andrist, Robert Blood, Annette Bryant, Morgen Chang, Andi Cheney, Lecia Grossman, Ashley Halvorson, Cathy Heying, Alexis Kramer, Dickie Olson, and Rebecca Noon.
Audience Survey
If you’ve seen the Northeast Minnesota adaptation of A Prairie Homeless Companion, we’d love to hear from you! Your feedback helps us understand our impact, improve our events, and report back to our funders. Please take our short audience survey here (just one response per person, please):
Donations Welcome!
If you were inspired by watching or listening to A Prairie Homeless Companion, and would like to make an additional contribution to support the tour and the work zAmya does, we would welcome your gift.
From zAmya Artistic Director, Maren Ward:
Thanks so much for coming to A Prairie Homeless Companion - Northeastern Minnesota version. It’s been an honor to travel around the state and bear witness to individuals and families navigating housing challenges, and to listen as service providers share their many roadblocks and occasional triumphs. So much gratitude to the people who showed up to share your experience with us and help us shine light on housing insecurity in our state. May we do you justice!
It was more than a little disheartening to hear that in Brainerd, where we were last year, one may now be charged with a felony for sleeping outside thanks to the US Supreme court ruling in Johnson vs. Grants Pass. Those that are deep in the difficult daily work of supporting people in crisis are now bracing themselves for this practice to spread.
One provider told us: “[The people passing these laws] should put pressure on the state - we’re dealing with problems that are the states’ problem - not having treatment options- the state should fund counties to provide these services - if you take a half a minute these policies aren’t going to make the problem go away - they need to direct their anger at the source - not the victim blaming - now the criminal record is going to make the problem worse.”
In every place we held a story circle someone would say some version of “we need to wipe it all out and start over”. That is a daunting task. Whether or not you believe it’s the state’s problem, we all have a role to play in dismantling what doesn’t work, and creating something that does. We aim for our production to inform and motivate advocacy in whatever way is most accessible and authentic for the viewer. When asked what motivates her, a housing developer shared with us (after years of working at the shelter) “These people are my friends. I hold their babies. I wanna move my friends into housing and go visit them and have coffee.”
In zAmya we know it can be a life’s work to undo the dehumanization of people who find themselves unhoused. It’s a life’s work to reconnect with our humanity after ignoring or perpetuating or trying to fix a system that allows homelessness to occur. At the beginning of our story circles we asked people to share something they love, to remind us all what’s at stake. Answers included: Gathering in a circle with people - Cats - Minnesota Winters - Fantasy sports - Lakes - Family and Friends - Warmth - Dogs - Outdoors - Art - Fall leaves - Public Speaking - Swimming - Life - Music - Family. May we find ourselves, each other and our shared humanity in the love of these things and keep finding our way toward housing justice for all.
More Information
You can listen to the radio play of A Prairie Homeless Companion on zAmya’s YouTube channel, and learn more about the history of the production on zAmya’s website at zAmyatheater.org.
About the script:
In 2019, Partnership Art, a program of the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, sponsored zAmya Theater from Minneapolis and Placebase Productions from Granite Falls to create A Prairie Homeless Companion. Story circles were held in four Southwest MN Communities: Willmar, Marshall, Hutchinson, and Worthington. Playwright Josef Evans created the script which was toured back to those same communities. zAmya adapted the play for radio and a recording is available online. In 2023, the production was adapted again for Central Minnesota, in partnership with PlaceBase Productions and Oasis Central Minnesota. The production you are seeing in 2024 was adapted for Northeast Minnesota, with content gathered through story circles and workshops with people experiencing housing insecurity and service providers in Grand Rapids, Cass Lake, International Falls, Hibbing and Virginia.
Special Thanks:
Special thanks is due, in no particular order, to Dawn Espe, Barb Mann and Doug Weiss, Tammy Shoots, Matt Traynor, Ariana Daniel, Julee Jackson, Sandy Hennum, Cate Bellevue, Carey HeartBorne, Tracey Howg, Becky Scorich, Cara Oaklund, Mary Ives, Lecia Grossman, Grace House, and a very special thank you to Ron Oleheiser for above and beyond support!
Local Partners:
Thank you to our incredible partners. We could not do this work without you.
Grace House of Itasca County in Grand Rapids
Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency (Bill’s House in Virginia, and Hibbing Shelter)
Cass Lake Emergency Shelter in Cass Lake
IM Hotel in Grand Rapids
Minnesota Coaltion for the Homeless
Minnesota North College: Itasca Campus in Grand Rapids, Rainy River Campus in International Falls, and Mesabi Range Campus in Virginia
Northeast Minnesota Continuum of Care in Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, and Lake Counties
Region 5 Development Commission in Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena Counties and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe reservation
Servants of Shelter in International Falls
The Sowing Room in Puposky
Springboard for the Arts across Minnesota
St. Louis County Health and Human Services Conference in Duluth
The Wild Rose Theater in Puposky
Funding for A Prairie Homeless Companion
Thanks to our generous funders for making this production possible!
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
This activity is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to appropriations from the Minnesota State Legislature's general and arts and cultural heritage funds.
About zAmya Theater Project:
zAmya Theater Project uses the powerful combination of artistic expression and lived experiences of homelessness to uplift and inspire a community that works for housing justice for all. We gather and share real stories to build understanding, awareness, and connection that motivates and empowers people to break through stereotypes and restore dignity. Since our founding in 2004, zAmya has employed a troupe of 8-17 actors who are homeless or formerly homeless. In addition, an ever-rotating cast of over 400 participants and over 25,000 audience members have attended 500 performances and workshops in the Twin Cities and Greater, MN.
It’s zAmya’s 20th Anniversary!
We’re celebrating with a special retrospective performance on Saturday, December 14th, 2pm at the Downtown Minneapolis Central Library (300 Nicollet Mall). The show will be followed by a casual party - with beverages and CAKE! Both the performance and party are free and open to the public; we would love to have you join us, and bring your friends too!
Other upcoming events:
A Challenge to Change: connect with community and learn about local issues in this workshop-style performance and dialogue designed to inspire conversations, challenge biases and change perceptions towards people experiencing homelessness in downtown St. Paul. FREE and online: Tuesday, October 29th, 6:00-7:30 p.m. CST, and Wednesday, November 6th, 12:00-1:00 p.m. CST. Register at cctwincities.org/zamya for Zoom information and more details.
‘Dis Place’ Sneak Peek: see a preview of zAmya’s newest play about housing in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis, then stay for discussion and learn how you can get involved. Friday Nov 22nd, 7:00-8:30pm at Corner Coffee Shop, 514 N 3rd St. in Minneapolis. Directed by Harry Waters, Jr., this original musical will debut in 2025 and weave true experiences with unsheltered homelessness into a fictional narrative, inspiring neighbors to dream up solutions to end homelessness.
You can find a complete list of zAmya’s events here.