Variety show brings laughs to new Valley venue

MAT-SU — They may not have Garrison Keillor, Goldie Hawn or Steve Smith, but the Valley Arts Alliance has its own local talent set to deliver laughs this year.

Alliance president Carmen Summerfield said their gig, “Alaska Home Companion — A Frontier Variety Show!” is a mix of Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show, Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh-In” — on which Hawn was a regular performer in the late 1960s — and Smith’s “Red Green Show” from Canada.

That means skits, singing, dancing, ventriloquism and audience participation — with an Alaskan twist, of course.

“Our goal as the Valley Arts Alliance is to bring the community together through the arts,” Summerfield said.

The goal of the variety show, then, is “to provide a venue for people to write their own stuff and express their own ideas and stories about Alaska,” she said.

This weekend, the variety show will open in Houston for the first time at Top Drawer in the Meadowood Mall, in order to serve more of the Mat-Su Valley.

Although the Saturday show will include many elements from shows hosted last fall in Wasilla and Sutton, since the skits are based on current events, the upcoming show is tailored to this moment in time and the Houston/Big Lake area venue.

“We write something but then we will update it closer to the (opening) date,” Summerfield said.

Summerfield said they’re “undeclared on politics” as an organization — they try to “make fun of everybody.”

Returning performers include actress, singer, ventriloquist, author and comedian Hillary Saffran, film and TV actor and Frontiersman ad sales representative AJ Seims, Arts Alliance “addict” Niki Pease and more.

Seims assumes the roles of private investigator Guy d’North — a name punned on Guy Noir from Prairie Home Companion — and Moose Jaw, an old “sourdough” character Seims has developed over the years.

Pease participation in the show has involved “from the get-go,” usually as a behind-the-scenes volunteer.

In fact, she’s volunteered so much that this year she’s become the butt of a joke in the show about compulsive volunteering.

“I never met a nonprofit I didn’t like,” Pease said, in explanation.

Pease is also known for her “tarp and tape” creations in the annual Wearable Art Show, some of which will appear in the variety show.

But what’s really great about AK Home Companion, she said, is that “there’s something for everyone.”

“If you don't like (one skit), hold your breath and you’ll have the opportunity to like or dislike the next one,” she said. “We can always pull out the hook.”

Seims agreed, saying that even the younger crowd can appreciate the flow of AK Home Companion.

“It’s a show I think young people would enjoy because it’s fast-paced, there’s variety,” he said.

The Saturday show is the last in Season 4 of AK Home Companion, Summerfield said. The next season will begin this fall with a performance at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry. Interested talents are invited to contact Summerfield at carmen@valleyartsalliance.com following this weekend’s show.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.