Infrastructure Struggles Lead to Paul Bunyan Playhouse Suspending 74th Season

On Monday, the Paul Bunyan Playhouse in Bemidji made the shocking announcement on its Facebook page that it was suspending its upcoming season, leaving the community wondering why. The organization’s board of directors says the decision to suspend the upcoming 74th season was not an easy one to make.

“After many, many meetings and lots of talk and lots of different options being presented and considered, we did eventually decide that it was the only option we had moving forward,” explained board member Kevin Johnson.

According to the announcement, “passion alone cannot repair the deep fractures—both structural and financial—that threaten the very foundation of our beloved theater.” The board decided that the current path the Playhouse was on was “unsustainable.”

“[The building] is 90-plus years old,” said Johnson. “It’s just an aging infrastructure. We have multiple systems that are on the verge of failure, things have been neglected over the years – not necessarily due to any particular reason other than they didn’t necessarily know that systems were failing or about to fail. The plumbing, the electrical, the lighting, lots of things that need to be repaired or upgraded. I believe when the Playhouse moved in the early ’90s, some of the plumbing was updated, some of the electrical, and everything else was up to code then, but there is more that needs to be done now.”

The board wanted to emphasize that they only came to this decision based on the infrastructure needs of the building, and that attendance for each of their shows is still generating revenue. But each production that comes to the Historic Chief Theater costs roughly $250,000. The board feels this money is better spent on much-needed upgrades to the building, therefore leading to the suspension of the upcoming season.

“I don’t think it’s really a lack of audience or attendance,” added Johnson. “We have a huge group of supporters among the community and elsewhere as well. It really is just infrastructure [needs].”

Instead of having to possibly suspend their 74th season midway through, the board decided to try to go for a strong 75th anniversary next year instead. The suspension is only for the production the Playhouse holds during the summer, not the other live events held throughout the year.

The Paul Bunyan Playhouse says they will put out a more detailed release on their Facebook page in the next few days on the exact details concerning everything that they are looking to upgrade. The Playhouse is accepting donations at this website if you wish to donate.