Theatre

​F-M Community Theatre: Peter Pan, Billy Elliot, and Stephen King

May 19th, 2016

by Alex Huntsberger

Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre recently announced the slate of shows for its 70th season, which begins in the fall of this year.

The first Mainstage play will be “Peter and the Starcatcher”, a whimsical, highly theatrical prequel to Peter Pan (If you saw the movie “Pan” and hated it…okay if you saw the movie “Pan” at all, you can rest assured that “Peter and the Starcatcher” is much, much better). It runs October 7-9and 13-16.

The second production…

Read more...


​NDSU Opera Production: ‘HMS Pinafore’

May 11th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

Photo by Kensie Wallner

If there’s one question that has hounded theatregoers from wing to stall over the past century more than any other, it is most certainly the following: how would W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan have fared had they been originators of the classic 70’s sitcom, ‘The Love Boat’? And now, courtesy of NDSU Opera’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic comic opera “HMS Pinafore”, we finally have an answer: they would have done…

Read more...


THEATRE: SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

April 27th, 2016

by Alex Huntsberger

In an age when producers in theatre, television and film are all searching their couches for viable IP (Intellectual Property) to convert into new content, I suppose an Addams Family musical was inevitable—even if it wasn’t that advisable. The show was panned when it opened on Broadway in a production starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, and it underwent subsequent revisions before its first national tour, many of which were actually quite well received.

While the…

Read more...


​‘THE SWEET NEW’ OFFERS A STORY OF TRANSFORMATION

April 15th, 2016

By Ben Haugmo

As human beings, none of us are strangers to change. From births to marriages to deaths, events occur in our lives that leave us different than we were before.

Like all of us, Raymond Rea is no stranger to change. He used the experiences of both himself and his family to inspire his upcoming play, ‘The Sweet New.’ The play follows an Italian-American family over the course of three generations and the unique changes each family member undergoes. The three main characters…

Read more...


​MSUM PUTTING IN THE WORK ON ‘WORKING’

April 14th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

It takes a lot of work to make a play. Learning lines, learning songs, learning blocking and choreography and learning how to be someone you are not. Rehearsing until you get it right and then rehearsing even more until you can’t get it wrong.

Theatre might seem a silly diversion to some, something people do because they want to be in spotlight, to be showered with applause—and sometimes it is. But it takes a lot of work to do it.

I reflected on this while I sat in…

Read more...


When it comes to diversity

April 7th, 2016

By Alex Huntsberger

Like the Republican Party, theatre is a grand old American institution suffering from a severe racial diversity problem; unlike the GOP, it’s also one whose lack of racial diversity goes directly against the principles it espouses.

Cowering in fear that their old, white affluent subscriber bases will run screaming into the street if they tell stories written by, aimed at or featuring people of color—theatres across the country have displayed a conservative approach…

Read more...


​NEW BLU-RAYS REVISIT UNDERRATED COMEDIES

March 31st, 2016

Last month a couple of overlooked comedies from the mid-60s and early 70s made their Blu-ray debuts. Both were box office disappointments when originally released and continue to elicit mixed responses, but have gained fans over the intervening decades.

Peter Sellers and Victor Mature star in “After the Fox” (1966), Vittoria DeSica’s entertaining satire on heist films, Italian culture, and the magical power of movies themselves over the public, filmmakers, and critics. Neil Simon…

Read more...


A new tradition ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ begins new future for Sheyenne High Theatre

February 11th, 2016

photo by Michael Benedict

In its first year as its own theater department, Sheyenne High School Theatre is paving the way for the future with a classic from the past.

“Fiddler on the Roof” will open the West Fargo high school’s first solo season as its cast and crew latch onto the musical’s elements of tradition to build on for years to come.

“Last year, I’d say there was a bit of a disconnect, certainly for the students and maybe myself and our audience,” director Adam Pankow said. “This year I…

Read more...


​Shakespeare’s coming to town

February 4th, 2016

Month-long ShakespeareFest celebrates the Bard

In 1916 the people of Fargo-Moorhead devoted an entire week to all things Shakespeare. With the U.S. on the brink of entering global turmoil, the F-M community entered a bubble of sorts, harkening back several centuries to celebrate the English playwright’s works, which became the cornerstones of English literature, influencing the language itself as well as culture around the world. The 1916 festival included many events, including a…

Read more...


​Here, there, everywhere

February 3rd, 2016

Monika Browne’s self-penned, one-person show, “EnTRANSed: The Making of a Transnational Woman,” will debut at Valley City State University’s Theater 320 on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The show is based on Browne’s transplantation from her home in Warsaw, Poland, to the U.S. and her experiences navigating a new life here in the Midwest.

“EnTRANSed” is a play on words, says Browne, an homage to the semi-autobiographical novel “Trans-Atlantyk,” written in 1953 by…

Read more...


Tracker Pixel for Entry Farrms Tracker Pixel for Entry 7Clans Tracker Pixel for Entry Blackbird Tracker Pixel for Entry Gruff Tracker Pixel for Entry FPL1 Tracker Pixel for Entry Bismarck

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Kooper Shagenakoopershagena@gmail.com One night, Jane Linde Capistran, associate conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, sat and drank wine with her friends: “Jennifer Tackling, the associate concertmaster, and…

Friday, October 31, 5-9 p.m.Ziti’s Italian American Restaurant, 3150 Sheyenne St., Suite 170, West FargoSavor a delectable five course meal with beverage pairings. (Nonalcoholic beverages are available upon request, but must be…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWill we be banging or whimpering at the end of the American empire?T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” accurately portrays the end of most empires in his first lines: “We are the hollow men/…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Dream-factory documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe connects with a Hollywood legend in “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” the latest in a series of features exploring the filmmaker’s many…

By HPR staffsubmit@hpr1.com Mark the first weekend of October on your calendar. It’s the weekend of the Studio Crawl, which takes us all on a wonderful, metro-wide tour of our talented (and often wacky) arts community. On October…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…