Theatre

​Summer Theatre Group Celebrates 55th Season

May 30th, 2018

By Tayler Klimek
tklimek@cord.edu

If you’re a lover of musicals and looking for something to do this summer, the Straw Hat Players have got you covered. This professional summer stock theatre company is dedicating six weeks of their summer to bring you four musicals – a slight difference from the typical straight play and three musicals they’ve done in the past years. The box office is now open, so be sure to get your tickets for this exciting 55th anniversary of Straw Hat Players…

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Free tickets to catch ‘The Moors’ at Theater B

May 7th, 2018

Theater B is giving away seven tickets to go see “The Moors” by Jen Silverman, from April 26 until May 12. Described as part Brontë, part Twilight Zone, “The Moors” is a dark comedy set on a bleak and unforgiving landscape.

To win a ticket for this unforgettable play, all you have to do is like the HPR Facebook page, like Theater B’s Facebook page, and send us a message through Facebook. The first seven people to message HPR will win the tickets.

Ready… set……

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​Tartuffe or not Tartuffe?

February 14th, 2018

Tartuffe - photograph by Justin Eiler, NDSU photographerBy Nathan Roy
bardsdream@gmail.com

You are absolutely right. The title is not “To be or not to be” from the famous Shakespeare soliloquy in "Hamlet." I won’t be talking about Shakespeare particularly. I will expound the relevance of this silly wordplay, if I may.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, the man known by his stage name, Molière, was born six years after Shakespeare’s death. He wrote plays such as "The Misanthrope," "The Miser," and "The Doctor in Spite of Himself," but his…

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​A different bison story

January 31st, 2018

A white buffaloBy Nathan Roy
bardsdream@gmail.com

The play you are going to read about is based on actual events. I bet you can’t wait to know about them, so I asked director Miles Barnum what can be expected. He replied, “It is a very intriguing script and a joy to work on.” Let us explore this comment in a peculiar manner.

First, A bit of geography and history. Many people from around here probably do not realize that the Upper Midwest region, spanning from the Dakotas all the way to Wisconsin,…

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​Rock, roll and comedy star in Theatre B play

December 20th, 2017

Johnson theatre-photograph by Kensie WallnerSmoke starts to seep from the sides of the stage and a rocker’s voice echoes over the crowd: “Are you ready to rock?!”

You might think that you’re at a rock concert, if you weren’t seated in a black box theatre.

For the second show in their 15th season, Theatre B is producing “I Will Not Go Gently,” a riotous but reflective one-woman show centered around fictional 80s rock star Sierra Mist.

Moving forward from Sierra Mist’s comeback tour, “I Will Not Go Gently” moves…

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Win tickets for “I Will Not Go Gently” now playing at Theater B

December 15th, 2017

Theater B is now opening its second show of the season with a play entitled "I Will Not Go Gently" by Jennifer Childs. "This clever one-woman show plays with our sense of nostalgia and shines a light on our quest for self actualization and new beginnings." 

Performances are scheduled for weekends now through December 30th. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees December 17th and 24th at 2 p.m. Find additional ticket information at

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​Remembering Chris Jacobs (1954-2017)

October 18th, 2017

Ted Larson introduced me to Chris Jacobs one evening at Weld Hall in the late 1980s. I was in high school then, but Chris recognized fellow film fanatics, and we would chat a little bit each week. I learned quickly that he loved movies as much as anybody, and had a special fondness for the obscure and little-seen “gems” from the silent and early sound eras.

Over the next decade, I came to respect Chris’s dedication and devotion; he lived in Grand Forks and yet, every Monday during…

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‘Dial M for Murder’: the unraveling of a perfect crime

October 11th, 2017

The F-M Community Theatre summarized the story: “Tony Wendice has married his wife, Margot, for her money and now plans to murder her for the same reason. He arranges the perfect murder. He blackmails a scoundrel he used to know to strangle her for a fee of one hundred thousand pounds, and arranges a brilliant alibi for himself.“

Unfortunately, the murderer gets murdered and the victim survives. This plot-twisting play was written by Frederick Knott and was premiered on stage in…

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​Dear diary: my teen angst now has a musical

August 9th, 2017

‘Heathers’ hits the Empire stage in Grand Forks

Before the pink-clad Plastics or Cher’s group of popular beauties in “Clueless,” the shoulder pad-wearing, croquet mallet-wielding Heathers ruled the halls of Westerberg High in the 1989 cult classic “Heathers.”

Now, this group of mean girls are seeing a resurrection on the Empire stage in the contemporary musical that features all the same themes from the 80’s film: teen angst, popularity and murder.

“Heathers” follows…

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​‘Our Boy’ the Struggle on Sex Crimes.

August 2nd, 2017

“It was the first insightful theatre I’ve seen in years. I wasn’t expecting anything but it blew me away.”

“Your intimate space makes us feel like we’re in the play and for those of us who don’t act, that’s a real gift.”

“A wonderful performance that made me laugh and cry while giving me goose bumps.”

“You do such good work and you are an asset to the community.”

The comments and applause are testimony of the amazing shows that Theatre B has chosen.

Theatre B…

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