I’M EXCITED. This week brings a Twin Cities-based theatre company to Faribault to perform opera from the back of a pickup truck and trailer, live in Central Park.
Opera, blended with 1990s grunge and rhythm and blues, centers a 7 p.m. Thursday, September 10, show, “Pickup Truck Opera, Volume 6: Tales of Hoffman” by Mixed Precipitation.
To experience theatrical opera locally is such a gift for someone like me who wouldn’t otherwise hear opera or see professional theater like this. And it’s free, which makes this even more appealing. However, attendees are asked to bring a canned food item to donate to the Faribault Community Action Center. The CAC and city of Faribault are collaborating, with support from the Charitable Gambling Advisory Board, to bring the Mixed Precip show to Faribault.
The Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault is also involved, offering free art-making activities—drawing with Kate Langlais and wool felting led by Char Johnson—beginning at 5 p.m.
A WORLD OVERTAKEN BY TECHNOLOGY
But back to that opera. “Tales of Hoffman,” according to program promo info, follows the adventurous poet, Hoffman, as he searches for love and creative inspiration in a world overtaken by technology. Along the way, he encounters ghosts, robots, magicians, and shape-shifting demons in an imaginative, high-energy production.
Already that description has me intrigued considering how relatable and relevant “overtaken by technology” seems.
The show is based on a futuristic version of Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera by the same name. That brings to mind George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, written in 1949 but absolutely relatable to today.
INSPIRING SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Mixed Precipitation, with its original opera productions, aims “to present theatrical events that inspire social engagement” as the company travels throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin during the summer months.
I’m grateful the troupe will be back in Faribault (I saw them here in 2021), engaging the audience in Central Park. I welcome the opportunity to experience pickup truck opera again, right here in the heart of my community. I hope the park is packed on Thursday evening for this mobile outdoor opera that is sure to be entertaining, inspiring and thought-provoking.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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