BEMIDJI — The Paul Bunyan Playhouse in downtown Bemidji announced it will suspend its 2025 summer season.
In a social media announcement Saturday, Feb. 22, the Playhouse Board of Directors said the pause of its plays is necessary amid financial and structural issues the organization faces.
The Paul Bunyan Playhouse is a nonprofit summer stock theater company that owns and operates the Historic Chief Theater, which was first built as a movie house.
"The walls of the Chief Theater have stood for decades, bearing witness to countless performances, laughter and applause, but now they bear the weight of time and neglect," the Board jointly stated in the release. "Without decisive action, we risk losing not only a stage but a cornerstone of Bemidji’s artistic identity."
The Chief Theater's structural issues include outdated plumbing and a leaky roof. As a performing art space, there are no connecting dressing rooms to the backstage, leading actors in full costumes to run around the theater through an alley.
Before suspending its 74th season this year, the only other time the Playhouse called off a season was in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Playhouse, originally operating out of Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge, moved into the downtown theater in the ‘90s, about 10 years after the Chief last screened a motion picture.
The Playhouse Board stated it will spend the off-year rebuilding and preserving the Chief, which was first built in the 1930s.
"The work ahead will be arduous, but it is work worth doing — because Bemidji deserves a theater that thrives, not merely survives."
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