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Lighting up the stage

By R. R. Branstrom 5 min read

ESCANABA -- Players de Noc’s current stage production -- “Stag Light” by Emily Turner, about a family road trip from Maine to Michigan to scatter ashes from a lighthouse -- reaches audiences for the first time this evening.

Most plays put on by the local theater group have been performed before. But as the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) chose Turner’s piece as one of six plays to win NewPlayFest 2026, this will be its world premiere.

This year’s NewPlayFest contest received over 450 submissions -- a record high, according to AACT. The scripts went to participating theaters around the country, who read them and helped whittle the list down to a handful of finalists.

Turner wrote “Stag Light” in 2019 to be used for a stage reading -- no acting -- for a program at Curtain Players in Columbus, Ohio, where she resides. Aside from making a couple tweaks based on feedback from the stage read, she put it away after that. The work went untouched for years.

Fortunately for audiences, her husband secretly submitted it to the AACP. “Stag Light” won alongside five other outstanding original works, and Players de Noc was selected to bring it to life.

Turner said that she got the idea for the story after she and her husband went to Maine and visited several lighthouses. Back home in Ohio, she researched Great Lakes lighthouses and became fascinated with Stannard Rock Light, an isolated lighthouse in Lake Superior.

Stannard is an exceptionally dangerous spot for ships, as a rocky ridge rises from the lake floor to just four feet below the water’s surface.

About 40 miles offshore from the mainland at Marquette -- and technically 24 miles from the nearest land, Manitou Island -- Stannard Rock has been called “the loneliest place on Earth.”

The structure on the remote rock was designated a “stag light,” meaning that only men keepers, not their families, were to reside at the lighthouse.

Inspired by the concept of such a place, Turner formulated a story that would make Stannard Rock Light a final destination.

“I had been wanting to write a family comedy, and I thought, well, you know, road trips always go wrong. So what about this family that’s coming together to honor their father, who was sort of a sometimes destructive part of their family,” the playwright said. The script also features the family’s memories of the man, as well as “the typical road trip shenanigans that we have on family trips,” Turner said.

Jeff Woerpel, longtime Players de Noc participant, is directing the show that opens tonight at the Besse Theater at Bay College.

“It’s basically a road trip of healing,” Woerpel said of the storyline. “The father (was) estranged from the family for a while, and (had) a lot of depression issues and things. He has died and wants his ashes spread at Stannard Rock. The family’s from Maine, but they go to this lighthouse in Michigan.”

Much of the stage play is set in the car, there are a lot of flashbacks, and the last quarter of the show is at the lighthouse itself. Woerpel said Players’ original set design for “Stag Light” included the creation of a lighthouse platform and incorporates scenery projection.

“It’s exciting that we’re the first people, the first company that gets to produce it,” Woerpel said. “So, as a director, it was interesting. Usually, when you have a script that has been produced before, there’s notes in the script as you go along with what that previous theater has done.”

From now on, Players de Noc will be somewhat immortalized as future theater companies putting on “Stag Light” will find their name and notes accompanying the script.

The playwright attended a few rehearsals the week of Labor Day, and found Players de Noc “kind, welcoming and professional,” she said.

“Every time I get to see speakers perform the words I’ve written, it’s just more interesting and so much better than it even was in my head,” Turner said. She noted that she was impressed with the cast and crew in Escanaba during early rehearsals and is eager to see the live shows.

Prior to the curtain call this evening, a meet-and-greet session with Turner will be held at Freshwater Tavern from about 4 to 7 p.m.

The Ohio-based playwright, who said she’s loved to write since grade school, obtained a degree from Ohio State University in English literature. After, she got an RN degree, and now works in hospice as her day job. But theatrical writing has been a big part of her life; she currently writes for a children’s theater in Columbus.

Turner said she thanks Woerpel, Stage Manager Jenny Heller, all of Players de Noc and everyone who’s made her time in the area so enjoyable.

“The U.P. is such a beautiful place to visit,” she said. “It’s just been a great experience, and I’m just excited about the payoff for all their hard work.”

Showtimes for “Stag Light” are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday (Oct. 11) matinee at 1:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at playersdenoc.org.

Players de Noc hopes that their productions later in the season will be able to return to their usual home in the Bonifas Arts Center. Since a fire in May 2025 damaged that facility, Players shows since have been held at the Besse Theater.

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Writer R. R. Branstrom can be reached at rbranstrom@dailypress.net.

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