In his novel, You Can’t Go Home Again, published in 1940, Thomas Wolfe wrote about his hometown and intimated that once you leave, it’s never the same if you return and maybe you weren’t remembering it accurately anyway.
People in the Haugen area, and certainly the folks from the Ceska Opera House would disagree.
Six times a year, including two of those times being meals, the Ceska Opera Foundation puts on old fashioned shows that pack out the 200 seat theater.
Sometimes the shows are hammer dulcimer bands, or Ole and Lena performances. Sometimes its gospel music, sometimes the accordions and concertina ‘squeezebox’ shows and the always popular, the Untalent shows; old fashioned and simple hometown humor, hilarious skits and good times, filling the audience full of good feeling as they leave.
According to Robert Heinze, Program coordinator and treasurer of the foundation since 1988, “The shows recapture the small town feeling people still have for their home towns and for some it’s an experience they’ve never had, not growing up in a small town.”
Originally the Haugen area, which includes Oak Grove, Bear Lake and Sarona, was heavy with people of Czech heritage at the turn of the last century. The building that’s used for the current shows is the original one built in 1899 and used as a Lodge Hall for local Czech residents. Within its walls was where the Czech children would attend extra ‘classes’ on their culture, or the space would be used as their gym, a library and a stage; anything to keep the Czech way of life alive.
The school building was across the street, but the Czech kids were encouraged to keep their own home fires burning by also keeping the old ways and language.
Eventually the town of Haugen owned the hall, due to the Czech people marrying and moving away or dying, and used it as a youth center but ultimately there was talk of tearing the old place down. When the Czech residents heard the news they decided to take back the building and in 1982 they organized and in 1985 they incorporated so they could legally earn money through ticket sales and donations and season ticket sales. They even registered it with the National Register of Historic Places to assure its place in history and the future. In 1987 the Polka Queen performed and the Ceska Opera House was off and running.
Robert Heinze grew up in the area with his great grandfather purchasing property for a family farm back in 1894. In college he graduated with a major in Journalism and a minor in History, the two perfect subjects that would make him the go-to guy as time went on.
When he was a reporter for WAQE radio in Eau Claire, he covered the meeting in 1981 that was addressing the future of the building. This is the one where the city was going to tear it down and Robert decided it was time to not only cover the story, but to get involved.
The goal was set and the work begun. Since their first show as the Ceska Opera Foundation, they have put on a wide variety of shows since 1991 including the Czech favorite, a Jiternice Dinner. Jiternice being a homemade pork sausage served with potato dumplings, sauerkraut, vegetables and gravy with the famous Czech dessert, kuliches. The evening is filled with familiar foods overlaid with toe-tapping music. It’s always a full house.
There have been bands from overseas including Norway and Finland and performances by the UW Eau Claire campus bringing Opera to the theatre. The mighty Uf-Da players perform their skits often, much to the audience’s delight and each show has an intermission where home baked goods are available on a free will donation basis.
Tickets for the Christmas Show in December are sold out by May and the next show, Friday night, March 17 at 7:30 pm will be the guitar of Tim Sears and the Fiddle of John Pisa. Bob Juza, President of the foundation, is also the man who sells the tickets. You can call him at 715-234-5600.
The interesting museum across the road from the Opera House, the old school house, survives on the income of the shows and it’s always had visitors, but now that many people are doing genealogy research, it’s even busier with folks looking for their past.
See at least one show at the Ceska Opera House and go home again, even if it’s only for an hour or two, because you can, you know.
Diane Dryden has been a feature writer for twelve years and is the author of two novels. Order your copy of the Accidental King of Clark Street and Double or Nothing on Foster Avenue today!
Last Update: Mar 01, 2017 9:25 am CST
