Lance S. Belville, Playwright

Lance S. Belville (1935-2020) has had, to date, well over 100 productions of 50 plays (five off- and off-off-Broadway) Belville’s plays have toured to 30 states and three other countries. Qaddafi’s Cook was featured in the Latin American Season of the Actors Centre in London’s West End and toured Mexico, New York City, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Indianapolis. Lance received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting and a Kudos Awards for Best New Play from the Twin Cities Drama Critic Circle for Scott and Zelda, The Beautiful Fools and a Kudos Award for overall Production for his play with music, Plain Hearts. Lance was the founding playwright of St. Paul's History Theatre and became its artistic director, shaping its first fifteen years. Holding a degree in Cinema from the University of Southern California, Belville won a Silver Medal Award from the New York City International Film Festival for one of his documentaries. He began his writing career as a foreign correspondent in Rio de Janeiro for United Press International and then for ABC News.

Lynn Lohr, Producer

Lynn spent 15 years in the professional theater in Minnesota, where with playwright Lance Belville, she founded the History Theatre, dedicated to doing new work based on social issues, history, and folklore. As an actor, director and producer, she oversaw the History Theatre’s growth, securing and renovating its 597-seat home. Plays she produced or directed won five awards from the Twin Cities Drama Critics Circle. Along with world premieres by leading Midwest playwrights, Lynn directed North American premieres of plays by the U.K.’s David Edgar, Northern Ireland’s Marie Jones, and by Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes. Since 2016, Lohr has directed four Belville plays in international festivals, on tour, and in the San Francisco Bay Area and St. Paul. She was a New Works Producer for the 2024-2025 season at the Barn Theater in Ross, CA. In 2026, Lynn returns to the San Francisco International Arts Festival with the new play Rio Journal, based on Belville’s Brazilian reportage.

Tom Berger, Producer

Tom served in a succession of roles from Production Manager to Tour Director to Managing Director for St. Paul’s History Theatre—a key part of over 60 world premiere productions by 45 playwrights/composers, personally overseeing tours to 25 states of 12 of those productions. In 2017, he resumed working with Lynn and Lance functioning as Production Manager/Designer, and subsequently Co-Producer for Atlanta Burning, Sherman’s Shadows, Cowboy and Widow, Qaddafi’s Cook, and Eric and Friends, playing Minneapolis and St. Paul, and touring to London, San Francisco, Indianapolis and Kansas City. With Lohr, he co-produced for the Minnesota Historical Society, The Man Who Bought Minneapolis and Nina, Madam to a Saintly City. Tom and Lynn are currently developing two scripts from the playwright’s Brazil days. Berger volunteers as a member of the Central Minnesota Arts Board and is its Vice President.

Eric Peltoniemi, Composer

Eric and Lance met over 40 years ago when Eric played the Coffeehouse Extemp in Minneapolis and Lance wrote his phone number on a matchbook. They would go on to write three musicals together including the iconic Plain Hearts. Eric has covered the musical waterfront: touring artist, singer/songwriter, award-winning lyricist/composer for the music theater, record producer and record label executive at acclaimed Red House Records. He has performed throughout the US, as well as in Canada and northern Europe. In 2018 he appeared in the multiple award-winning Finnish film, Ikitie (The Eternal Road) singing a song he wrote for the production. His songs have been covered and recorded by a number of folk and roots music artists. Reunited with Belville Productions, his songs were at the heart of their 2022 show at the Gremlin Theatre and his music is featured in their Cowboy and Widow, the children’s play Mbahir, and the upcoming Rio Journal.

Joshua Wait, Communications

A poet, artist, and designer, Josh and Lynn have collaborated creatively for ten years since their community-building days at the Biodiversity Funders Group. Josh first joined Belville Productions to make contributions to the promotion of Qaddafi’s Cook, Atlanta Burning, and Cowboy and Widow. He is the author of the poetry collection Edible Thistles and the just released book of his poems, stories, and art Wishing To Be Human.