BUT I WANTED TO DO IT with purpose

Reflecting on those 10 years, Wintersteen saw the beauty of her dream become a reality. They established an ensemble and performed tough, yet timely shows like “The Guys” and “Wit;” shows that encouraged healing and reflection. The community reciprocated the gift this kind of theater gave them, and Theatre B saw incredible growth. “We went from an organizational budget of $25,000 to $160,000 and even won the American Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing (home of the Tony's),” says Wintersteen. From the very beginning, Theatre B invited collaboration with other area organizations, including the FM Symphony Orchestra, Trollwood, the Plains Art Museum, the PRIDE collective, NDSU, Veterans Affairs and Sanford Health.

Pausing on that last collaboration, Wintersteen remembers one of the most impactful moments in her acting career, playing Professor Bearing in the play “Wit.” “Playing Vivian Bearing, as an actress, is brilliant,” Wintersteen explains. “It’s a bucket list role.” The play shares the life of a brilliant professor of English literature who now finds herself facing terminal ovarian cancer. She agrees to undergo experimental treatment that, while likely not life-saving, will contribute to oncology research. In order to accurately portray such an intense experience, they collaborated with Sanford Health’s Embrace Cancer Survivorship Program and the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences. “We wanted to do it for the audience who it would mean the most to.” She was connected to real doctors and patients who would help prepare her for the role. And preparation not only meant shaving her head, but trying to understand living the reality of cancer. Wintersteen met and spent a significant amount of time learning from Vicki and Jane, two women in cancer treatment who were a part of the Forward Support Group at Sanford. Nothing could prepare Wintersteen for the emotional aspect of this experience. “I was walking in their shoes every day, trying to understand where Jane and Vicki were in their journey, but [realizing] that I would get to go back to my regular life,” says Wintersteen. Mentally, the play is a huge undertaking as well. It is a tremendous amount of script to remember and continuously moves from scene to scene without a break. “My husband called it ‘a one woman show with guests,’” explains Wintersteen. “The rest of the cast had to be very reliable and consistent with their lines, since it would be very easy for me to get misdirected by even the slightest mistake. One wrong cue, and I could skip whole pages.”

Dr. Jean Marie McGowan, a resident physician at Sanford, also attended rehearsals and provided feedback to help with staging and accurately depicting the medical world.

For all that it demanded of Wintersteen, she upholds, “It is one of those peak experiences, because it calls on so many of my faculties.” Among the different venues used, Theatre B brought an authenticity to the production by performing it at Sanford, utilizing an actual hospital space as the set. They performed for UND medical students, a Cancer Survivor Retreat, and Sanford staff. Truer still to her mission, Wintersteen and her team participated in empathy exercises afterward with the staff which were led by Cheryl Hysjulien, the psychologist in the cancer center. “The staff were nervous at first, but then became very vulnerable,” says Wintersteen. For her, this is what it is all about. “I want work that is about a mission, not money.”