When Ben Stefonowicz first heard about “Catholic Young Adults: The Musical,” an original production of St. Paul-based Missed the Boat Theatre, he thought that it wasn’t going to be very funny. He doubled down on that conviction when he found out that it was written by a priest, Father Kyle Kowalczyk, pastor of St. Maximilian Kolbe in Delano and co-founder of Missed the Boat Theatre.
But when Stefonowicz saw the production in 2019, he wished he would have bought another ticket to see it twice. Now, as the production takes to the stage June 20-23 and June 27-29 at St. Agnes School in St. Paul, he will play a main character.
The show is one of several productions, including an adaptation of Jane Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice” and “Moonshine Abbey,” also by Father Kowalczyk, that the theater has produced since its inception in 2019.
Sam Vargo, the executive director of Missed the Boat Theatre, said the company is made up almost entirely of volunteers.
“It is truly a village,” she told “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley during an interview that will air June 7. “(There is) nobody who is working full time on the production, it’s a really wide-ranging and beautiful community of people (that) just finds a way to funnel (its) gifts into what we’re doing.”
Vargo said that the mission of the theatre “is to foster vibrant Catholic community by producing quality artistic creations on the stage.”
“We select shows that we think offer something to say about truth and beauty and goodness … and that we can glorify God through,” she said. The theater also hosts classes and workshops, and Vargo hopes that the theater will host retreats someday.
To hear more about Missed the Boat’s mission tune into the “Practicing Catholic” episode that debuts at 9 p.m. June 7 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM and repeats at 1 p.m. June 8 and 2 p.m. June 9.
To buy tickets for the upcoming production, visit missedtheboattheatre.com.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program also includes a discussion with Jessica Dahlberg, a parishioner of Epiphany in Coon Rapids, about her son’s healing from partial paralysis, which some say was a Eucharistic miracle. Also, listen to a revisited conversation with Dr. Gary and Mary Williams — the parents of Bishop Joseph Williams, who was recently named co-adjutor Bishop of Camden, New Jersey — in honor of Archdiocesan Marriage Day on June 8.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
