John Fishpaw
President -- Is one of the members who has been with the group the longest, having been involved since 1978 and having served on the Board Intermittently for about 20 of those years. He has been onstage in a dozen or more (probably more) productions ranging from Side By Side to Little Shop of Horrors. Since 1977 John has been a dentist in private practice in Minot and prior that for two years at MAFB. John is married to Kim Krohn, M.D. (UND Center For Family Medicine in Minot); they have three sons: John, Jr., an electrical engineer in California; Turner, a senior at Yale University; and Chase, a sophomore at the University of Delaware.

Paula Lindekugel-Willis
Vice-Preident -- Paula is an Associate Professor in the Communication Arts Department at Minot State University, where she has been teaching for 20 years. While at MSU, she has directed over 50 shows.

She has been Past President of Mouse River Players for two terms and is currently serving on the Board of Directors. She directs at least one main stage show a year for MSU and directs one of show each summer for the MSU Summer Theater including past memorable shows such as "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Cabaret" and "Big, the Musical."

She has also directed several of the past MRP productions including the recent "I Do, I Do," "Nunsense," "Cowgirls," "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "On Golden Pond."

Paula is also fairly well-known for her acting career and over the years she has played featured roles in many productions–most recently the ever-popular “Greater Tuna” at The North Dakota State Fair. Paula was named 2004 Creative Artist of the Year by the North Dakota Speech and Theater Association.

Paula had this to say about MRP, “It’s such an amazing thing to think back just a few years ago, when I joined, and to see how far this group has come. It’s really a testament to what can be done with a good attitude, community support and hard work. I see big things for this group now that we’re downtown in a new building, and I hope the community will embrace this and get involved!”

Nancy Pearson
Treasurer -- Nancy is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of MRP for a third season.

A graduate of Minot State University, Nancy has been active in speech and theatre throughout her career. She received her Masters in Speech Communication in 1999 from North Dakota State University and currently is a lecturer at Minot State.

Nancy is a dedicated board member and a hard worker with one of the best “get it done” attitudes around. She also serves other groups in the community and region including the Board of North Dakota Speech and Theatre Association and is Past President of Lutheran Campus Council.

As a Professional Presenter she has become a frequent speaker in the field of Communication including ND Auditor’s Institute, Winning Women’s Workshop, Souris Valley Humane Society and NDSTA conventions.
When asked to comment on MRP’s new location she replied,“It’s all so exciting, but we’re too busy getting it up and running to reflect too much about it now–but one day I hope to be able to look back on all of this with just a big smile on my face.”

David Bradley
Secretary -- Came to Minot in 1989 from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (where he taught music) to join the Humanities faculty at Minot State. Active in music and theatre, he has performed with the Minot Chamber Chorale, the Western Plains Opera, and the MSU Summer Theatre (most recently as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Mouse River audiences saw him last as Munro Murgatroyd in last spring’s Dirty Work at the Crossroads.

Debbie Sandvold
Debbie is truly one of MRP’s most colorful characters. As a writer for the Minot Daily News, Debbie possesses strong organizational skills and the necessary communication skills to keep everyone in the group well informed of the current events.

She started her theatre career when she played Vera in the female version of "The Odd Couple" in the late 1980s. Since then she has always tried to stay involved on some level and has demonstrated a real love for the work she does with MRP and for the mission of the group. Her most recent role was The Widder Douglas in MRP's family production, "Tom Sawyer," in 2003.

Debbie also played Rosie in "Opal's Husband" at the former Sawmill Playhouse at Lake Metigoshe.

Debbie is also a graduate of the University of North Dakota with a degree in journalism. This coming year, Debbie has made it a goal to really get into our new building and make it something she and her daughter can look back on and remember fondly. This attitude exemplifies the spirit of why we all do community theatre, and we’d like to thank her for that.

Arlene Saugstad
Minot’s most well-known and loved socialite, Arlene Saugstad is considered the Queen of the Mouse River Players. She is MRP’s longest serving member and a key player in raising awareness (and funds) for the group.

Her extensive career spans numerous decades and she has seen all the changes MRP has gone through over the years.

Ken Harstad
Ken is one of MRP’s longest-serving members and recalls so many years of service and great memories that he couldn’t fit them all into this short biography. However, we took the liberty of writing a little about him.

Ken has been there through thick and thin. He has given MRP years of fantastic advice and his sweat (and blood) in making MRP sets that far surpass in value the allotted budgets. (Which means he works too hard on them!)

Ken didn’t have too much to say, either—so we’re going to paraphrase his sentiments for you, “It is an honor to be doing this! I love theatre, and I especially love The Mouse River Players. Watching this group form and continuously grow over the years is moving and I think of the people that have passed on that would be so proud of where we are today! I thank you all for sharing this with us!”

Aisha Vadell
Aisha’s a busy gal, always on the move. She is most definitely an attribute to our group, because of her visibility in the community, ability to raise awareness for the group and provide her real-estate and business knowledge to each project we take on. Aisha was instrumental in helping us find a new home–so for that we give her a big hug and an air kiss on the cheek.

Judy Brown
Came to Minot from Clearwater, Florida in 1995. An avid theatre goer, she had her first acting experience in May, 2000 when she was cast as Amy Lee in MRP’s production of Laundry & Bourbon. She was hooked! she joined the board in August of 2000. Judy’s other MRP roles include On Golden Pond, Miss Firecracker Contest and most recently, Prisoner of Second Avenue. She has worked behind the scenes in many productions and helped in the move to our new home. Currently she is a district leader with Primerica Financial Services and a sales rep with Minot Clear Channel Radio. She lives in Minot with her dog and in her spare time enjoys being outdoors and spending time with friends and family..

Margaret Sherve
Was born in Minot but never lived here until Minot State hired her to teach English classes in 2001. Her undergraduate degree was in Sociology and Theatre at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and she earned her Ph.D. from Washington State in Spokane. Her family is dispersed throughout the world. Combining the various abodes of Margaret and her siblings, they have lived on all seven continents; Margaret spent summers in Israel, Norway, and Ukraine and two years in Liberia. She was involved with plays at Luther and in Jamestown, Fargo, Dillon, MT, and Naperville, IL. Although she has not acted in MRP productions, she has taken part in several Readers’ Theater productions in the area. She helped clean the new building as we moved in and has sold tickets and goodies and helped with the various projects to update the theater.

Ron Fischer
Ron Fisher was invited to join the Board in 2003. He was cast as Dussel in MRP’s production of Anne Frank (October 2002). He loved the part and began to lend a hand with the rest of the work, including moving a lot of equipment from the Mouse House to the gym for the show. Later roles included Vinnie in the Odd Couple in 2003 and the father in Beau Geste in the spring of 2004. He got to direct Prisoner on Second Avenue in October 2004...wow! Besides acting and directing, Ron has taken tickets, sold concessions, written a grant proposal, and helped with the building renovation. He says that “… the best part, for me, is being in the shows. Show or not, MRP has something for everyone who wants to share whatever it is he she can do. An added feature, of course, are the people I’ve come to know who are involved in MRP __ talented, gifted, personable--- people who make even the most drudging kind of work fun, which is a good thing for a single guy like me, an aging college professor who needs to get his nose out of his books, or his computer, and his body out of the classroom, and burst into drama.”