In the fictional, unincorporated town of Almost, Maine, everybody knows everyone else and they re all falling in and out of love with each other. Some are even discovering they love somebody they didn t think they were in love with before.
If you ve never fallen in love with Harold Hill or Marian Paroo you ve obviously never seen "The Music Man." Traveling salesman Hill whose con is to sell band instruments to the rubes in River City, Iowa is the quintessential "front man," the larger-than-life character who might be a hero . or might not. And Marian the librarian might be the girl next door, but she s not the fainting ingenue, rather a tough-as-nails heroine, so difficult to woo and so easy to love.
Lisa Turpin approaches everything she does with passion. She is the passionate director of operations for Arkansas Public Theatre in Rogers, a job that started with her volunteering for the community theater troupe eight years ago. She is a passionate "drama mama" to the young people who come through APT, proud to offer "a safe refuge for everyone, all walks of life, status, gender, lifestyle and anything else. Makes me proud that when they travel home from college, careers and adventures, they make time to come see me." She is passionate about what theater gives back to the community. And she is a passionate supporter of the culture of APT "a thriving theater full of people passionate about the same things as me. We have such privilege to work and abide here. How could anyone not love this job?"
At home, says Patrick Edmunds, his wife, Lexie, wrangles "a 4-year-old, a 1-year-old, and a 30-year-old all by herself!" Backstage at Arkansas Public Theatre's "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," she's helping herd 24 kids, some of them as young as 4.