A dinner theater fundraiser will be held on April 11 at the Norway Community Building in Norway in support of the restoration needs of the Norsk Museum.
Rob Borchsenius has written the original script and music for this one-night-only event, as well as produced and directed it.
After the audience finishes their broasted chicken and pasta dinner, they will participate in a circa-1910 meeting of the Temperance Association, join in various temperance songs (all the while, discreetly in the back the bar will be open, breaking with tradition).
There is a very good chance that Carrie Nation will be making a surprise visit to this Norway Temperance meeting as well.
The Norway Temperance Association was organized in the late 1870s by the Norway Methodist Women who believed our nation’s ills could be attributed to the drinking of alcoholic beverages. After the turn of the century, under the direction of the Rev. C. W. Hanson of the Norway Methodist Church, a Temperance Hall was constructed. It was dedicated on Oct. 31, 1909.
Members of the Norway Temperance Association shared their talents such as musical selections at the meetings held. It was a gathering place for the community. School graduations were held in the hall for all Section School students. This was the first of many movements toward school consolidation.
Many small towns had a basketball team and Norway’s team played their home games in the Norway Temperance Association Hall.
Until the advancement of communications, most small rural towns needed somewhere to share the news and activities of their community; the Temperance Hall was that place in Norway, Illinois. Regular meetings were held until 1956, when the organization was dissolved and the building was sold.
The Temperance Hall is still standing, though vacant and on the verge of collapse.
In 2017, Landmarks Illinois placed the Norway Temperance Association building on its list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Buildings in Illinois.
Doors for the dinner theater fundraiser open at 6 p.m., dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. and the play will begin about 7:15 p.m.
Only 150 tickets will be sold. Advance sales only; tickets are $35 each. For tickets, call Borchsenius at 815-712-3170 or visit norskmuseum.org.