Alayzia MacLeod and Crylee Crook square off in character as the dueling divas at the center of the first Minot State University Campus Players performance in four years.

The Minot State University Campus Players are busy setting the scene and checking the lights as they prepare for their return to the stage after a three-year hiatus. With the COVID gap year and other vexing factors in the rearview mirror, director Katy Allers says the students are champing at the bit to break a leg.

The play in question is “Suite Surrender” by Michael McKeever, a farcical comedy set in the 1940s about two dueling divas, a double-booked hotel room, and the bumbling staff trying to walk the tightrope between the two explosive personalities.

One of these divas is played by Alayzia MacLeod, a senior majoring in Spanish and pre-med, who was a part of the troupe’s last performance in 2019 and jumped at the chance to close out her final year on the theater stage.

“I figured, you know, it’d be really nice to be part of it before I graduated. It’s been a bit of a challenge, with it being my last semester; fitting it in with senior capstone, classes, tests, the whole shebang,” MacLeod said, “It’s been a great experience. I do love theater. I have a great time and it’s been wonderful working with all of the other cast members as well.”

Director Katie Allers says she and her cast and crew have their hands full with this production, as they contend with complications caused by the renovation of Hartnett Hall. While they can rehearse and perform at Ann Nicole Nelson Hall, they must share the space with many other events on the calendar. Not only does this mean that their available rehearsal times sometimes can’t start until later in the evening, the cast and crew must set up and tear down the stage every single night so it’s ready for everyone else.

“We’ve rehearsed at 8:30 to 10:30 at night. That’s just the way it is. These kids are willing to do it,” Allers said, “It’s such a great group. They just have a passion for it.”

For a student like Noah Ploof, who is a biology major, juggling his courseload and other obligations around rehearsals has come with its challenges, but he says the sleepless nights will be more than worth it in the end.

“With a character like this, it’s a fun time to just take some exaggerated piece of me like my crippling anxiety and just make it as overemphasized as humanly possible,” Ploof said. “Right before I even started fiddling with the set, I was actually working on a physics lab. And I was like okay, I have 30 minutes to finish this before everybody else comes in and I have to start building the set. Let’s see if I can finish this and I did not so it’s fine.”

The first performance of “Suite Surrender” is scheduled for this evening at 7:30 p.m. and a second at the same time on Saturday. Tickets are available at the door. Adults are priced at $10, with children 13 and up are $5. MSU students, faculty, and staff will have free admission with a university I.D.