"Nature" to be presented at the Park Rapids Antique Tractor Club Grounds

TigerLion Arts is touring "Nature," a critically acclaimed immersive theatrical experience, honored as one of 2014's most striking performances by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Nature will be presented at the Park Rapids Antique Tractor Club Grounds at 2 and 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 15 and again at 2 and 6 p.m. Friday, July 17 at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers Grounds near the north entrance to Itasca State Park.

There will be no admission charge, but free will offerings will be gratefully accepted.

The show is set outdoors so guests should dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. Nature runs approximately 90 minutes without intermission, and during the course of the experience, the audience will walk short distances between four different locations. Portable lawn chairs or blankets to sit on are recommended.

"Nature" is a playful outdoor walking production filled with music, song, and story about Emerson and Thoreau's mutual love of the natural world. Audience members are welcomed into the rolling hills, and amongst the native trees by live music and rich choral arrangements. This family-friendly, exceptionally creative production transports audiences back in time through a conversation between two of the great innovative minds of western civilization, along with the professional ensemble of actors, to four different locations throughout the grounds at both locations - all the while enjoying the fresh air and natural scenery as the scenes unfold around them.

This original work is collaboratively created with writer/actor Tyson Forbes, a direct descendant of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who plays Emerson in the production.

TigerLion Arts welcomes a professional ensemble who also include John Catron as Thoreau (named Best Actor 2014 by City Pages and seen locally at the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Frank Theater and many others); Tyson Forbes as Emerson; Kate Guentzel as Lidian Emerson (2010 Ivy Award Winner for Best Actress); Norah Long as Mother Nature (Guthrie Theater, Skylark Opera, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, Nautilus Music-Theater) Kimberly Richardson (Ten Thousand Things, Open Eye Figure Theater, Children's Theatre Company).

The ensemble also includes Matt Sciple, Emily Gunyou Halaas, Aeysha Kinnunen, Ryan Patrick and Nathan Gebhard (a Park Rapids High School graduate), as well as Compositions by Dick Hensold (2006 Bush Artist Fellow) and music direction by Jason Hansen (Theatre Latte Da, Alive and Kickin, Ten Thousand Things).

The performance company will continue the tour across the Midwest over the next two years bringing "Nature" to outdoor spaces at Theatre L'Homme Dieu, Grinnell College in Iowa, College of St. Benedict and St. John's University, Gustavus Adolphus College and Carleton College in Minnesota.

The Park Rapids Lakes Area Arts Council and partners, including Minnesota Power and Itasca-Mantrap Cooperative Round-up grants, will sponsor the shows in Park Rapids. The Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers will sponsor the shows at Itasca with a grant from the Region 2 Arts Council funded by an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State's general fund.

For more information, go to http://www.tigerlion.org or http://www.prlaac.org.