THEATER ENTERTAINS. But often it also makes us think, and think deeply.
That’s the case with Jake’s Women, a play by Neil Simon now unfolding on the stage of the Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault.
I attended the play on opening night last Friday after volunteering to greet guests at the door. I admit I felt hesitant about watching this drama because I expected the content might unsettle me. It did. But sometimes we need a jumbling of emotions and thoughts in a controlled setting.
CONTROL
Control. Main character Jake, played by Jake Gustine, struggles with control issues, especially in his relationships. He’s a writer, which in itself requires discipline and control. Fiction writers shape characters, stories, dialogue, control the plot. As a writer who’s written short stories, I understand the craft and could, in many ways, relate to what I was hearing from Jake on the stage.
But this play stretches beyond control and Jake’s work as a writer to his relationships with women. He’s struggling in his marriage to Maggie, his second wife. His first wife, Julie, died. I’ve been married for 44 years. That’s enough decades to realize partners won’t always agree—and they shouldn’t. There will be joys, struggles and hard times. But I’ve found through all of it, the good times and the difficult ones, that my husband and I balance one another and that our love for one another has grown and deepened through the years.
COMMUNICATION
Communication is a hallmark in any relationship. That message resounds in Jake’s Women. As a professional communicator/writer, I wanted to walk onto the stage and yell at Jake, “Listen, just listen!” That’s how invested I was in the play. I consider myself to be a good listener, a necessary skill for my previous work as a newspaper reporter with a bachelor of science degree in Mass Communications. Listening seems underrated. But I’m convinced if we all listened more than we talked, we would all get along better.
CRISIS
There are certainly many conflicts between Jake and the other seven characters in this play. But conflict also exists within Jake as he experiences delusions while in the throes of a mental health crisis. He struggles to separate fact from fiction, a mark of psychosis. I appreciate whenever mental health gets a spotlight if for any reasons other than to raise awareness and educate.
Throughout the play, Jake “talks” to the women who have been an important part of his life. Here the play gets interesting. The audience needs to pay close attention to lighting to determine when Jake is living in reality and when he is delusional. The set never changes and Jake never leaves the stage, which is a feat in itself during a play that lasts more than two hours.
I quickly found that I could not allow my mind to wander during this theatrical production directed by Palmer Huff and performed by the Paradise Community Theatre. I had to listen closely to every word spoken by Jake Gustine and performers Brianna Bauernfeind, Linda Anderson, Charli Gomez, Casper Andersen, Kate Southwick, Clair Borgerding and Kris Snow.
Jake’s Women is an intense play. It’s also thought-provoking. And it’s a play I highly-recommend you see.
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FYI: Upcoming performances of Jake’s Women are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, and Saturday, April 25, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. Click here for ticket information.
TELL ME: Have you seen Jake’s Women? If yes, what are your thoughts on the play?
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Observations from a southern Minnesota protest line April 6, 2026
Tags: bullying, commentary, disturbing behavior, Easter message, Faribault, language, Minnesota, opinion, peace, Pope Leo XIV, protest, protesting, words
STANDING ON THE PROTEST LINE in Faribault nearly every Saturday morning for three months, I’ve felt uplifted and loved by other protesters. And I’ve felt tremendous support, too, from the majority of passing motorists who wave, give us the thumbs up and honk their horns.
But I’ve also witnessed outrage, raging anger, dangerous behavior and hostility directed at those of us who are peacefully protesting against the current regime, etc., in this country. Everyone, under the First Amendment, is entitled to their opinion. It’s OK to disagree with us. But, the level of animosity I see and hear is truly disheartening.
BULLYING BEHAVIOR
We, as protesters, expect some negativity to be directed at us. But when it becomes dangerous, such as guys in mammoth pick-up trucks driving dangerously close at a high rate of speed and rolling coal, that crosses the line. We all understand that they are trying to intimidate us, to silence our voices. It’s a tactic that comes down from the top. Bullying is as old as time itself. We won’t be bullied into silence.
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR
That brings me to one particular driver whose behavior on Saturday had two of my new protest friends and me asking, “Did you see that?” That was a dad who had rolled down his window to give us the middle finger and shout profanities at us, with his young child strapped in a car seat behind him. This proved the most disturbing behavior I’ve witnessed while protesting. Children mimic what they see and hear. And this dad was teaching his child hatred and disrespect toward others.
UNSUITABLE WORDS
That brings me to the president’s profanity-laced social media post on Easter Sunday. I won’t type his warning to Iran about the Strait of Hormuz because his message is not suited for a general audience. But suffice to say that his language is unsuitable for the office he holds. I often wonder how anyone can be OK with what he writes, says and does.
WORDS OF PEACE
Then there’s Pope Leo XIV, who delivered a message of peace on Easter, as one would expect of a world faith leader. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace,” the pontiff said. Amen to that. I am thankful for leaders like him who stand publicly strong for what is right and good and moral. Now if only Pope Leo could have a one-on-one with the president or that dad driving past our protest line, flipping the bird and shouting profanities at us as his child watched and listened.
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FYI: I encourage you to click here and read a recent article published in The Daily Yonder about No Kings Day 3 protests in three southern Minnesota communities, including Faribault. The well-written story offers insights into protesting and opinions in rural America.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling