By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
CORSON – On Saturday, July 16, the Mighty Corson Art Players celebrated their 40th anniversary with an open house and unveiling of an historic stage curtain at the Corson Playhouse.
While the current theatre building was built long before in 1910 and served as a hardware store and creamery, it has since housed three different drama groups.
In 1925, the building was purchased as a community center, and in 1926, the Corson Dramatic Club performed the first show there.
While that group didn’t last long, a second group, the Pepperites, formed in 1935. It only lasted about five years.
However, the dream of a community theatre in Corson would not die, and the current Mighty Corson Art Players, or MCAP, was formed in 1982.
The name, a play on the “Mighty Carson Art Players,” a sketch comedy group of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, became a staple in the area for good, locally produced shows.
In fact, in an area that now boasts many local theatre groups, MCAP, along with the Barn Theatre (set up in an old barn south of Sioux Falls), Olde Town Dinner Theatre in Worthing, and the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse were the four venues that offered community theatre to the area.
And for many local theatre fans, that became a reality in Corson in the fall of 1982 with the production of the “meller drammer,” “Deadwood Dick,” which was based on the old dime novels of the 19th century.
“Our first show was what we thought (area) people would go for,” said DeLoirs Gulson, the very first MCAP director, who was present for the recent MCAP festivities.
A long-time resident of Brandon, Gulson said they were “looking for something to do that would involve people in the community.”
That first show had a cast of 15 people, according to Gulson.
It led into the Kaufman/Hart classic “You Can’t Take It With You,” which was the second and final show of their inaugural season.
Just prior to the opening of shows with MCAP, the Corson Playhouse held a local variety/talent show exactly 40 years ago this week on July 25, 1982, to raise money for their new endeavor.
Gulson said that doing their first shows were fun, but she never expected the longevity of a little playhouse in Corson, South Dakota.
Former MCAP Board of Directors member and current Managing Artistic Director Brian Schipper talked about improvements to MCAP, which have ranged from wood seats to cushioned seats in 2004, to a building addition, to a new water heater and other cosmetic changes, but probably the biggest change has been the expansion to a three-show season for the group.
But even with changes, MCAP made it their mission to bring back an original piece of the Corson Playhouse history by tracking down and returning the original hand-painted stage curtain.
The curtain hung on the stage originally in the 1920’s with the Corson Dramatic Club. It offered a way for businesses to help the group, as well as get some advertising.
Going by old newspaper clippings, they knew the curtain still hung on the stage as late as 1987, making it part of MCAP history, as well.
It came down sometime after that and later left the theatre and went to the Brandon Area Museum.
When the museum moved, the curtain somehow ended up being stored by the Brandon Police Department.
After that, the museum helped MCAP staff locate the curtain again, and it was given to the theatre so it could be restored and, as of July 16, unveiled and displayed on a wall of the main playhouse lobby.
Auditions for the first show of the new MCAP season, “American Hero,” will be later this month on Aug. 18 and 20 at the Corson Playhouse.
The show will run Oct. 14, 15, 16, 21, 22 and 23.
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