THE ARTS COMMUNITY here is rich and vibrant

Theatre B stays true to this mission, even as their location and the world around them changes. Moving to a new home in Moorhead offered new opportunities, including a larger auditorium that could be turned into a theater space. But more challenging than a move was going through a pandemic. “It was hell,” Wintersteen remembers. “Sometimes as I reflect back, I wonder was that even real?” Every industry was touched by COVID-19, but perhaps most poignantly, the arts community. Ever maintaining her humor, Wintersteen remembers thinking, “I don’t see how Theatre B is going to make it, but at least they won’t blame me!” By cutting expenses, and seeking grants, generous donations, and funding from the CARES Act, they did survive. Perhaps most incredibly was how Theatre B pivoted and continued to serve the community during that time by providing their art in a hybrid format. In 2020, they produced “The Majority,” a show set in Scotland during the 2015 referendum. It was the perfect format: a one-person show that allowed for virtual audience participation. During the show the audience votes on a variety of questions, some moral and some as simple as whether or not to have an intermission. As the participants vote, that is how the show proceeds. It was an incredible lift to make it happen. “We needed to upgrade the internet in order to livestream, install a track for the camera and equipment, and figure out how to have both an in-house and remote audience vote in real time,” says Wintersteen. Fortunately, the ensemble artists who were working on this show had the right skills and resources to solve a host of creative problems. “Our technical director is a software developer,” says Wintersteen, “so he wrote an app that was used in voting. And the director is a filmmaker, so he staged the show so that the audience and the actor could see the votes being tallied on the green screen.” It was a success, and one that Wintersteen continues to be in awe of how they made it happen.

Her vision, and the Fargo-Moorhead community, is what continues to support what Theatre B does, and why Wintersteen does it. “The arts community here is rich and vibrant”, she smiles, “[but] the cultural expectation is that if you want to be successful, it can’t be here.” Day-by-day, Wintersteen seeks to change that. She dreams of a performing arts space built in the FM area someday; of artists that might make acting their career, instead of a side job. And most of all, she believes in providing something that permeates beyond the day it was viewed. “You don’t want to just make people feel good all the time,” Wintersteen says. “We don’t do work to offend, but sometimes we do.” She also acknowledges, “It’s tricky in a place like Fargo-Moorhead,” but she smiles, “that’s exactly why we’re needed.” And so, Buechner’s words are not just an inspiring quote to Wintersteen. She lives and encourages others to live the beautiful reality of one’s vocation being a place where our gifts meet the world’s need.

17th Annual HERO Bash