The show must go on: Pine City Heritage Players celebrate 20 years of revival

The Pine City Heritage Players will celebrate 20 years since the theater group's revival during its 2025-2026 season.

Heritage Player veterans Mary Ellen Sauser, Elisa Mill, Dennis Howard, and Becky Schueller joined WCMP for a roundtable interview to share stories and laughs from the community theater organization's history.

Let's put on a show

Pauline Sills — an "iconic," in Sauser's own words, Pine City teacher who directed the high school's plays — received her flowers as a guiding force behind the creation of the community theater organization.

"She wrote a historical montage of the history of Pine City, dating back to the early 1800s to the present," Sauser said. "And the entire community was involved in that production in some way, shape, or form, in I believe 1982."

Mill said the show featured a whirlwind series of vignettes, with her playing at least three different roles throughout Pine City's history.

Sauser recalled the production fondly, having a singing role with future husband Mike the summer before getting married.

"You know, lovey-dovey," she laughed.

"You got to team up with Michael, I seemed to always be on stage with Jack Sharp," Mill replied. "It was not lovey-dovey, but it was fun."

The historical revue was performed for at least two nights at the Pine County fairgrounds, on a stage that was the back of an old trailer.

"It was wonderful," Sauser said. "And from there, the Heritage Players was born."

The theater bug was nothing new for most of the early members of the Heritage Players — Sauser made her theatrical debut in her sophomore year of high school as Juror #9 in "12 Angry Jurors," and Mill appeared as the grandma in "A Man Called Duddy" in ninth grade.

"I've always gotten the really, really good roles," Mill laughed.

Howard, on the other hand, said he didn't pursue theater during his high school days.

"But he's dramatic," Mill teased.

Sauser explained that, after chronicling Pine City's history in song, Sills took on the role of "grand dame," directing about the first half-dozen Heritage Players shows with a team of assistant directors.

"I think there was a core group of people that enjoyed being onstage, and enjoyed the community aspect that you have, both on- and offstage with each other and with the audience," Sauser said.

In the early days of the Heritage Players, which, according to the Heritage Players' show history, officially began with "Annie Get Your Gun" in 1984, Sauser embraced playing the role of Nellie in a 1985 rendition of "South Pacific."

"When it was over, I spent three days on the couch crying to my husband, saying I'll never be Nellie again," Sauser said. "So maybe I took that role a little too far."

Howard made his debut with the Heritage Players in 1992, after being assured that his role in "Kiss Me Kate" would involve singing behind the stage.

"The next thing you know, I am wearing tights and bubble pants onstage, and after that, it was just kind of fun," Howard said. "It's been a ball."

Mill said some of the most fun she's had on the Heritage Players stage includes the "Nunsense series" — "which I would do every day, if I could," she added — was her first show with the troupe: A 1988 production of the nonsensical "Foreigner."

"It was a fun group of people, it was new, it was fun," she said.

Howard said that he'll wait until the last day of shows for any subtle antics, but he's been known to "do little things in the background" that actors will notice, but the audience will be totally unaware. Schueller said he's well-known for his Sunday pranking.

"You'll be on stage, and you'll open a book, and there'll be a picture of Dennis pasted in it," Mill pointed out.

Sauser said the Heritage Players' early productions featured a consistent cadre of cast and crewmembers.

"Which is why maybe there was kind of a lull in the middle of things," Sauser said. "Because it was the same people that were involved in most aspects, and they got burnt out, they moved away, so things kind of died out for a period of time."

Space constraints also presented a challenge for the Players: Sauser remembers "everybody vying for space" prior to the Pine City High School's new auditorium being constructed.

Sauser credited director Tom Larson as "working magic" with limited facilities, cast, and resources for several years, helping the community theater group build momentum in its first run.

Schueller said Larson, who served as theater director during her high school tenure, helped "light the fire" for her passion for theater.

Many of the early shows were hosted at Pine City's now-defunct Alpine Inn, which limited productions both in terms of prop space and audience.

"I think both logistics and having people with the energy to do it caused that ten-year lull," Sauser said.

Schueller added that, looking back in the organization's records, the last show of the first iteration of the Heritage Players took place in 1995-1996, with the revival starting in 2005.

A Nunsensical revival

The inspiration for bringing back the Pine City Heritage Players drew from a shared love for a musical series — simply put, Mill said "Mary Ellen and I wanted to do Nunsense."

Sauser also credited having "young, new theater blood in town" as a reason for the revival, wrangling in Becky and Jay Schueller.

"I remember it as my former health teacher and my former social studies teacher coming to me, someone with no directing experience up to this point, and my high school experience was limited to two shows that I stage managed, and two shows that I was in, and then a little bit in college," Schueller remembered.

Schueller was approached to direct, and found herself hard-pressed to say no to the teachers she never said no to in high school.

"We just wanted a figurehead, because we were going to do what we wanted to do," Mill laughed.

"Never before has the term 'the show pretty much directed itself' been said, because they pretty much directed themselves," Schueller said. "But it was a good learning experience for me."

Sauser said the show featured a small cast, partially as a way to test the waters of a full-blown Heritage Players revival.

"I think a lot of it had to do with Jay and Becky being a great team. They weren't going to let it die," Sauser said. "They understood how important it was for the community, and they enjoyed it for themselves."

The forward motion Sauser said the Schuellers' brought to the organization was bolstered by the construction of the new auditorium at the Pine City High School.

"When the new auditorium was built, it just exploded," Sauser said.

Mill said the performance space made Pine City a desirable location for community theater, drawing participants from elsewhere in east-central Minnesota.

"It added new blood and new fuel, and it's been very successful," she said.

The orbit of the Heritage Players has continued to grow since re-launching in 2005. Schueller said the organization's choreographer comes every summer from the Siren area. Some board members reside in Rush City. Folks from as far as the Twin Cities have auditioned to be cast members.

Sauser said the bar gets raised with each new show put on by the Heritage Players.

"It's been fun to watch the organization from its onset, from a kitschy little community celebration, and I would say every show we've done, we have done it to the level we are capable of doing," Sauser said.

The sets have gotten bigger with a dedicated space at the Pine City High School auditorium, and Howard's wife, JoLynn, has been the organization's costumer for most of its existence. Sauser said Schueller's husband, Jay, brings wizardry to the technical side of productions;

"Jay Schueller does an absolutely phenomenal job with the technical aspect, and the sets, and the lighting, and the sound. It's unbelievable," Sauser said. "He pushes the envelope, and makes it happen, and then we're better for it."

With the Heritage Players' revival now 20 years deep, Mill said Pine City has established itself as a place where art is a community hallmark.

"I think any time you can gather people for something positive, it's a good thing," Mill said.

Schueller said she's grateful for the audiences who continue to support the Heritage Players' productions.

"You can create a really beautiful show, and have a stellar cast, but it's no fun to perform without people in the audience," Schueller said.

Howard said that no two Heritage Players shows are the same, but each one brings together a tight-knit family.

"Every show is different," Howard said. "But you kind of form a family, you make new friends and connections, but it's always a new family every time."