Tracker Pixel for Entry

​MSUM’s regionally acclaimed Straw Hat Players opens 56th season

Theatre | June 12th, 2019

Straw Hat Players - photograph  by Dave Arntson, MSUM Photographer

By Amber Westereng

Minnesota State University Moorhead’s (MSUM) Straw Hat Players has performed more than 300 shows during their 56 years and has groomed more than 2,000 actors, technicians, and crew for careers in the theatre industry. The Straw Hat Players kicked off their season in June with “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” but many may wonder, who are they?

MSUM’s summer theatre company is a dedicated 50-person crew comprised of actors and off-set staff who work 10-hour days, seven days a week to bring alive a production schedule the community has grown to love. They produce four shows in six weeks.

Noah Roddy, a musical theatre major from Coon Rapids, Minn. and four-season Straw Hat Players’ performer, describes what the summer is like.

“It’s hectic. There’s no time to sit down. We always have something to memorize or something to build; it keeps us on our toes.” Roddy will play the parts of Maury in Disaster and Oliver Warbucks in “Annie.”

Presenting four shows in six weeks is a challenge.

“We work on four shows at a time,” said Katie Hanson, an MSUM musical theatre major from Fargo, N.D. and first-year Straw Hat performer. “When we’re not in rehearsals, we’re in the shop, and when we’re not in the shop, we’re in rehearsals.” Hanson played Marge in the season opener of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” and will perform the title role in the production of “Annie.”

“I am thankful to be a part of this company. I’ve never done any professional theatre before, and this is a really different, fast-paced environment,” Hanson said.

Since the 1960s, Straw Hat Players summer theatre has given students relevant experience to develop skills in acting, costume and make-up, sound and lighting, and other professional roles to best prepare them for theatre-related careers.

“Students engage fully in the art of producing theatre,” said MSUM Theatre Director Craig Ellingson. “We know our students who do Straw Hat Players are better prepared during the academic year and they are also better equipped to go out in the real world and continue to do this as a profession.”

Roddy’s experience with the Straw Hat Players has exceptionally prepared him for a theatre career.

“I will graduate from MSUM being a better performer and more equipped to work in the real world of theatre,” he said.

Three shows remain through June:

Disaster: June 11-14, PG-13, Hansen Theatre

Set in New York, A-listers line up for the opening of a new floating casino and discotheque. What begins as a night filled with fun and excitement, changes into a disaster. The shows musical score will make you want to get up and dance, even when the ship succumbs to several disasters.

Plaza Suite: June 18-21, PG-13, Gaede Stage

Written by Neil Simon, Plaza Suite explores the ins-and-outs of marriage. Tag along with three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza. This comedic performance will definitely have you laughing.

Annie: June 25-28, PG, Hansen Theatre

Join Annie and her loveable mutt, Sandy through the streets of New York in hopes of finding her parents that abandoned her on the doorsteps of an Orphanage that’s run by the evil Miss Hannigan. Annie escapes to only find a new home and family in billionaire, Oliver Warbucks and Grace Farrell. This popular comic strip written by Harold Gray will surely put a smile on your face.

Productions continue through June with each show debuting on Tuesdays and closing on Fridays in the Gaede Stage and the Hansen Theatre. Tickets are available online at mnstate.edu/tickets or by calling the MSUM box office at (218) 477-2271 Monday through Friday from 12 to 4 p.m. 

Recently in:

Proposed Bills Could Take Books off Library ShelvesBy Laura Simmonslaurasimmons2025@u.northwestern.edu The passing of ND House Bill 1205 and ND Senate Bill 2360, which would prevent sexually explicit books from being in public…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comHPR chats with a local legendThe following interview was done in February of 2016, just a few months after Mr. Josef Olivieri's 90th birthday. We're sorry to hear of his passing at the age of 97 on…

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pmZandbroz Variety, FargoAuthor of “Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land” Taylor Broby will discuss the important role libraries play in their communities as sanctuaries of acceptance. He will…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.comOur Opinion: Who on Earth would ever want to move to North Dakota?Let’s talk about the left hand and the right hand. Or, more correctly, let’s focus on the right hand, being as there is no left in ND…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comTwo ForumWhite Nationalist Trumplican Nincoms Have Pooped All Over LibrariansSo it has come to pass that Scott Hennen and Ross Nelson have assaulted librarians in the state, accusing them of…

Well shiver me timbers. After weeks of sampling some of the finest drinks in F-M from more bars than we could shake a belaying pin at, the results of High Plains Reader’s 6th Annual Cocktail Showdown are in! For nine weeks,…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comWhen thinking of popular sandwiches associated with the Upper Midwest, the sloppy joe immediately comes to mind. But let’s not forget the sandwich with a spicy side – the taco grinder. It’s a…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comphoto by Andy Wilcox Many of Fargo-Moorhead’s talented bands and musicians have been able to gain fans around the country. Some of this, of course, is due to social media making it…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comKevin Armento’s play “Killers” inspired both Stefanie Abel Horowitz’s 2019 short film “Sometimes, I Think About Dying” and Rachel Lambert’s 2023 feature “Sometimes I Think About…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIf you’ve ever driven down the Enchanted Highway, the 32-mile ribbon of road connecting Regent to Gladstone in western North Dakota, home to the world’s largest salvaged metal sculptures,…

By Jessica M. Hawkesjmhawkes84@gmail.comIt wasn’t long after the founding of the railroad and river town of New Rockford that entertainment venues started to put down their own roots. Its population bolstered by booms of nearby…

By Jan Syverson  Jan.r.Syverson@gmail.comFor the past 30 years live, stand-up comedy has had a place in the Fargo Moorhead area, Starting with…

By Kris Gruberperriex1@gmail.comSpring is here (mostly), and our area is buzzing with people eager to get back out and about -- many newly vaccinated and feeling a bit safer. Partnering with Jade Events, Fargo Brewing is just…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By Ken and Alice Christiansonsubmit@hpr1.com HB 1332 is currently before the North Dakota legislature. The bill proposes to permit social workers to use a discredited treatment method to convert the sexual orientation of gay and…