If you have an adventurous palate when it comes to theatrical experiences, it’s about time this seven-player troupe came into your life.
About Time Theatre Company is made up of stage and creative arts veterans from across the country who converged on Des Moines.
“[We] moved here from the Chicago market where I’d done a lot of theater, including companies I felt weren’t doing things the right way,” said actor Kim Haymes, whose husband Dan is also in the company. “I really wanted to do something that I knew we could do the right way. Everyone agreed on the structure and the way we should run things, and to a level of standards that we will operate under.”
The members play dual roles as About Time’s nonprofit board: Kim Haymes (president), Michael LaDell Harris (treasurer), Nick Strickland, Marnie Strate, Dan Haymes, Josh Visnapuu and Maggie Jane (secretary). The company is “committed to producing innovative and socially relevant theater that reflects the rich tapestry of experiences within our community,” according to their mission statement.
Since they formed earlier this year, the group has performed in many Central Iowa shows, and on many of the area’s best stages. Members have earned a collective 12 nominations for Central Iowa’s Cloris Leachman Excellence in Theatre Arts Awards. Meanwhile, Strickland brings years of experience competing in — and winning — Des Moines’ 48 Hour Film Project.
“What we’re focused on is eventually having seasons and doing really interesting theater,” Harris said. “We’re not against doing other things, too. With Nick, we may do a short film. We may do poetry slams. We’re open to everything.”
The troupe wants to see “more interactive theater, immersive theater. Things that aren’t happening in Des Moines,” Harris continued. “We want to present riskier choices. Maybe it doesn’t appeal to everybody, but that’s OK.”
About Time’s first show is Squeamish by Aaron Mark, originally produced Off-Broadway. Described by Time Out New York as a “tour-de-fear,” the one-woman show is “a grotesque tale of phobia and compulsion as two sides of the same coin, a minimalist work of psychological horror about craving what terrifies us.” The play stars Kim Haymes, herself a five-time Cloris Awards nominee and three-time winner.
Squeamish will run May 30-31 and June 6-7 at The Haunt, a small speakeasy within the Slaughterhouse Haunted Attraction in downtown Des Moines. This will be the first production staged within the space, but hopefully not the last, according to owner Ian Miller. Every ticket includes a specialty cocktail (alcoholic or NA) designed by The Haunt to pair with the show.
Speakeasies are increasingly popular spots for immersive theater in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, Haymes said. About Time is pleased to be breaking new ground in Iowa.
“The classics and traditional plays are covered in town. Modern plays are covered, too. I still think there’s a route for shows [other theater companies] cannot do that we can,” Harris explained. “They have a subscriber base. They can’t be too offensive, too weird. We’re not looking to own a space. We just have to deal with the rental, get in and get out. We’re trying to speak to something that isn’t spoken to here.”
This flexibility works well for the company’s seven creatives, who all go home to kids aged 6 or under.
“As parents, we like the idea of doing shows that we parents can be in,” Harris said. “Changing the structure of how theater is done, to make it more malleable to the cast and crew and director, such as where to rehearse, when to rehearse, respecting time, these are all essential to how we develop.”
“We don’t need some giant production,” he continued. “Just give us two chairs and two good actors. Of course we’re going to do what the play needs, but it starts from a place of truth.”
Upcoming event
About Time Theatre Company: Squeamish, The Haunt, Des Moines, May 30 & 31, June 6 & 7, 7:30 p.m., $34; must be 21+
This article was originally published in Little Village’s May 2025 issue.
