The translation of Michael Perry's 2002 book, Population 485, to a stage show at Big Top Chatauqua means he could invite all of New Auburn, Wisconsin and still have room left over under the big blue tent for, oh, Glen Haven. Or Cary.
After a long time of mulling, re-reading and note-taking, Perry did the "heavy lifting" of preparing the script in Norb Blei's chicken coop over three days. The resulting story is a clean, sparingly retold version of his memoir, without, as he puts it, "tacky drama" -- or one of his brothers.
