As a fellow Minnesotan, Ali Selim's film depicting the early 1900s and the unity of community deeply moved me. When Perrin Post asked me to direct the early development workshop for the stage musical adaptation, I was honored. The beautiful old church we found for our rehearsal and experimentation period seemed to embrace the show's gorgeous folk score by Dina Maccabee, filling the space with its resonant melodies. The piece skillfully interweaves Minnesota's history with the lives of hardworking rural families from that era, resulting in a captivating narrative that touched not just the past but also resonated timely with today's issues of immigration and themes of being an outsider.