Lewings honored by Montana Arts Council
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Montana Arts Council
POLSON — Neal and Karen Lewing, actors, directors and educators since 1983, have received the 2016 Governor’s Arts Award.
Their theatre company, the Post Polson Players, offers all Mission Valley residents, including those with special needs, the opportunity to become part of theater, from drama and suspense to musicals and comedy in live performance.
The Lewings have each contributed to the art form with original works, highlighting Montana’s unique place in American history. Their original “Valley Full of Diamonds” production honored Polson’s blended cultures and featured hundreds of local people.
“My first live theater experience was in 1986 in a community production of ‘Oklahoma.’ I was very pregnant with my third child. Lewings added a cameo role for me,” recalls nominator Carmine Mowbray. “I still have close friends from that large community production.” Mowbray said. She does not know of “two more consistently hardworking, passionate people who have retained their energy and dedication to their mission.”
Working with the Polson schools, the Lewings have produced plays and taught students of all ages how to focus, use teamwork, be disciplined, use correct diction, memorize lines and perform on stage.
Neal’s original productions pair history with music and include “Christmas with Lewis and Clark,” “Meagher of the Sword, Irish Rebel to Montana Governor,” and several others. Neal also writes and records original folk music, and performs Celtic tunes with the Montana ShamRockers.
The Port Polson Players just completed their 41st season. The typical season offers eight to 10 productions, including comedies, musicals, dramas, mysteries and children’s theatre. Most of the Players’ productions are staged in a 1938 log building on Polson’s Golf Course that was once slated for demolition. The Lewings helped found the nonprofit Mission Valley Friends of the Arts to fund its salvation and maintenance.
“These two treasures of Montana have devoted their lives to making average citizens a part of the arts,” Polson attorney and former state legislator John Mercer wrote. The Lewings are honored to receive the award at a banquet Dec. 2 alongside four other Montanans, but they’re quick to thank the community. “It’s the people,” Karen Lewing said. “Everybody in the valley has contributed. We’re taking the award in everyone else’s name, but they are the ones that built the theatre.”
The theatre, Neal Lewing said, is not a building — it’s people. “And relationships and connecting,” Neal said. Before each curtain opens, he tells the cast, “Look at the gift that you are giving the community. You’re making them laugh. You’re making them think … And that’s a gift.” Lewings
