I received a nice email today from the fantastically named Jeremy van Meter, the Communications Manager and a Resident Actor at the Commonweal Theatre in Lanesboro, MN, informing me that they will be producing Around the World in 80 Days this year. Fantastic.

But then Jeremy told me the population of Lanesboro, MN.

754.

As I posted yesterday, the B Street Theatre is about to take Around the World in 80 Days to India, where they’ll perform in Mumbai, a city with a population of 20.5 million people. You could fly the entire town of Lanesboro over to Mumbai to see Around the World in 80 Days at the 1,010-seat Tata Theatre at the National Centre Performing Arts and you’d still have tickets left over to sell to some of the 20.5 million people who live in Mumbai. You’d need to clone Lanesboro over 27,000 times to reach Mumbai’s population number.

That’s right, 754 people make up the entire town of Lanesboro, MN.

Okay, so Lanesboro is a small town. Big deal. There are lots of small towns in America. Oh no, my friend. Oh no. Lanesboro is more than a small town. ArtPlace named Lanesboro one of America’s Top Twelve ArtPlaces.  And Lanesboro is by far the smallest of the small towns on the list. But it doesn’t end there.

Lanesboro, tiny little Lanesboro, the Bed and Breakfast Capital of Minnesota, is a town completely devoted to the arts. How incredibly awesome is that?

You’d think with a town of 754 people one theatre would be enough. Not for art-loving Lanesboro. There are two theatres. Two! And they sit right next to each other. There’s the Commonweal Theatre and the St. Mane Theatre, which has year-round programming and is also the home to the Lanesboro Community Theatre. There’s even an Art Center.

Okay, there are 754 people. The theatre is probably in some renovated shed. Wrong.

“In July 2007, the $3.5 million Commonweal facility opened to widespread acclaim. While offering patrons a welcoming, intimate experience in a 200-seat house, the exterior façade recreates three charming Lanesboro shop fronts, and the interior design focuses on the natural beauty and history of the region with barn doors acting as bathroom stalls, stone walls mirroring the surrounding bluffs, concrete floors reflecting the building’s prior life as a cheese factory, and seats reclaimed from the original Guthrie Theatre.”

What the hell!? That’s incredible.

And just to slap it on a bit more, Yahoo Travel named Lanesboro one of America’s Prettiest Towns. Artistic and pretty? Add a sense of humor and I’ll marry you, Lanesboro.

Now I may be late to the show about Lanesboro but I’m completely gobsmacked about the town. I’m thrilled one of my shows will be produced by the Commonweal Theatre. Commonweal also has a New Plays Program. I’m just saying, Commonweal Theatre, you have a New Plays Program and I have some new plays. You have Bed and Breakfasts. I love Bed and Breakfasts. You live in a pretty town, I like pretty.

I’m just saying.