Brian Mitchell keeping community theater alive

      Julie (Alli McCammant), George and Marie’s daughter, tries to think up a quick solution to cover up how drunk her new boyfriend, Douglass (Jeff Britts), is as he prepares to meet George and Marie for the first time during the July 2024 production of “The Big 5O” at the Brooklyn Opera House. The production centered around George Thomas (Rob Hanlon), a college psychology professor, who was turning 50 on the weekend. It was written by Brian Mitchell.

J.O. Parker
 
        A chance meeting with the president of the Cherokee, Iowa Community Theatre group led to a Grinnell man enjoying a sideline career in acting, producing and writing plays.
      It was 1993 and Brian Mitchell and his wife, Ramona, had just gotten married. The couple moved to Cherokee in the northwest part of the state where Ramona found work in the eye care business.
          “One of her first patients in Cherokee was the president of the local community theatre group,” recalled Mitchell. “Ramona mentioned that I was interested in community theatre. We had been in Cherokee for less than a week when the local president called and asked if I would like to get involved in community theater.”
          Mitchell, who had been interested in community theater but never acted on it, agreed to take part in his first production where he worked behind the scenes for a show.
         “I then got cast in a theatre production of West Side Story,” said Mitchell. “It’s a great musical and I didn’t have to sing.”
           Two years later in 1995, the couple moved to Grinnell where Ramona opened Grinnell Eye Care and Mitchell continued to do theater.
            In the years that followed, Mitchell acted at the former Timepiece Theatre in Brooklyn.
           “I did that for several years,” said Mitchell. “Somewhere along the way I was cast in a comedy. I didn’t think it was incredibly funny.”
            After that experience, Mitchell asked himself, “If this can get published, I’m sure I can write something funnier than this.”
            So, he sat down and started writing.
           “I really didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. “I just tried to make it as funny as possible. I finished that play in about six months and I called it “Squirrel Lake.’”
            That was in 2004.
           Not knowing what to do with the play, Mitchell started sending the production to community theaters that would accept unsolicited submissions.
           “The Grinnell Community Theatre agreed to produce it and so did the Waterloo Community Theatre,” said Mitchell.
          “Squirrel Lake” is about two brothers and a sister meeting at the family cabin on Squirrel Lake in Wisconsin to read their mother’s will,” said Mitchell. “There was some crazy characters and miscommunication, but it all came together.”
          Mitchell came up with the production name by looking at a road map and finding the funniest sounding lake name that he could.
             Since the first two productions, the play has been put on in Fort Dodge and Newton. Mitchell then sent the play out to publisher companies and eventually it got picked up and is still in production on occasion.
              “I was quite happy,” noted Mitchell. “If that was the only production I had written, I would consider that a success.”
            Mitchell has since produced a number of plays and productions including “The Big 5O,” which was produced at the Brooklyn Opera House in July 2024; “A mostly Minnesota Christmas,” “The 10 Rules of Internet Dating,” “One in a Billion,” “The Wing Man,” a 10-minute play; “Fairy Tale,” a one act play that is currently out of production; and he has written a couple others that have not been published.
           “I have a script I’ve been working on for about six years, but haven’t worked on it for four years,” recalled Mitchell. “Eventually, I am hoping to get it finished.”
           Mitchell, a native of Rochester, Minn., and Ramona, a native of Cedar Falls and graduate of Luther College, met through Romana’s college roommate. Mitchell attended Rochester Community College and graduated from Indiana University.
            It was on the couple’s honeymoon 33 years ago in Minnesota that they attended a dinner theater production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
             “We were close enough to the stage that we could see how much fun the actors were having,” recalled Mitchell. “I thought it might be something I could do someday.”
              Mitchell said he was quite shy in high school and didn’t act in school plays or was too involved. Once he got into community theater, that all changed.
               Being in shows, Mitchell said he was told what he needed to say, and that has been good for him.
            “I could be up on stage and if something went wrong, I had a whole team helping me fix it,” he said.      “Everyone on stage is working together to tell a story, so if you make a mistake, everyone is working to make sure they cover each other.”
             “In six weeks, you go from strangers to very best friends,” added Mitchell of working with other actors.
Mitchell works as course material specialist at Grinnell College and is based at the Pioneer Bookstore on Main in Grinnell.
              “I coordinate purchasing textbooks to make sure professors have what they need,” he said.
The couple has two grown children.
             Mitchell is no longer acting, but is still involved in directing and writing plays. He is currently directing         “The Charitable Sisterhood of the Second Trinity Victory Church" a comedy by Bo Wilson. The production is slated for July 10, 11 and 12 at the Brooklyn Opera House. Showtimes are 7 p.m. on July 10 and 11 and 2 p.m. on July 12.
         Mitchell said community theaters are always looking for anybody interested in acting in a play or working behind the scenes.
          “There is always something that can be done,” he said, encouraging those interested in getting involved.

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