The Wild West comes to Bemidji: Author Mark Thorson and director Greg Gasman team up for show

You slip into the empty chair making up the foursome on the edge of the stage of the Hard Tack Saloon in Big Horn, Wyo.
The year is 1986. The heat inside begs for relief from palpable steam coming from the agitated bartender. You know the type; he has been unhappy and angry for as long as he can remember; anxious to blame anyone but himself and able to ignore his self-destruction due to that human condition: cognitive dissonance. Too fancy a word for the Wild West, let’s just call it what it is: denial of reality - perhaps sprung from opinions of psychologists during the 1960s through the 80s who sold books telling us that “I’m OK, you’re OK.”
Just then, a young college student slips through the door and the world shivers on its axis, but no one notices for now. She is a bit old to be a flower child, but that is the persona Clover chooses to get her message across - a Ban-the-Bomb activist.
So begins the tale of Billy Cash and Clover in the play “A Flower for Death in the Wild, Wild West,” which opened this past Friday at the Chief Theater in downtown Bemidji. There’s a 2 p.m. matinee today and the play runs again Sept. 3-5.
“I got an email from Dave Moffett telling me that there was this playwright in town who has been saving his play for over 30 years,” said Greg Gasman, who was enticed to come back to his roots in theater - the Chief Theater in Bemidji. “I was living in Duluth at the time, the material was delivered, I read it that night, called author Mark Thorson the next morning and said ‘I’m in!’”
Gasman is the director for the play, and also had a hand in the set design. Thorson, the Bemidji author, also plays Billy Cash in the play.
Thorson and Gasman had similar local talents in mind for the characters, but they also reached out to recruit from the Twin Cites for the stable of actors for this Western play. Clover is played by Ali Daniels of Minneapolis and Anna Larranaga, also based in the Twin Cities, has the role of Ella. Blair Treuer, a frequent face on the Bemidji stage, plays Dixie Hollander and Norwood Hall II of Puposky tackles the role of Boi.
Gasman is a master carpenter and proud of his personal connection to the stage in the Chief - he actually helped build the stage during the extensive renovations after the Paul Bunyan Playhouse’s move from Ruttgers. Gasman’s legendary talent in building a set will not disappoint here, as well, as he is able to envision what a bar in the Wild West does look like: inviting, intimidating, a little bit of gospel and profanity, and rodeo costumes carefully placed around. The set is intriguing, done in the Gasman style.
California Thorson is in charge of costume design and Bridget O’Sullivan is the stage manager for the production. Mark Anderson is handling sound design and Cheryl Winnett is the props master.
As for the director, Gasman has always had this ability to draw from actors and the script to develop convincing real, next door neighbors. The plays “Death of a Salesman” and “Twelve Angry Men” come to mind.
Gasman has been working out of Muncie Civic Theater in Muncie, Ind., where he produces 18 shows a year. He will head back to Duluth to see his grandson and then back to Muncie to direct “The Producers.” Thorson, a native Bemidjian, is toying with the idea of penning another script for local audiences.
“A Flower for Death in the Wild, Wild West” opened Friday and again, there is a 2 p.m. matinee today and shows Sept. 3-5 at the historic Chief Theater in downtown Bemidji. Tickets are $15 each and are on sale now at Wild Hare Bistro, Shannon’s Art and Soul, Iverson Corner Drug and Ken K. Thompson Jewelry and at the door, the day of performance. The play is rated as PG-14 for language and content.