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…
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…
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…
February 11th, 2016
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…
February 4th, 2016
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…
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…
December 9th, 2015
Jess Jung feels little to no pressure to live up to the classic “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
The 1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor sees its stage adaption take shape at North Dakota State’s Walsh Studio this weekend, the second half of its two-week run. Starring six students in the round with 80 seats per show, this “super intimate” telling is set in this new era, its director said.
“I think the movie is in the style of American realism of that time, kind of high emotion and…
October 22nd, 2015
The life and work of choreographer, director and dancer Eddie Gasper (1929-2015) will be honored on Saturday, Nov. 7, at a reception followed by a tribute dance performance at NDSU’s Festival Concert Hall.
The evening will begin with a cocktail reception from 5-7 p.m. The reception will feature food, wine and Bacardi cokes (Eddie’s signature drink), along with special talks by Jack Lee, Eddie’s accompanist during his Broadway career; Chrissy Fournier, veteran dancer and…
October 21st, 2015
“Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” is more than a history lesson.
The punk rock musical opens Theatre NDSU’s 2015-16 season, reopening history books to the pages often left unexamined. In a show bursting with lights and music, the story offers an opening to look at the genocides, bloodshed and heartbreak of indigenous people in the U.S.
And for director Chelsea Pace, the theater is prime for that.
“Bloody, Bloody” is a show, she said, that brings the opportunity to “be…
October 15th, 2015
With its latest production, Music Theatre Fargo-Moorhead steps forward into its next 10 years.
The local musical theater group brings Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret” to The Stage at Island Park the next two weekends, offering a few new looks into the old favorite starting the company’s 11th season.
For starters, MTFM ensemble member Craig Ellingson said this stage version is not too much like its 1960s predecessor, but it is based more on the 1998 Broadway revival.
“The ’66…
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