Former Crookston resident's play about friendship with Mister Rogers to be shown in Alexandria, Minn.
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Apr. 26—CROOKSTON, Minn. — An author and Crookston native is planning to attend almost every showing of the production of a play based on one of his books.
The book is "I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers," which has been adapted into the play "I'm Proud of You." Both were written by Tim Madigan, the latter also being co-written by his friend Harry Parker, who previously served as chairman of the Texas Christian University Theater Department in Fort Worth, Texas.
Madigan, who was born and raised in Crookston and now lives in Texas, said the story is about a lot of things, but mainly his relationships with his father, his brother and Fred Rogers, as well as the feelings he was experiencing during a period of his life.
"It's a very personal story to me," he said. "The things that I was going through in the mid 1990s, the struggles I was having, the challenges I was facing, the tragedy our family was facing are all things that most people can relate to at some point, at some level."
The story of "I'm Proud of You" centers on Madigan and his friendship with Fred Rogers, more commonly known as Mister Rogers from the television program "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which aired in Canada and the United States from 1968 to 2001.
In the memoir, Madigan talks about how Rogers mentored him through difficult times in his life, such as his depression, his relationship with his father and when one of his brothers dealt with terminal lung cancer.
The book was published in 2006 and the play adaptation first premiered in fall 2023 at Circle Theater in Fort Worth, Texas. Its second-ever production will be put on at Theatre L'Homme Dieu in Alexandria, Minnesota, in June.
Seeing actors on stage portraying him and his family was weird and terrifying at first, Madigan said. But as he watched and heard back from those in the audience, he thought about how the story could be interpreted by viewers.
"It has been significant to me that when people come to the theater or when they're leaving the theater, they're not going to be thinking about my story," he said. "They're going to be thinking about their own, and I think that's what it's turned into. I had these struggles. This great man, Fred Rogers, mentored me, and I think through the process of the book and the play, he's mentoring pretty much everyone. There's a universality to it."
Madigan and Parker have had some input on the second production of the play, Theatre L'Homme Dieu Executive Director and Artistic Director Nicole Mulder said. The three, alongside playwright Greta Grosch, have had regular meetings about the play, exploring what direction to take it. Mulder said she wants to do the play right by Madigan and Parker, and being able to talk to Madigan, who is also one of the main characters, has been an advantage for casting.
"What's really nice about it is that we have gotten to know him and talk to him, so when we see somebody in auditions that somehow gave the essence of Tim Madigan, that was really interesting," she said. "Like, 'wow that person could do a good job of capturing the essence of Tim Madigan without ever having known him.'"
Mulder wants people to focus not necessarily on the famous Fred Rogers, but rather Madigan and his story. To her, the themes of the play are the friendship between two men, mental health, loss of loved ones and conversations that the audience will find relatable.
"It's a very generous story for Tim to tell," she said. "And I think people will resonate with that. When people speak their truth like that, they find their own truth in the story somehow, and I think that will be important."
Madigan plans to be at almost every showing of the play, except for its Sunday showing, and plans to see friends and family from the area. The theater, he said, is almost equidistant between Grand Forks, Crookston and the Twin Cities, all places where he has friends who will watch the play.
"It's going to be a very special kind of reunion," he said.
"I'm Proud of You" will be shown June 25 to June 29. Tickets are available for purchase now at
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