COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — The final dress rehearsal for "Ways to Win in the Woods" was underway Wednesday night at PACE in Council Bluffs. It's a collaboration between The Great Plains Theatre Commons, Anastasis Theatre Company, The Omaha Symphony, PACE, and Micah House.
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The production brings together performing professionals and residents of Micah House, the Council Bluffs-based shelter. It tells a tale of homelessness through the lens of those who've experienced it firsthand.
"I am floored by being on the same stage as members of the Omaha Symphony," Shannon Lowe said.
She leaped at the opportunity to participate: "I love the creative process, I have always enjoyed writing."
Playwright Ellen Struve wanted to collaborate with neighbors like Lowe who are living at Micah House.
"It was a lot of asking people, what do you want people to know about this?" Struve said.
"I was particularly interested in the fact that she was doing community theater in way that would inspire conversation about making change," Lowe said.
The production is a re-telling of Hansel and Gretel, set in the metro area.
"And I'm most excited for our contributors to feel heard," Struve said.
Lowe grew up in Page County but was living in Washington State when she had a heart attack, which created a financial catastrophe.
"And I thought it would be easier in Iowa to get myself re-established, and it was not," she said.
Narrator Savonni Yestanti also lives at Micah House. She says she did theater at Omaha Central and later in college.
"And the wonderful thing about theater is I can bring the truth to it and show that you can survive this," Yestanti said.
Tickets to the show are free and can be reserved through the Great Plains Theatre Commons or Anastasis Theatre Company.
"I'm lovin' this. This is where I need to be," Yestanti said.
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