Star Tribune
Meet the St. Paul kid who rediscovered the joy of hamming it up after 55
I first met Brian Driscoll when we were on the tennis team together at St. Paul Central. He was good. Me? Not so much. But he also was impressive on stage, winning acclaim in the title role of “Oliver!”
Fast forward more than four decades. Driscoll, 59, has rediscovered his love of theater through several productions of Theatre 55 — a troupe started in 2018 to give seniors a creative outlet. Driscoll is in the theater’s production of “Cabaret” through the weekend.
Eye met with Driscoll, whose great-great grandfather founded the Pioneer Press and whose late dad, Andy, was a longtime radio host and activist, to learn more about how he rediscovered his passion for theater — and his city — in middle age. This interview was edited for length.
Q: How did you get back into theater?
A: I had no involvement in theater after high school until [my sister] Amy learned about Theatre 55. She was in the ensemble for “Hair” back in 2018. She followed up with me later. She said, “Hey, they’re going to do ‘Rocky Horror [Picture Show]’ next and you’ve got to do it.”
Q: Why “Rocky Horror”?
A: That was what we did on weekends. We went to “Rocky Horror.” We stayed out late, and it was safe, and it was something fun to do. I saw it about 40 times. So, I knew all the lines, I knew all the songs. I said, “OK, I’ll try out.” I was Riff Raff, a pretty good role right out of the box. That was my first time [in theater] since high school. I did do some singing [after high school]. I was in this group called Kith and Kin, which is a local mixed ensemble that sings pop songs.
Q: How many productions have you done now?
A: I’m on my fourth.
Q: What else are you doing now?
A: I’m semi-employed, or semi-retired. At the same time, I do need some income. So, about five years ago, after I left a corporate gig, I drove Lyft for a couple of years. I don’t know if you can tell, I’m kind of a people person. [laughs] A friend of mine called me up and she said, “Hey, I’m working with this small tour company, and they need people to drive their bus and they also need tour guides. I think you’d be great.” And I’m still doing it. Experience the Twin Cities is the name of the company. And we do food tours, site-seeing tours, breweries, wineries.
Q: I hear you also perform on land for Viking River Cruises on the Mississippi?
A: Experience got the local contract a couple years ago for all of the host services. People fly in and we meet them at the carousels and escort them to the bus. I love it. it’s the best job that I’ve ever had. I step in and talk to a bus full of people. It’s me and a microphone, talking about Minnesota and the Twin Cities. St. Paul gets short shrift a lot in the calculus of tourism in the Twin Cities. But the fact that Viking comes up the river and doesn’t go any farther than St. Paul, and being able to provide some enthusiasm for what St. Paul has to offer, is kind of fun.
Q: What do these opportunities to be in front of people do for you?
A: It allows me to be creative, to be engaged with multiple personalities at one time. With my groups, it’s kind of like social science. If you’re not interested or you’re not paying attention, I’m going to focus on you. I’m going to make you interested. And I get to merge history with the beauty of this city.
Q: You’re not even a little shy?
A: I don’t think so. As long as I’m comfortable with what I’m going to be doing. Some people, it’s the worst thing that they could possibly be asked to do, being in front of a large group of people. That’s not my fear.
Q: What is your strength as a performer?
A: I’m flexible enough to do multiple things. In [“Cabaret”], I play a chorus boy – which is why my nails are painted [black], the owner of the club, who’s an a-hole, and also a Nazi youth.
Q: Three different parts?
A: Yeah. And I’ve been the bad guy in all the shows I’ve been in. I was Pontius Pilate in “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I was Riff Raff. And, in “Rent,” I played Benny, the landlord, who’s just a jerk.
Q: What do you fear on stage?
A: Forgetting lines is something no one wants. Having a wardrobe malfunction. Our bodies aren’t what they were. People are having to be comfortable in their own skin. And some actors are being asked to be more fearless than I am. Being out there with skin that’s not tight anymore. Sags. I’ve got no hair. But I haven’t had hair for a long time.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
