Farmers Alley Theatre opens its new season on Thursday, Sep 17 with a comedy set against the backdrop of college football rivalry and an obscure slice of Midwestern history. Speaking with Cara Lieurance, the theater's managing artistic director Jeremy Koch, playwright and director Paul Stroili, and actor Laura Jordan preview My Mother and the Michigan-Ohio War, running through October 4 at Farmers Alley Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo. The play had its world premiere at the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea; this marks its fourth production overall and its first in the Kalamazoo area.
Stroili, who's previous play " A Jukebox for the Algonquin" was a success at Farmers Alley, says this play grew out of a conversation with Jeff Daniels, founder of the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, where the show premiered before making its way to Kalamazoo. Daniels urged him to write "a comedy... because right now audiences really want to laugh," set in Michigan "because our audiences like to see themselves on our stages." That advice, combined with Stroili's fascination with historical reenactors and the real 19th-century border dispute known as the Toledo Strip, became the spark for the story.
Rather than stage a re-creation of the bloodless Michigan-Ohio War itself, Stroili built a family drama around a widow, Izzy, whose late husband was obsessed with finishing his planned reenactment before he died. Jordan, who plays Izzy, says the role resonated personally: "There's a line in the play that I say that says, 'Widows don't mind being on their own nearly as much as widowers do.' And I feel like I have personal experience with that."
Koch calls the script a natural follow-up to Stroili's earlier hit, noting the play carries "the Paul Stroili markings of lots of humor, real characters, living their lives" alongside real emotional stakes. He adds that the production is already about 75% sold out ahead of opening night.
The cast also includes Caitlin Cavannaugh and Brandon Foxworth, both with ties to the Western Michigan University theater program. A post-show talk-back is scheduled for September 25, and an ASL-interpreted performance will be offered October 3. Tickets and details are available at farmersalleytheatre.com.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
