Sara Aeikens has five parts in Friday night’s “Tales of Two Counties.”

Karen Behling has eight. David Dahlquist also has eight parts in the play.

Among the roles portrayed are some familiar names to Paramount Theatergoers: Poly Jelling, Wayne Nemitz, Wendy Larson, Larry Engelmann, Bonnie Rietz, Richard E. Hall, Yvonne Thiele, Bev Smith and Donna Nybo.

The musical will be presented Friday night and Sunday afternoon at the Paramount Theatre.

Joan Claire Graham wrote the play and 214 residents of Mower and Freeborn counties wrote the stories that comprise the play.

Graham also wrote lyrics to the music composed for the play by Tom Shelton. Graham is also producing the play.

Ellen Karsten has director’s duties.

Gail Thurnau is the musical director.

Tom Butsch did the scenery, Emily Staloch did the lighting and Teresa Kauffmann did the slide show that accompanies the play.

That takes care of the play’s credits; that is, all except those 214 Mower and Freeborn counties’ residents, who wrote the stories that became Graham’s play.

Not to worry. Their names will be listed on posters inside the Paramount Theatre lobby.

Or the tables of contents of “Austin Remembers” and “Albert Lea Remembers,” the twin 2006 sesquicentennial commemorative books that inspired Graham to write the play.

“It started out with the ‘Albert Lea Remembers’ book, which is a collection of true stories written for Albert Lea’s sesquicentennial,’ Graham said. “When that book proved to be a very successful project for the Friends of the Albert Lea Public Library, the Friends of the Austin Public Library decided they would like to replicate that project.”

The Austin book collected 156 true stories from Mower contains and the Albert Lea book collected 100.

Graham learned a year ago the Minnesota State Historical Society was offering legacy grants for projects that could possibly cross county lines and unite counties.

“I thought this is a perfect opportunity, because we already have projects, we have the books, so we’re not starting out with nothing. We’ve got something to build upon,” Graham said.

Graham — with both cities’ Friends organizations; support — got the grant to produce the play.

The one requirement of the state grant that gave Graham and her play-producing friends trouble was the fact it had to be produced in Minnesota’s sesquicentennial year: 2008.

Shelton came on board immediately to write the music. Graham wrote the song lyrics based on the stories.

Graham split the stores — all 256 of them — into seven scenes: The best of times, the worst of times, hometown folks (“town characters”), nostalgia, places, whimsy (“crazy things”) and hometown sentiments, according to the playwright.

Interspersed throughout the 2-act play are Broadway show tunes, country and bluegrass music stylings.

The “Fiddlin’ Hansons,” daughters of famed fiddler, Ole Hanson and his wife, will perform on stage.

Other eclectic music styles include a doowop song and “silent movie” piano music heard in the Paramount Theatre in its earliest, Great Depression, days.

The doowop song will enhance the “nostalgia” segment when the Tower teen club and Tendermaid sandwich shop were in their heyday.

“We were blessed,” Graham said of casting the play, “All the right people came to us.”

The ages of the actors span four generations, ranging from 9 to 80-something.

“Each person in the play plays the role of several people who submitted stories,” she said. “There were 214 people who submitted stories and I used words from half of them.”

Dave Sylte performs with a barbershop quartet and portrays an Albert Lea radio personality and Timothy Conklin, an Austin native, among other characters in the play.

Graham cast her self in the role of Austin’s Mayor Rietz.

The playwright called “Tales of Two Counties,” a journey. “It’s about a group of people who hear they are being challenged to write their community history for a sesquicentennial book,” she explained. “They don’t think they can do it.”

Sylte and Graham said the play was well-received by Albert Lea audiences during two performances last weekend. They expect the same reception this weekend in Austin.

Reception

Writers of “Austin Remembers” stories are invited to a reception, beginning 6:30 p.m. Friday at Austin Public Library.

They are asked to RSVP the library as soon as possible by calling Jeanne Steinbrink at 507 433-2391.

Copies of the “Austin Remembers” book will be available for purchase Friday night at the reception.

The play begins 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Paramount Theatre, where the $10 tickets will be available.

“Tales of Two Counties” will also be presented 2 p.m. Sunday at the Paramount Theatre.

The Sunday matinee performance will be the last for Graham’s original play.

All proceeds will go the twin Friends organizations.