GREAT FALLS — A theater group from Havre recently completed an unforgettable month-long run in New York City, proving that Big Sky Country talent can hold its own in the Big Apple.
The Montana Actors’ Theatre, led by director and playwright Jay Pyette, performed Pyette’s original play “The Harvest” at the Chain Theater in Manhattan throughout November. The production tells the story of six adult siblings returning to their family farm to deal with their father’s poor health and their mother’s struggle with the economic realities of running a small family operation.
Tim McGonigal reports – watch the video here:
Montana Actors’ Theatre performs in New York City
“We might be a bunch of actors from Havre, Montana, but we held our weight. We were very much as good as anything else that was there. And we’re proud of that,” Pyette said.
While the play centers on agricultural themes familiar to many Montanans, its universal focus on family dynamics has resonated with diverse audiences.
“We’ve had people from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of ethnicities, you know, foreign countries even come up to us afterwards and say, hey, wow, that was my family up there, because it is all about family dynamics,” Pyette said.
“It just happens that in order to achieve the authenticity of it, we really wanted to put it on a Montana wheat farm, because so many people around here can identify with that type of scenario.”
The play originally debuted in Havre about four years ago before productions in Anaconda and Missoula. After some fine-tuning, the Manhattan Repertory Theater agreed to bring the production to New York, with the Montana Actors Theater handling production, casting and set construction.
“We felt that we as Montanans and, having grown up in a very agricultural region, that we would bring an authenticity to the show that we didn’t know if they really could achieve,” Pyette said.
Transporting the production cross-country presented unique logistical challenges for the small-town theater group.
“Pulling a 16 foot cargo trailer that says Montana Actors’ Theatre across it through downtown Manhattan, was an experience,” Pyette said.
“Here, if you need a paintbrush, you run to the local hardware store, and it takes you 10 minutes. There, you better book an hour.”
Despite the initial learning curve, Pyette said the experience proved worthwhile. The production received positive reviews, including praise from the Wall Street Journal.
“I think that they recognized the authenticity of the story and just the human aspect of it. People really seem to buy into the whole family dynamic,” Pyette said.
The New York run also gave the Montana actors insight into the competitive theater landscape of the city.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of theaters. The building that we were in, the theater alone, had five performance spaces in it. To be able to bring the audience in, which we felt we did pretty good at, and then to actually get some of the bigger critics and please them was a good thing,” Pyette said.
Pyette hopes “The Harvest” will continue beyond this initial run, with the group currently putting together package proposals for bigger New York theaters.
The entire trip was funded through a robust fundraising campaign supported by larger agricultural companies and Hi-Line farmers.
“Here we are a theater company in a community of 10,000 people in north central Montana. Not really the place you think that the arts are really going to thrive, but they do. And the community support behind it is immense,” Pyette said.
Looking back on the experience, Pyette expressed pride in the quality his theater group brought to New York.
“I think we saw that reflected in the reviews. And then on top of that I got to spend a month in New York with a bunch of my best friends. So that was a great deal,” Pyette said.
Members of the cast for “The Harvest” included: Samantah Pollington as June, Aylan Pratt as Samuel, Chad Zuelke as John, Tylyn Turner as Sarah, Brian Gregoire as Mickey, TC Knutson as James, Grant Olson as Alan, and Pam Veis as Anna.