A Prairie Homeless Companion
A Prairie Homeless Companion is modeled after the well-known radio show A Prairie Home Companion. With music, bad jokes, and real stories, in zAmya’s version, a theater company from the city presents a show with a quaint depiction of small-town life in Miserable Falls, Minnesota. But the actors find a very different reality than the community they’ve been spoofing. Residents of the town take over the show and tell more realistic stories.
The play was created in 2019 and designed to be adapted for different regions of Minnesota, allowing us to highlight region-specific information and incorporate local participants and their stories into the show. So far, zAmya has produced adaptations for Central Minnesota (2023) and Northeast Minnesota (2024). We are in the planning stages for a Southeast adaptation. Check back later for updates!
Production history
Performance of A Prairie Homeless Companion in Worthington, 2019
A Prairie Homeless Companion was originally created for the stage in 2019 by zAmya Theater Project with PlaceBase Productions, commissioned and supported by the Partnership Art Program of Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, featuring stories gathered in rural MN communities.
zAmya adapted and recorded a radio drama based on the original script by Josef Evans in 2021. This production was recorded at the Shakespearean Youth Theater and was made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
A second adaptation was created for Central Minnesota in 2023, in partnership with Oasis Central Minnesota. To develop this adaptation, zAmya hosted listening circles with folks across the housing spectrum – from those with lived experience of homelessness, to social service providers, advocates and others. The stories and experiences that participants shared were used to build new components of the performance with specific relevance for Central Minnesota. Additionally, some listening circle participants joined the Central Minnesota tour and performed their own original work as part of the show.
A Northeast Minnesota adaptation was created and toured in 2024 using a similar process. The play was updated with current information and statistics from this part of the state, as well as content gathered in listening circles in the region. Many of our 2023 performers reprised their roles, and several new participants joined the performance in each tour location. We dedicated this tour to our dear friend Marvin Howard, who was in the original production of A Prairie Homeless Companion, and passed away this year.
The Original Team
Josef Evans, Playwright
Maren Ward and Eric Avery, Co-Directors
Ensemble:
Maren Ward, Corey Walton, Arminta Wilson, Annette Butler-Bryant, Robert Blood, Caroline Mannheimer, Jennifer Lamb, Izzie Lamb, Djur Black, Andersen Coplin, Nhi Do, Rose Hays, and Lurch. With call-in guest Rose Surma from Oasis Central Minnesota.
Listen to a sample!
Watch a clip!
Listen to the radio play!
A Prairie Homeless Companion is both humorous satire and a serious look at housing instability in RURAL Minnesota.
Story Circle in SW Minnesota.
Housing insecurity is often seen exclusively as an urban problem. Yet a third of the state’s homeless population lives in rural areas. Data is showing homelessness is rising in greater Minnesota at a disproportionate rate compared to the Twin Cities. Between 2015-2018, there was a 9% increase in the 7-county Twin Cities metro area and a 20% increase in central Minnesota.
71% of survey respondents said they would have more conversations about homelessness and housing instability in their rural MN region after seeing A Prairie Homeless Companion.
"Homelessness in most instances is not a choice. We have a definite need for affordable housing and that the wage disparity gap needs to close.”
—Audience Member
“The show was poignant, with a strong message embedded within the entertainment. …an innovative way to openly talk about homelessness, supporting women and children in shelters and hunger and college students in greater Minnesota.”
—Jo McMullen Boyer, KVSC radio station in St. Cloud
“I was thoroughly impressed by the skill, wit and warmth of the whole darn thing.”
—Leo Babeu, KTWH radio station in Two Harbors
Features and Spotlights
Pioneer Press, “Small theater, big impact: zAmya Theater Project tells stories drawn from real life of homeless”
Neighborhood Works America, “Stories bond community, gets second life as a radio show”
FORWARD (Issue 5: Housing!), “Illuminating Housing Issues”
The Daily Yonder, “Q&A: A Minnesota Housing Justice Group Puts a New Spin on ‘A Prairie Home Companion’”
Elk River Star News, “‘A Prairie Homeless Companion’ turns spotlight on Central Minnesota”
Morrison County Record, “Little Falls mother and daughter share about homeless experience”
Images from past performances of A Prairie Homeless Companion:
