Debra Beck, Logistics: On any given day, you may find Debra Beck making travel plans for A Prairie Home Companion's staff, arranging catering for upcoming shows, or seeing to hotel reservations for performers. Being in charge of logistics means mowing down a zillion details for each week's program. "You may also find me weeding in the APHC garden," Deb says, "or whipping up a mean pumpkin soup." It's challenging to keep up with all her interests: gardening, traveling, T'ai Chi Chih, hiking, reading, rock climbing, Latin dancing, the list goes on. She grew up in Sabin, Minnesota — near Fargo — and attended St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. Before joining the APHC staff, she had been a faithful listener to the show since its very early days.

Born in Copenhagen to a Danish mother and a Swedish/American father, Special Projects Producer Katrina Cicala spent her early years traveling the globe. The family finally settled in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, an idyllic town on the ocean, where on Saturday nights they listened to A Prairie Home Companion. After college, Katrina worked as a producer and manager with film and television production companies in London, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., including an 11-year stint as a business affairs executive at Discovery Networks. Now living in the Twin Cities, she joined the APHC staff in 2004. She concentrates on film projects, television specials, The Writer's Almanac, merchandise/product development, and underwriting logistics, among other things.

In 1986, Kate Gustafson Sanderson was laid off from a position as an elementary school music teacher. So what if she could barely type, she managed to land an office assistant gig with A Prairie Home Companion. Turned out to be a really good hire for Prairie Home. These days, Kate is managing director for Prairie Home Productions, where she oversees the business operations of APHC, The Writer's Almanac and related ventures. When she's not keeping show budgets on track, working on product development, and mowing down myriad details, Kate is caring for her family — a teenage daughter, two stepdaughters and husband Brian — running after her pets, playing organ in her church, and entertaining fantasies of cloning herself.

Producer Tiffany Hanssen grew up in Iowa, raised by her mother and grandmother in a family that owned a tavern, Sindt's Bar & Grill. She remembers getting penny candy from Aunt Shirley, who ran the bar, and helping Aunt Edna make hamburger patties for Uncle Fritz to fry on the grill. After first joining A Prairie Home Companion in 1998, as marketing director, she now juggles a blur of disparate tasks — planning APHC's fundraising programs, producing CD compilations and special broadcasts like the Joke Shows or holiday specials, making arrangements for the annual Street Dance and Meatloaf Supper, and meeting with Garrison to flesh out ideas for new projects. And when the staff has a cookout, Tif can crank out hamburger patties with the best of 'em.

Sam Hudson, Broadcast Engineer/Talent Producer: While other little kids were playing cops and robbers, Sam Hudson spent childhood days tinkering with tape recorders, pretending that he worked at a radio station, or listening to the mix on his dad's Frank Sinatra and Stan Kenton LPs. By the time he hit junior high, he was running the sound equipment at church and for school music events and friends' bands. He's still at it. For many years, he operated his own recording studio, where he produced radio and TV commercials and a slew of CDs. And since the early 1990s, he has worked as an audio engineer for A Prairie Home Companion. In addition to his broadcast engineering duties, Sam researches and scouts out performers to appear on each week's show.

Janis Kaiser, Lighting Designer: Back in her PS 127 days, Janis Kaiser had the starring role (princess) in her 4th-grade play, and classmate Lorraine Bracco had to settle for a supporting part (court jester). Lorraine now has The Sopranos on her résumé, and Janis is still a star — a behind-the-scenes star — as lighting designer for A Prairie Home Companion's New York runs and when the show is on the road. She's been with APHC since 1990. Born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Janis has stayed pretty close to her roots. She attended Brooklyn College and now makes her home in Rowayton, Connecticut. Weekdays, she works in administration at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Stamford, Connecticut. In her free time, she and her husband, Kevan, are apt to be sailing on Long Island Sound.

When Production Assistant Theresa Larson was growing up in Stillwater, Minnesota, A Prairie Home Companion was always on the car radio as her family was heading off to church. She finally saw the show when she was 17 — a birthday celebration for her dad. She continued listening on car trips home from college in Duluth. Then, in 2005, she became an APHC staff member. She takes care of umpteen details that keep the show ticking: tracking music submissions, doing show research, helping backstage, filing everything, even ordering lunch. She also works for a number of small theaters as a stage manager and in audience services.

In 1991, Andrea Grey (formerly McAvey) took a college-scouting trip, traveling from her hometown of Columbus, Ohio, to Saint Paul. She arrived just after that year's record-setting, post-Halloween snowfall, and she recalls being intrigued by the celebratory mood even as Twin Citians coped with more than three feet of new snow. She decided to go east for school. There she met a creative-writing major named Patrick, and after graduation, he and Andrea — a theater major — married and eventually moved to Minneapolis, where they now celebrate together when blizzards hit. Graphic designer for A Prairie Home Companion, she occasionally moonlights as a backstage production assistant on show days. In her time off, Andrea feeds her addiction to contemporary art and performance.

David O'Neill: Marketing Director/Station Relations/Archivist
Before David O'Neill had reached his teens, he was working pledge drives at Minnesota Public Radio. Soon he was doing odd jobs for A Prairie Home Companion — sweeping the theater, selling APHC products in the lobby. Then Ray Marklund, a beloved old stagehand who took photos at rehearsals, handed young David a camera and said, "Here, you take shots. I'm tired of running around." "He wasn't really tired," David recalls, "just giving a kid a break — a reason to be backstage." O'Neill continued to work part time for MPR until his graduation from the University of Minnesota, then full time as the company's historian and archivist, and in managerial positions, including the design manager for MPR's new headquarters. Today, he is APHC's marketing director, serving as media contact and liaison to the 500-plus stations that carry the show.

Russ Ringsak, Truck Driver, Researcher, Writer: Since the earliest days of the show, Russ Ringsak has been A Prairie Home Companion's renaissance man. He has done a bit of everything, including coming up with research about the places we visit and the people we meet, and writing not-to-be-missed essays for APHC's Web site. But he may be best known as the show's truck driver. He deals with the state and federal governments on matters of licensing, fuel tax reciprocity, logbooks, permits and drug testing. "Nothing glamorous, or even whimsical, about any of it," he quips. A native of North Dakota ("I take motorcycle trips through it to Montana."), Ringsak is the author of two books: Minnesota Curiosities, about offbeat people and places in the North Star State, and Semi True, stories from out on the road.

Kathy Roach, Writer's Almanac/APHC Correspondence: Write a letter to A Prairie Home Companion and chances are you'll hear back from Kathy Roach, who handles listener mail. She also works with publishers and poets to make sure permissions are granted and credits are given for material used on APHC and The Writer's Almanac. A true child of the prairie, Kathy was raised in a small — and largely Norwegian — Iowa town. She tended Holsteins on the family farm, went to a one-room school, and once reigned as Queen of the Furrow. Every summer, her flower garden — breathtaking lilies and myriad hosta varieties — is the talk of the office. And when she's not sending notes or pulling weeds, Kathy and her husband keep busy attending their sons' and grandkids' cultural and athletic events.

Thomas Scheuzger, Broadcast/Transmission Engineer: While Broadcast/Transmission Engineer Thomas Scheuzger has roots in the Chicago area, he spent years in Boston, graduating with honors from Berklee College of Music (a degree in music production and engineering). He was director of audio facilities at the New England Conservatory of Music, before returning to Chicago to freelance as an engineer and studio technician. After meeting Andrea, the Minnesota woman who would become his wife, he followed his heart north in 2002. At A Prairie Home Companion, Thomas works with Sam Hudson, mixing the live broadcast and making certain that APHC's broadcast signal gets from the show's various venues to the control center in St. Paul, where it is distributed through American Public Media. He is also technical director for The Writer's Almanac.

Segment Producer and Music Librarian Kathryn Slusher oversees the extensive library of music performed during Prairie Home Companion's 30-plus years. She does a lot of research, sees to songwriter royalties and music credits, and helps out with production of the longer music segments on the show. She also assists Rich Dworsky and the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band and musical guests on the live show each week, and has a hand in talent booking. Born into a musical family in Milwaukee, Kathryn was exposed to a wide variety of music styles, and she became proficient on clarinet, saxophone, flute and piano. Currently, she makes her home in Minneapolis, where she and her husband, Tim, are the proud parents of daughter Mamie Grace.

Albert Webster, Stage Manager: Attend a Prairie Home show, and you may notice the guy who occasionally shows up onstage to confer with Garrison. That's Stage Manager Albert Webster. He keeps the rehearsals and performances running smoothly, arranges production needs, helps supervise the local crew, unloads the truck, sets up the band, hangs signs, puts out tea and cough drops, and re-loads the truck at the end of the day. During the week he helps figure out upcoming tour sites. He's put in more than 20 years in the theater business, working at venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and the Ordway Music Theater in St. Paul. Albert, his wife, Kris, and their three kids recently pulled up their St. Paul stakes and moved to St. Louis.