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Ron Peluso never ceases to be surprised by the personal stories that emerge from audience members as a result of what they witness onstage at the History Theatre in Saint Paul. While Peluso, artistic director for the past fifteen seasons, would be hard pressed to choose a favorite story, there is one particular incident that still amazes him. “There was a world premiere play we did during the 2000-01 season called ’Watermelon Hill’ about young unmarried women who stayed in a house on the hill near the Cathedral of Saint Paul while they waited to give birth to the babies they were planning to give up for adoption,” says Peluso. He hired a young playwright, Lily Baber-Coyle, to write the script based on a book by local author Linda Back McKay called “Shadow Mothers: Stories of Adoption and Reunion.” Several months later, Peluso invited approximately 40 guests, including Baber-Coyle’s mother, to the first read-through of the play. “During intermission, I went out into the hallway and found Lily crying,” Peluso recalls. “She said her mother had just told her that she too had been an unwed mother and lived in that house on Watermelon Hill. Two weeks after she gave birth to Lily and had given her up for adoption, she went back to the house and told them she had made a mistake. Fortunately, she was able to find her baby and take her back. Lily had never heard the story before.” Another world premiere play staged at the History Theatre during the 1996-97 season called “Let Heaven and Nature Sing,” produced in collaboration with InterAct Theater of Minneapolis, was also emotionally charged. Written by Bob Beverage, the story took place at Faribault State Hospital and centered on the discovery of 5,000 unmarked graves belonging to mentally disabled children and adults who had died, all neglected by family. “Half the cast was made up of professional actors and the remaining actors were people with disabilities from InterAct,” says Peluso. “This was another show during which people came up to tell us about their own personal experiences. Some had family members who died at Faribault. Some didn’t even know about the existence of those siblings until after their deaths.” When the subject matter of the stories they are telling on stage resonates so personally with the audience, Peluso believes the History Theatre is at its best. Making those kinds of connections with the community is very powerful, he says. “Some of the reactions we get from people are incredible,” says Peluso. “We did “Sister Kenny’s Children” with Claudia Wilkins earlier this year. We had no idea how many people had connections to Sister Kenny. It wasn’t uncommon for us to have polio survivors in the audience at any given show.” Peluso, 59, is a transplanted Minnesotan; one who came here to attend school and decided to stay. Originally from Pennsylvania, he arrived in the Twin Cities in the late 1970’s and received his MFA in Directing from the University of Minnesota. “I tried the freelancing world and basically took any directing job I could find,” he says. “It’s pretty tough for young directors to get started in this business.” While directing a summer stock show in Albert Lea in 1988, he paid a visit to St. Paul’s brand-new History Theatre to see a play. “It was really, really bad, so I decided to sneak out at intermission,” Peluso says with a laugh. However, as it turned out, it was just at that moment that fate snuck in. As he was heading for the door, a staff member from the History Theatre, who was a friend, spotted him and told him that the company had just lost their director for an upcoming Christmas show and asked if he would be interested in the job. “So, I stayed around for the rest of the bad play and we met and talked afterwards,” Peluso says. “I was basically hired in the hallway.” After directing several successful shows for the History Theatre, Peluso says he ended up as “the logical choice” when it came time to fill the role of artistic director. Over the years, Peluso has been responsible for the staging of 50 original productions including “Kirby,” “Sons of the Bedtime Nooz,” “Wellstone!” and “Sisters of Swing” and commissioned 60 playwrights. In his life off stage, Peluso jokes that he’s better known as “Mr. Scott” since he’s married to Sue Scott, well known for her longtime role on MPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Since she’s on the road more than 20 weekends a year, and he’s also occupied on weekends at the History Theatre, the couple rarely has a weekend night off. “Not long ago, we were both off on a Saturday night for some strange reason,” says Peluso. “That’s so rare for us that we didn’t even know what to plan to do, so we just stayed home.” “It’s all Prairie Home, all day, all the time, when we’re on the ship,” he says with a laugh. “People from all over the country were traveling with us. It was really kind of cool.” While Peluso enjoys occasional breaks from the History Theatre (this spring, he joined the cast of the Theatre’s popular “Sisters of Swing” when they traveled to perform the show in Florida), he says his work continues to energize him as he feels there are many more stories to tell about the Twin Cities and Minnesota communities on stage. He’s always open to new ideas and has often been inspired to explore a topic by stories he hears from audience members. “It’s interesting because when I first started my career, I thought I’d be directing opera or maybe Shakespeare,” says Peluso. “I don’t know if I’d even be interested in doing that anymore.” History Theatre Dudley: Rigged for Laughter! The Christmas Schooner Raw Stages Adrift on the Mississippi A Tale of Twin Cities American As Curry Pie Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story
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Bringing History to Life