{"id":109857,"date":"2026-05-12T16:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/uletter\/?p=109857"},"modified":"2026-05-12T16:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:37:11","slug":"und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/uletter\/2026\/05\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\/","title":{"rendered":"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the Empire Theatre Company wraps up its 14th season this month, it&#8217;s hosting a unique fundraising event: A funeral.<\/p>\n<p>Written by UND Associate Teaching Professor of English Kathleen Coudle-King with input from the cast, <a href=\"https:\/\/calendar.und.edu\/event\/uncle-louies-big-sad-funeral-at-empire-arts-center\"><strong>Uncle Louie&#8217;s Big, Sad Funeral<\/strong><\/a> will premiere at 7:30 p.m. on May 15 and 16 at the Empire Arts Center in downtown Grand Forks.<\/p>\n<p>Numerous alumni are involved in the production, including former WDAZ reporter\/anchor Terry Dullum, who plays Uncle Louie, and Matthew Ternus, Political Science alum and former student body president (as &#8220;Luciano,&#8221; a mystery guest).<\/p>\n<p>Other familiar UND names and faces in the cast are Mark Diers (recently retired from UIT), Andrew Huovinen (Chemistry alum), Chris M. Stoner (English alum), and current undergrad Patti Humble. Rounding out the cast are Leslie Lekatz, Ashley Rystad, Jadeyn Frericks and Tony Paradis.<\/p>\n<p>Guests are encouraged to RSVP by reserving tickets on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.empireartscenter.com\/calendar\/2026\/5\/15\/8yu31ii2aw6jsx617h2aor6czjsnod\"><strong>the Empire Arts Center website<\/strong><\/a> or calling the fun-eral director at 701.746.5500.<\/p>\n<p>V.I.P. tickets are available for an additional $5. &#8220;All proceeds go to the Geriatric Parrot Sanctuary in Key West Florida&#8221; &#8211; or the Empire Theatre Company for next season&#8217;s &#8220;Page to Stage&#8221; productions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Attire:<\/strong> Funeral black or colorful Hawaiian.<\/p>\n<p>Cash bar and concessions will be available for purchase, along with a 50\/50 raffle.<\/p>\n<p>The production is supported in part by the GF Comedy Collective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Empire Theatre Company wraps up its 14th season this month, it&#8217;s hosting a unique fundraising event: A funeral. Written by UND Associate Teaching Professor of English Kathleen Coudle-King with input from the cast, Uncle Louie&#8217;s Big, Sad Funeral will premiere at 7:30 p.m. on May 15 and 16 at the Empire Arts Center [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production - University Letter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/uletter\/2026\/05\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production - University Letter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the Empire Theatre Company wraps up its 14th season this month, it&#8217;s hosting a unique fundraising event: A funeral. Written by UND Associate Teaching Professor of English Kathleen Coudle-King with input from the cast, Uncle Louie&#8217;s Big, Sad Funeral will premiere at 7:30 p.m. on May 15 and 16 at the Empire Arts Center [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/uletter\/2026\/05\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University Letter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-12T21:37:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cindystromme\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cindystromme\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cindystromme\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f43743707e10899dbeabd2135e51c1c\"},\"headline\":\"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-12T21:37:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"articleSection\":[\"Announcements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/\",\"name\":\"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production - University Letter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-12T21:37:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f43743707e10899dbeabd2135e51c1c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/\",\"name\":\"University Letter\",\"description\":\"UND&#039;s faculty and staff newsletter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f43743707e10899dbeabd2135e51c1c\",\"name\":\"cindystromme\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.und.edu\\\/uletter\\\/author\\\/cindystromme\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production - University Letter","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.und.edu\/uletter\/2026\/05\/und-alumni-cast-in-latest-empire-theatre-company-production\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UND alumni cast in latest Empire Theatre Company production - University Letter","og_description":"As the Empire Theatre Company wraps up its 14th season this month, it&#8217;s hosting a unique fundraising event: A funeral. 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