Main Street reaches milestone in Anoka

Ever since she started acting at the Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka four years ago, 15-year-old Anna Wagner has been hooked.

Lyric Arts, a nonprofit community theater, is a good place for her to hone her talents because it's comfortable, yet "you feel like you're getting the full theatrical experience," Wagner said. "It's not scary."

The Andover resident will share some of her Lyric Arts memories, alongside a dozen other regulars, through a collection of stories and songs at the theater's cabaret and silent auction on May 13-14. The fundraiser is an annual event, but this year it also reflects a milestone for the company: The 10th anniversary of its 223-seat thrust-style Main Street Stage.

Lyric Arts moved to the site, a former movie house, after a handful of years at a one-time cabinet shop, which was referred to as the "pocket theater," said production manager Joanna Diem.

Since the move, the theater has produced more than 100 shows, running the gamut from funny to thought-provoking, with thousands of performers taking the stage, Diem said.

Besides shows from a broad mix of genres, the theater leads workshops, educational outreach programs, touring performances and other events.

Lyric Arts co-founder Lin Schmidt reflected on some of the shows that have contributed to the theater's growth. The 2005 production of "The Pirates of Penzance" was memorable, Schmidt said, for a "changing of the guard."

Did he or didn't he?

She also mentioned a more recent staging of "Doubt," the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama centering on suspicions involving a priest at a Bronx parochial school in the 1960s.

"I would see it and say to myself, 'He's guilty,' and then see it again and say, 'He's not guilty.' It was played so well I never knew what to think."

Musicals from a couple of years ago, "Oliver" and "Meet Me in St. Louis," also testify to the caliber and range of performances at Lyric Arts, she said.

Through the cabaret, people will relive some of the theater's moments from the past 10 years, said writer and director Anthony Johnson, whose wife, Laura Tahja Johnson, is the theater's managing director.

Quality has a price

He also mentioned the practical aspect of the cabaret, saying that with an increase in quality come higher costs for the theater.

"The show reaffirms the reasons this theater is so special, and the fundraiser is saying these are things that are important to support," he said. "That's why we continue to need people's help."

Brooklyn Park resident Bob Neu, a vice president of the Minnesota Orchestra, echoed those sentiments. In his view, Lyric Arts is a top-notch place for people looking for a creative outlet, and a steppingstone for up-and-comers.

"It has a high standard of work, which I like and expect," he said.

As an artist, "You feel really supported in trying to reach your goal," Neu said. That's what keeps him coming back, he said.