Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.09.2002, Qupperneq 4

4 « Lögberg-Heimskringla * Friday 13 September 2002

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The purpose ofthis column is to encourage
and enable people of Icelandic descent
throughout North America to exchange
information about their careers, in a “this
is what I do ” format. Contributors will be
invited to provide photos.
This column recognizes people of
Icelandic descent who have made or are
now making significant contribution to the
Icelandic/North American community.
Please let us know if there is someone spe-
cial you know who should be featured. Send
us bio notes and a photo. Ifyou don’t have
bio notes available, let us know and we’ll
arrange an interview.
James Stefan Freeman and the Sheldon Theatre
The Sheldon Theater is in
Red Wing, Minn. a town
on the east side of the state,
right on the Mississippi River.
The theatre is named for the
man, Theodore Sheldon, who
willed half of his estate for the.
building of a “jewel box the-
atre.” Built in 1904, it is very
ornate, with gold leafing, fili-
gree, beautiful ornamentation,
hand painted murals, crystal
chandeliers. No expense was
spared in the construction.
Marble pillars were shipped
from Italy and mahogany was
imported.
It cost $90,000 USD to
build between 1900 and 1904.
In 1988 when the building was
renovated it cost $4.5 million.
In the intervening years, it was
used as a touring theatre, for
vaudeville, silent movies, and
from the 1930s until the 1980s
it was a motion picture theatre.
Now, at the tum of the next
century, it is booked for 100
performances every year,
including international events
such as the Gurry and Inga
duo. They will play their first
North American concert there.
This year intemational artists
will come to Red Wing from
France, Ireland, Russia, China,
Africa and Austria besides
Iceland. The theatre will also
have national artists - musi-
cians, theatre groups, dance
companies - and will showcase
local theatre groups and other
talent. Every year it hosts the
annual high school musical in
May.
James Stefan Freeman,
who lives on a farm at River
Falls, Wisc., just across the
Mississippi from Red Wing,
came to the theatre in 1994. By
then the town had restored the
beautiful building, but they
were running significant finan-
cial deficits. James was hired as
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its business manager to help
develop a sustainable business
plan. He has done that. Now
the theatre breaks even.
The theatre’s long term
plan balances the need to pay
artists with the ability to sell
tickets. Corporate donations
are part of the plan to develop
an endowment fund. They have
changed business practices,
including the use of volunteers
as ushers and technical staff.
James says that he is work-
ing with artistic people who are
not used to the business side.
He says “I enjoy working with
artistic people. They really
need somebody in my position,
as they are not interested in the
business aspect of it. Artistic
people are interesting and
exciting and fun to be with.
And they appreciate the work
that I do for them.”
The mission of the theatre
is to provide the best in enter-
tainment to the citizens of Red
Wing. About the theatre, James
says, “Every one of its 466
seats has excellent sight lines,
with a wonderful view of the
stage. It is small and intimate
and the acoustics are wonder-
ful.”
The town of Red Wing has
16,000 inhabitants. Sixty per-
cent of the audience for the 100
performances held each year
comes from Red Wing, while
rnost of the others come from a
thirty to forty mile radius. Red
Wing is forty miles from
Minneapolis-St Paul. When
James Stefan Freeman
James says that “People are
proud of the theatre and are
supportive of it,” it almost
seems like an understatement.
James is from a large
Icelandic family. His great
great-grandfather was Jón
Póstur, well-known deliverer
of mail on the west coast of
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Iceland. He came west with his
son Stefán Jónsson who emi-
grated in 1886. James has a
copy of his great-grandfather
Stefan’s joumal, translated by
his uncle Jón Willard Freeman.
Stefán was married to
Hólmfríður Hansdóttir from
Litlahrauni in Southern
Iceland. His grandparents,
Olafur and Thorunn Sigridur
Freeman were both bom in
Canada, but all the family
ended up in North Dakota on
the Souris River at Upham.
James’ father Donald Wilmar
Freeman left North Dakota to
go to medical school in
Minnesota.
James grew up in
Minneapolis, with three sisters
Mary, Judy and Laurel and two
brothers Michael and John.
Their father was one of the
eight founding partners of the
St. Louis Park Medical Center.
He also taught at the University
of Minnesota and was the
Chief of Obstetrics at
Hennepin County Hospital.
James has thirty-two
cousins on his father’s side,
and they get together, as they
did recently, for weddings and
anniversaries. Many still live in
North Dakota and Minnesota,
but others have strayed west to
Arizona and Califomia.
James has been to Iceland
twice, and on his second trip
made contact with his relative
Guðríður Sigurðardóttir, the
pianist of the duo coming from
Iceland. So it is especially
appropriate that they begin
their tour at the theatre he man-
ages.
James lives on 160 acres of
farmland with his wife Jaime,
two horses and various dogs
and cats. When asked what
drew him to live on a farm after
having grown up in the city, he
said that he often visited his
relatives in the country in
North Dakota and Minnesota
and “It always attracted me.”
He has a masters in business
administration, which makes it
possible for him to live on the
farm and work elsewhere.
He will soon be heading,
along with his parents, for
Houston, Tex., where his
daughter Amy is getting mar-
ried. His son Thomas also lives
there.
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