History Theater to Present COCO's DIARY, 3/3 - 3/25

History Theatre will brighten the mood with the world premiere of COCOS DIARY, a new play with music that has been adapted for stage from the pages of a 13-year-old girl's diary. The diary of Clotilde "Coco" Irvine was discovered by author Peg Meier when she was scouring through the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society.

She was charmed by the way Coco's voice jumped off the page so she brought the manuscript to History Theatre's artistic director suggesting that he ought to translate it to the stage. The result is a script that follows Coco's 13th year of life on Summit Avenue, in the home that is now the Governor's Residence. Underscored by dozens of songs from the Jazz Age, Coco's Diary covers the archetypical year in the life of an American teenager: parents who just don't understand, teachers who seem to have a vendetta against her, boys who are becoming more complicated and confusing by the day, adventures with siblings, and the struggles that come with living in the gray area between the ease and innocence of childhood, and the hard-won wisdom of young adulthood.

Coco's Diary Opens: Saturday, March 3, 2012 Through: Sunday, March 25, 2012 Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8:00 p.m. • Saturdays & Sundays @ 2:00 p.m. Complete performance schedule included, page 4 ASL/AD performance on 3/11/12 at 2:00 p.m. Performing at History Theatre, 30 East Tenth Street | St. Paul, MN 55101 For directions and parking information visit: http://www.historytheatre.com/map-and-parking TICKETS: Tier 1 $38; Tier 2 $34; Tier 3 $30 Seniors (60+ years old) get $2 off regular ticket prices Students (5 to 18 years old): $15 Discount rates are available for groups of 15 or more. History Theatre Box Office at 651.292.4323 or www.historytheatre.com/tickets/

About the Play

After coming across Coco's diary, Peg Meier – formerly of the Star Tribune and author of a number of books on Minnesota history – set to work at getting in published. Last year, the University of Minnesota Press made the diary into a sweet little book with an introduction by Ms. Meier. She also presented the diary to her neighbor, History Theatre's artistic director Ron Peluso, thinking that Coco is a character who deserves to be brought to life on stage. (Peg has a great track record of provided History Theatre with excellent stories which have become very compelling plays including Hiding in the Open and Sister Kenny's Children). "When Peg came to me with Coco's diary thinking that it would make a delightful play – she was right! This quirky little diary from 1927, written by a spunky, bright and clever 13-year-old was a delight to read and a joy to adapt," says Peluso. "A couple years ago, I gathered some friends and associates around the dinner table and had some actor friends just read the original diary and the response with marvelous! Everyone loved it! Two years, several workshops, and one Raw Stages reading later, here we are. Bob Beverage and I have adapted this work and infused the music of the 20's while trying to keep the original tone and style of the diary (Coco's voice) intact." Using just a three-person cast, a piano, and some ingenuity, Coco's Diary reincarnates 13-year-old Clotilde Irvine and her world using her own words.

Coco's Diary was adapted for the stage by Bob Beverage and Ron Peluso, with music selected by Bob Beverage. It is directed by Ron Peluso, with music direction by Jake Endres, scenic design by Rick Polenek, costume design by Kelsey Glassner, lighting design by Pamela Kildahl, properties design by Kirby Moore, and stage managed by Janet L. Hall. Featuring Anna Evans and Kacie Riddle (on altering nights) as Young Clotilde "Coco" Irvine, Jane Lee as Adult Coco and Ensemble, and Jake Endres as Tom Irvine and Ensemble. About Clotilde Irvine and Her Diary From Peg Meier, editor of Through No Fault of My Own "One of the biggest joys of my work life was finding Coco's diary. It wasn't in a garbage dump or in a moldy old attic. It was right where it should have been – safely in the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul. "Coco Irvine was a 13-year-old St. Paul girl in 1927 when she kept her diary. She was funny, spunky and often in trouble, 'through no fault of my own,' as she put it.

A delightful, colorful writer, she recorded every 'disaster' in her life. Plus, she wrote about each encounter with the boy she called 'He,' the love of her young life. "But who was this girl? I had to find out. Using my training as a longtime newspaper reporter, I found out Coco was special in more ways than keeping a hilarious diary. She was the daughter and granddaughter of wealthy lumbermen, back when Midwest forests were harvested for the nation's westward expansion. Her father, Horace Irvine, built a 20-room mansion on St. Paul's luxurious Summit Avenue in 1910, about three miles from the Capitol and Cathedral. As older adults, Coco and her younger sister, Olivia Irvine Dodge, donated the home at 1006 Summit Avenue to the state of Minnesota. The home is now the governor's residence. "When Coco was a grandmother, she reread her handwritten diary. She thought her family might get a kick out of reading it and set about to have it printed as a simple book. She wanted to give copies as Christmas gifts. But ill with cancer, she was not able to finish the project. Coco died in the summer of 1975 at the age of 61. Her sister Olivia carried on the task and hired a printer make about 100 copies. Apparently, the original diary was tossed then. 

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