Straw Hat’s “Doubt” opens tonight
Local actress Carrie Wintersteen plays Sister Aloysius Beauvier in Doubt, a powerful play by John Patrick Shanley opening Tuesday, June 10 on the Gaede Stage in the Roland Dille Center for the Arts at MSUM. The play runs through Friday, June 13 and is the second production of The Straw Hat Players 51st season of summer theatre at MSUM. It is also Wintersteen’s first experience with MSUM’s summer theatre program.
“It is something I have wanted to do since I first moved to Moorhead 15 years ago,” says Wintersteen, a regular performer with Fargo-Moorhead’s professional theatre company, Theatre B. “Summer stock can be such a great environment to do fulfilling work on a schedule that mirrors the professional world.”
“Doubt” tells the story of a priest whose behavior has aroused suspicion and the nun who believes he is guilty of pedophilia. The play, set in 1964 in the fictional St. Nicholas Church School in the Bronx, won a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award in 2005.
“Nothing is cut and dry in this play,” says Wintersteen. “There are so many layers to the questions and a myriad of consequences that each character has to navigate. It’s like a multi-player game of chess where people’s lives are in the balance.”
Wintersteen says it’s a challenge to portray Sister Beauvier with depth and dimension. “She could be seen as simply cold, uncaring, even villainous. It is also a challenge to help the audience understand more fully the historical and religious context of the play and the issues it raises,” she notes.
The play is rated PG-13. All performances start at 7:30 p.m. A signed performance for the hearing impaired takes place on Wednesday. Tickets are available online at www.mnstate.edu/strawhat, or by calling the MSUM Box Office Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (218) 477-2271. Tickets can also be purchased at the door, if not sold out.