Colt Neidhardt has headed Moorhead’s professional theatre company, Theatre B, since May. (Photo/Nancy Hanson)

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Since its birth 20 years ago, Theatre B has been breaking new ground. Now, with its 21st season about to debut next week, the ensemble of 16 theatrical artisans who literally do it all – from acting to set design, from ushering to ticket sales and serving glasses of wine behind the bar – are continuing the tradition with a new executive director but the same dedication to professional theatre.

The theatre has called Moorhead’s former Lincoln Elementary School home since 2017. Located on the north side of the city in an area still torn up by summer construction, the entertainers’ first production opens Oct. 6 and runs through Oct. 22. Titled “5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche,” the play is set in 1956, when the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein is having its annual breakfast in the shadow of Communists and the atom bomb.

Other dates include “Decked!”, a Christmas Eve drama with a nod to Dickens, is set for Nov. 24 through Dec. 17. A murder mystery, “Lobby Hero,” takes to the boards Feb. 23 through March 10, followed by the comedy “This Random World” May 3-19. A fifth production of “Winnie the Pooh” will offer a collaboration with HOPE Inc. and Concordia Theatre wraps up the season early next summer.

One big change in Theatre B’s season is the introduction of a new executive director. After the retirement of Carrie Wintersteeen at the end of last season. North Dakota native Colt Neidhardt has taken the reins, joining operations and production manager Monika Browne-Ecker in leading the troupe.

“Two things drew me to apply,” says Neidhardt, who was executive director of the Schoodic Arts for All in Winter Harbor, Maine, at the time he submitted his paperwork.  “One, it was close to home.” (His parents live in western North Dakota.)

“The greater reason was that Theatre B has always worked as an ensemble theatre company. It has a core group of 16 artists who do everything. These are people who have a deep, deep belief that professional theatre is essential to this community and that it can grow.”

He adds, “Since its founding by Carrie and David Wintersteen and Scott and Lori Horvik, that belief has propelled Theatre B. A community the size of Fargo-Moorhead should have a small professional theatre.”

In recent years, that mission – already a challenging goal – has been threatened by the reality of the COVID pandemic and its aftermath. “Thirty major theatres have closed all over the country since March 2020,” Neidhardt notes. “Fortunately, Theatre B has gotten outstanding community support. We’re working hard to build back up to our pre-pandemic level.” One positive sign, he says, is that the sale of season passes at the early-bird rate (through Oct. 8) is up 25% over the level at this time last year.

The passes, which include admission to all four mainstage shows, are $85 for adults, $75 for seniors and military veterans, and $30 for students. They may be ordered online at www.theatreb.org/box-office/

Neidhardt grew up in western North Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, where his horse-trainer father raised black and white American Paint horses. His mother published a magazine about exotic animals for 25 years. “We were like Swiss Family Robinson, with animals all around,” he reflects. “Our whole life was about horses.”

Colt was the first of his family to attend college, majoring in theatre at Chadron (Nebraska) State and going on to earn a master’s degree in theater at the University of Nebraska Omaha and an MFA in acting at Louisiana State University, with its associated professional theatre. “It nurtured my love for Tennessee Williams and the traditions of the Deep South,” he says.

“Since we were in farming and ranching, my family always stayed close to home. I wanted to spread my wings and explore,” he remembers. That drew him to seek out theatre contracts all over the country – from New Orleans and Chicago to Virginia, Maine and Colorado. He learned about Theatre B from an LSU classmate who had designed costumes for one of its productions. “She went on about what a positive experience it had been, how collaborative the community was,” Colt recalls.

One point connected especially strongly. “Here in Fargo-Moorhead was an opportunity to work in professional theatre,” he says. In a world where amateur theatre is the rule, “everyone at Theatre B gets paid. Every single person gets paid. We don’t pay equity rates, but we’re not that far from it.

“That’s so important in the arts for the ensemble and for the whole arts community,” he emphasizes. “We need to recognize the value of artists and stop the brain drain. Paying artists, however much we can afford, validates their talents and their hard work.”