As a performer who has spent time in some really sketchy contracts, NLAA was a breath of fresh air. Literally (as Ely is in northernmost Minnesota and in beautiful hiking and canoeing territory) and figuratively, as I had shown up to NLAA a bit shaken up from a previous experience with a different theater. I was immediately welcomed with open arms by the AD and the cast. The living conditions were safe and within a 3 minute walk to the theater, fully furnished and air conditioned with private bedrooms. The area was gorgeous, the community was lovely, and the AD works harder than any person I have ever witnessed. They could wear multiple hats at once and be exhausted, and still show up with an attitude of grace, ready to pour into the community and the students. As a female performer I always felt immensely safe. I am a bit saddened about some of the comments below, in particular the accusation of favoritism. As someone who came in brand new and was more of a fly on the wall, I can earnestly relay this: There were cast members with poor attitudes whom the AD would treat with the exact same respect and kindness as he did the veteran actors there who were showing up on time. I have memories of disrespectful cast members showing up late or taking unexcused absences, and the AD still treated them with upmost respect. Perhaps that in itself is the issue: The AD is a genuinely good, kind person, and it is easy for kind people to get trampled on by self-centered individuals. I am grateful for my summer at NLAA and would gladly go back. I would especially recommend this contract to artists who feel serene in the outdoors, as the nature and small, tranquil town of Ely is so charming. The community is also in love with the AD (literally every business they walked into I watched people’s eyes light up) and that spoke for itself!

As I only worked one summer with NLAA, I can only speak to my personal experience during that time. From my perspective, the main issues with this company are communication (or lack thereof), rehearsal schedules (or lack thereof), and equal treatment (or lack thereof). To start with the positives, there were many good things about this contract. First, housing was lovely. Everyone got a private dorm room in a duplex with a full kitchen and living space that was a 5 minute walk away from the theatre and the local grocery store. Payment was as promised and checks were either delivered on time or at the next possible time with an explanation. The best part of the contract was how welcoming the town of Ely was and how genuinely excited they were to have us there and to watch our shows and our weekly concerts at the farmers market/craft fair, which was always a highlight of my week. Now for the bad. The communication was often abysmal. The artistic director essentially ran the whole process and was the only one with any information. This became a problem at times when he was unreachable and the cast was unsure what time to report to work the next day or even if there was work the next day. There would often be full cast meetings where the director would give extremely vague “notes” referencing unacceptable behavior from the cast but would refuse to elaborate on what the behavior was, who was the party in question, or what he planned to do about it. These sort of wide range accusations help no one and only served to heighten tensions in the cast. I also view it as a cop out on the directors part in order to avoid actually dealing with any issues. Rehearsal schedules started out consistent but soon degenerated into a free for all guess what time to be there and what to prepare for that day. People would often be called to rehearsal to sit in the audience for 6 hours and not do anything, and then be sent back to housing without so much as a “sorry for wasting your time.” Had this happened only once or twice I could’ve excused it, but it soon became almost every other rehearsal. In addition, there never seemed to be a plan which led to the constant re-staging of scenes and re-choreographing of numbers. This got to the point where there would be so many versions of a number that the cast couldn’t remember which one we had landed on, which of course became our fault during notes. Now for my biggest issue. The lack of equal treatment. The directors friends, favorites, and the leads in the cast were given preferential treatment, positions of power (intimacy director, fight choreographer, director and choreographer of the youth theatre camp), and were as a whole treated as superior cast members. This was extremely disheartening to those with smaller parts who worked just as hard and were often looked over and mistreated. Now it is no crime to hire your friends, everyone does it. But if your friends are just “yes-men” who are unequipped for their roles, never learned their lines, had frequent scheduled and unscheduled absences, and whose biggest contribution to the experience was catty comments, scolding the cast, and complaining about how no one respected them, maybe you should rethink who your friends are. It also seems probable to me that the two glowing reviews for this company may have been written by the above mentioned yes-men as an attempt to damage control and undermine the negative reviews from the cast. Overall, I do not think I would return to NLAA (not that I’ve been offered, mind you). As lovely as the town of Ely is and as much as I enjoyed the businesses, the surrounding attractions, and the gorgeous lakes; until the working environment and leadership issues are addressed, I do not find it worth it.

Working with Northern Lakes Arts Association last summer was a good experience, but not perfect. I performed in Bright Star, Into the Woods, and the gala concert. If you’re an actor looking to grow your skills in a cool setting, it’s worth checking out. NLAA is still a pretty young theater. When I worked there it was their second summer and they’re figuring things out as they go. They really care about making good shows and giving performers a space to develop, but not everything runs smoothly. That said, it was pretty inspiring to watch the AD step into multiple roles to make sure things got done. You could tell they were stretched thin at times. The housing setup was decent. They were college style townhomes with private bedrooms, which was great. But since the whole cast and some of the creative team who were also in the show lived together, things got complicated. It wasn’t a dealbreaker, but clearer leadership roles could’ve helped. Ely, MN, is tiny, but the nature is unreal. We had lakes, forests, and sunsets. One night we even saw the northern lights. The town itself doesn’t have a ton of food option. There’s a Subway, a Dairy Queen, and a pretty expensive grocery store, so we did group trips to Virginia, MN, to stock up. By the way pretty much everything closes at 10 PM. The theater itself is small but well-used. Rehearsals were 9 to 5 most days, which kept things structured but not overwhelming. Pay was $3,000 for 10 weeks, plus housing and a gym membership, which was nice. Transportation was also handled well. The AD and his family even picked us up from the airport in Minneapolis. It was 4 hours away so that was a huge help. One of the best parts was the community. Locals brought snacks to the theater and were genuinely excited about the shows. We also worked with a few high school students, which added to the experience. They are still growing, and doing a lot of good things. Some logistic, especially housing and leadership dynamics, could be improved, and the AD could benefit from delegating more rather than taking on everything themselves. But for a newer company, they’re making strides. If you want a summer contract where you can perform, learn, and be surrounded by beautiful nature, it’s definitely worth considering.

From the first rehearsal there was a lack of organization and professionalism from the AD in the rehearsal room. This included no indication of when rehearsals would occur until anywhere from 12-36 hours in advance, overuse of sexual innuendo during rehearsals, and a lack of availability from the AD when cast members were faced with time sensitive issues regarding housing and necessities. I am not a BIPOC performer, but did witness the mistreatment of the only female actor of color on the contract, from both the AD and the larger Ely community (very very white population). There was no stage manager involved in the process, nor was there any other members of the production or creative team. My largest frustration with this fact is that it created an environment with no accountability for inappropriate behavior. In this process there seemed to be a boy’s club among the director and a few of the male presenting cast members, which only encouraged inappropriate comments in the rehearsal space. About halfway through the process, a female cast member was approached by the AD via email about her frustrations with the AD and the process, which stemmed mostly from the inappropriate and snarky comments in the rehearsal room. When she responded professionally and with honesty, she was subsequently rejected and ostracized by the AD and other cast members. In particular, the AD denied ever making an uncomfortable comment about staged intimacy and responded with a list of grievances against this female cast member that were largely untrue or exaggerated. This behavior was soon adopted by the only other person of authority in the room, the Fight Choreographer / Intimacy Coordinator (another actor, male presenting). Completing this contract as a woman was incredibly exhausting and frustrating. The Board stepped in to support the process near the end, and hopefully will be making changes in the future to have more accountability in the process. If you are considering working here I would trust your gut and read your contract carefully. All this being said, I was touched by how eager the community was to welcome us in at every opportunity. The location and season were beautiful, and the reception to the work was lovely. I would not consider returning without a stage manager on the team, and women in leadership.

Working at NLAA was a very positive experience for me. The AD is successfully building a professional theatre in a very remote small town in northern Minnesota, which comes with its successes and challenges. Fantastic housing is at the local community college, 3-bedroom apartments shared by 2-3 people. We had our own rooms, and a shared equipped kitchen, bathroom and living room in the apartment. The rehearsal schedule overall was very reasonable and we had non-performing weekends off. Expect to do Tuesday afternoon community concerts and other outreach efforts in the evenings! There were several instances of microaggressive behavior (within the cast and from leadership) that occurred during my time here. Like the review below, I believe in the AD's general good intentions and ability to grow, but would caution any BIPOC performers to take this into account before signing a contract. I am hopeful that continued exposure to performers of many different backgrounds will continue to expand the theatre and the community's perspectives. The Northern Lights are sometimes visible in the summer and our cast had the opportunity to glimpse them on our last night together. Overall I had a blast working for NLAA and am excited to see how they continue to grow.

The contract was fine enough and the director was someone who strived to try their best to create a positive summerstock experience however there were two main problems I experienced while working there. The first was he was definitely someone who struggled to understand boundaries between being a director and being a friend and he bonded a lot with a specific member of the cast (someone with an extreme victim complex and microagressive tendencies) and would actively defend them and shun us when that actor was in the wrong in situations because they were so close. Secondly he has little to no understanding of how to deal with cultural and racial differences so if you are a person of color I will warn that should there be an issue during your contract regarding microagression or racist behavior he tends to not be very understanding or flat out will reject an accusation because he has a very small white lens that he struggles to see beyond. I will say he was not outwardly hurtful or rude he just has very little experience with dealing with these types of issues and has a misconstrued view of what it is to be part of a minority (he had used the term “colored person” not knowing this is an antiquated term that many find offensive however this was not malicious he simply was just not aware) so I just warn my POC actors that he is not equipped to deal with such issues should they arise. All in all the contract was not awful but there were difficult times that I experienced that I felt could easily be avoided had the director been better educated or experienced.