Princess Theater

Family grows crop of songs for re-opening **Sorry all performances have been SOLD OUT

The Hynek family’s musical about a love story in the midst of the 1980s Farm Crisis has been performed at Iowa State University in Ames, the State Fair in Des Moines and an international theater festival in New York City. But when the Ellston-based family of farmer-musicians present the show this weekend in nearby Mount Ayr, they might face their toughest crowd yet.

Many in the audience will remember the economic troubles firsthand, and they’ll know whether small details ring true — if Bill Hynek, for example, pretends to steer a tractor in a convincing way or if the bales onstage are really straw when the cast sings about hay.

“That won’t work. They’ll know it’s not hay,” said Bill Hynek’s wife, Angie, who wrote the script with their 28-year-old son, Joe.
Joe Hynek wrote the first drafts of the musical several years ago and asked the rest of the family to work out some of the kinks. The group, which performs under the name Pumptown, often recorded themselves during road trips.

“It was a great way to get through Nebraska,” said Amanda Hynek, 22.

It was also a good way to test out new boyfriends, her father said. None passed.

The family eventually stitched the songs and stories together into a show and first presented it in 2006. Tonight is the first chance for neighbors to see it back home at the Princess Theater.

“It’s kind of ironic,” Angie Hynek said. “The story came from the 1980s when the theater closed. It took us 25 years to write because it was so painful. … We didn’t know if anybody would want to come and hear a rehash of the Farm Crisis, but old guys have come up to us after the show — sometimes with tears in their eyes — and they say, ‘Wow, you really got it. You really understand what it was like.’ ”

“FARMER SONG”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday, plus 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
WHERE: Princess Theater, 101 W. Monroe St., Mount Ayr.
TICKETS: $10 for adults, $5 for kids; farmersong.com, (641) 464-2146.

Source: Des Moines Register