Theater for Debbie Griffith started as something she loved, and has grown to be her passion.
While she has been known to wear many hats, the International Falls resident is currently taking on the role of managing artistic director for Gooseberry Park Players, a children’s theater group based in Moorhead. This summer, the group is performing “Oklahoma!” at the Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre stage at Concordia College.
“It is rewarding to direct and encourage students to realize the value and uniqueness that each can bring to the stage everyday and then present their gifts to a live audience,” she said of the job.
The show, which is scheduled to take the stage at 7 p.m. July 16-20 and 1 p.m. July 21, has Griffith already experiencing proud moments, even before the curtain raises.
“I will be the mom standing right in front of the stage each performance clapping and yelling with my distinctive yee-haw,” she said. “I am proud of my kids and proud of this production of Oklahoma!, which is about new beginnings, stepping forward and not looking back because your past doesn’t have to define your future.”
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. Set in Oklahoma Territory in 1906, the play tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. A secondary romance involves cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie.
The original Broadway production was a box-office smash and ran for an unprecedented 2,212 performances, later seeing award-winning revivals, national tours, foreign productions and an Academy Award-winning 1955 film adaptation. It has long been a popular choice for school and community productions, such as the project Griffith is involved with in Moorhead.
“This show has been a blessing and an honor to direct because of the staff, students, parents and board members,” she said. “Life is about relationships and knowing who we are and what we can give rather than what we can take and get. I thank God for the dream that continues and the magic of the theater.”
Tickets for Oklahoma! Can be purchased by calling 218-299-3314 or online at www.gooseberryparkplayers.org.
About Griffith
After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College with degrees in speech/theater and secondary education, Griffith said she involved herself in various roles around the Twin Cities area in hopes of someday heading east to New York City to take on Broadway. However, she met and fell in love with Dan Griffith, who she has been married to for 22 years. The couple has four sons.
The Griffiths have lived in International Falls where Griffith has directed several plays, has a 60-second radio program and travels around the country as a motivational speaker.
“I am not a power point speaker, but rather use props, musical theater and dramatic characters to communicate a message,” she said.
Griffith said it was during one of her speaking events that a board member from Gooseberry Park Players suggested she audition for the role of artistic director.
“The Gooseberry Park Players provides young people with a unique educational and multi-generational summer theater experience,” she said. “Youth ages 11 to 18 are invited to participate in our July production each year. Our productions are based on classic and contemporary dramatic literature designed to intrigue, inform, educate and entertain a family audience. We believe in providing a theater opportunity for every child.”
