Regionally acclaimed summer theatre company opens their 59th season May 31
Moorhead, Minn – Minnesota State University Moorhead’s Straw Hat Players continues its summer tradition of entertaining the community with a season of “Down-home Wintertime Fun!”
Now in its 59th year, Straw Hat Players have performed over 300 shows and seen more than 2,000 actors, technicians, and crew pass through the theatre stages. All performances will be presented in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts Hansen Theatre, with seating limited to 500 audience members per show. Tickets will be sold as general admission so patrons can sit where they’re comfortable. Tickets are available at mnstate.edu/tickets or by calling the box office at 218.477.2271 during office hours. Doors to the theatre will open at 7 p.m., with all shows beginning at 7:30 p.m. Masks are encouraged but not required.
The summer season kicks off in May with the musical How to Talk Minnesotan, a look at Ed and Lucy Humde and their friends at the Lost Walleye Lodge, presenting a series of lessons and songs on the fine art of living and talking Minnesotan. You’ll hear plenty of Minnesota references, including uff das and below zero humor. The show runs May 31 through June 2.
Guys on Ice runs June 7-9 featuring a day in the life of Marvin and Lloyd—fishing buddies and home-grown philosophers. With musical numbers like “The Wishing Hole,” “Ode to a Snowmobile Suit,” “Fish is the Miracle Food” and “The One That Got Away,” this musical is sure to entertain.
The ladies are serving it up again in an all-new holiday show. Away in the Basement takes us back to 1959 and the day of the Sunday School Christmas Program. During holiday preparations and sprinklings of love in the air, the ladies, in their witty, down-toearth style, are creating their own memories from Christmases past and present. This musical runs June 14-16.
Since the 1960s, Straw Hat Players summer theatre has given individuals the opportunity to experience and develop skills in acting, costume and make-up, sound and lighting, and other professional roles to best prepare them for careers in the entertainment industry. “Students really engage in the art of producing theatre,” MSUM Theatre Director Craig Ellingson said. “We know that students who do Straw Hat Players grow professionally in confidence, poise and teamwork.”
This year, approximately 50 actors, technicians and staff members will work seven days a week, 10 hours a day to present three professional-quality productions.
Straw Hat Players are sponsored by the School of Performing Arts University Theatre.