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Arts & Recreation
April 21, 2016
April Issue
BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
R. Kent Knutson is the quintessential man for all seasons. During his lifetime, he has been a singer, actor, dancer, author, teacher, coach, and director of more than 230 plays, and he isn’t finished yet. For the last three years, Knutson has been artistic director at the Old Log Theatre in Excelsior. Before that, he plied his directing skills at Anoka, Blaine and Minnetonka high schools for 39 years. Along the way, he also founded community theaters in both Blaine and Minnetonka. Knutson claims his work ethic came from growing up in New Ulm, where he was a member of the class of 1970, active in choir, band, athletics, theater, and speech. With a singing group called “The Menagerie,” he traveled all over the country. “I was hooked,” Knutson said. He subsequently continued his affinity for performing at the University of Minnesota, where he worked with Frank “Doc” Whiting, long-time director of the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, prior to Knutson’s graduation in 1974. And then he became a high school teacher, tennis and swimming coach and drama director. “I loved working with kids,” Knutson said. “I adored coaching. In my years of
R. Kent Knutson, artistic director at the Old Log Theatre in Excelsior since 2013, previously was a teacher, director and coach at Anoka, Blaine and Minnetonka high schools for 39 years. He also founded community theaters in both Blaine and Minnetonka.
teaching, I found that kids need someone to touch them on the shoulder, to tell them they’re respected and that they belong.” Memories of past productions abound, but his favorite was “Les Miserables” at
Minnetonka, a show he took to Scotland, Knutson said. “There were 72 of us on the plane, going to perform at the Fringe Festival in Scotland,” Knutson said. “We had standing room only at all our shows there.
People from all over the world saw that play. Everything clicked. It did a whole lot for my kids.” He has, of course, directed the favorites — “Music Man,” “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music” — during his career. But, Knutson said, “I love to do shows no one else is doing.” When he directed community theater, he enjoyed having some of his former high school students come back to perform in his summer productions. He had a chance to direct both his son, Robbie and his daughter, Katy, in a play together prior to his daughter’s untimely death in 2010, at the age of 22. His wife, Deb, senior vice president of human resources at Medica, was a choreographer for Knutson’s shows in Blaine and Minnetonka. “We have quite a family,” he said. “My kids grew up in the theater.” At the Old Log, Knutson took over from Don Stolz, who died in 2015, at the age of 97, after owning and managing the theater from 1941-2013. The 76-year-old theater, the oldest professional theater in Minnesota, often is cited as the oldest continuously operated professional theater in the United States. “Don was an icon,” Knutson said. “Don did a lot of straight shows and British farces. They were good solid shows.” MUSICALS - TO PAGE 3