History Boy Theatre Company has flipped the script and is doing their typical winter production in the summer.
Owner Robby Pedersen says the two-person cast of “Ernest Shackleton Loves Me” is the story about a modern day single mom in New York, who’s name is Kat, who is struggling to balance her family and career as a video game music composer. She made a post on a dating website and received a response from a polar explorer Shackleton, who was famous for leading his 28-man crew in the early 1900s and got their ship stuck in the frozen ocean 100 miles from Antarctica.
Pedersen tells Raccoon Valley Radio, the musical was written by his longtime friend, who is an award winning musical writer, performer, and professional violinist Val Vigoda, which he was inspired by the type of man Shackleton was.
“Her and her writing team wrote this cool story about this herotic man from the early 1900s. I mean it didn’t take much convincing to make me want to like this show, but then I feel like I’ve met Ernest Shackleton. This guy, I got to tell ya, his motto in life was ‘optimism is the truest form of moral courage.’ He believed no matter what happened in your life, if you came at it from a positive way and believed you could get through it, then you’re just going to get through it.”
Pedersen notes that he is playing seven characters in the show and the other actress is Maggie Stagner from Altoona, who plays Kat and the role also requires that character to play the violin. He adds that there are 14 backstage people to make this show possible, with two projector screens, over 80 sound ques, make most of the music themselves, and a larger set.
The performances are this Friday and Saturday at 6pm with a meal served before the show at 7pm. The meal is homemade deep dish pizza, salad and cheesecake. Three additional performances are next weekend, including Friday and Saturday at 6pm for the meal and 7pm is the show, along with a Sunday matinee at 1pm for the meal and 2pm showtime. Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased by calling 515-657-2285 or online by clicking here.