Distinctly Montana Magazine

79 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m the south on his father's ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains. He began acting in high school and would eventually earn a mas- ter's in theatre arts from the Royal Academy of Art & King's Col- lege, London, and turn that into a doctorate. If there was a police lineup and you were asked to pick out the thespian in the group, Olson would be the obvious choice, his handlebar moustache giving him away. "As artistic director," Olson says, "I don't settle for, 'Oh that's good enough for Havre,' because I know Havre audiences travel to New York and London to see plays and I want them to have as good a quality here." Quality is the word that keeps popping up over and over again when talking with MAT members. Casey Pratt has been with the company since 2006 and is the technical advisor. Last year he helped design and build a 28' turntable stage for the production of Stephen King's Misery. The set itself actually got applause when it turned. "It's been MAT's uncompromising drive to have quality the- atre," Pratt says, "and one of the most common things I hear peo- ple say about our productions is that they can't believe they're in Havre. It's a real compliment." Pyette is quick to add that with their commitment to quali- ty comes responsibility. "If the community is willing to support us," he says (which it did to the tune of over $100,000 at last year's fundraiser), "we have to live up to that." Community theatre is a term the group originally shied away from because of the negative connotations, but over the years they have gradually come to embrace it, realizing that what they produce truly is a community endeavor. "We had lots of discussions about the word community," Pratt says, "and it all seemed to jell when we decided to embrace it, when we decided we were going to put the community in com- munity theatre." Olson puts it this way: "We do theatre for this community, of this community, by this community," adding, "At one point last year we had 140 or more volunteers working at once between four shows we had in different stages of production." One thing that sets MAT apart from many other community theatre companies is its willingness to take risks. "I think one realization we had long ago," Pyette says, "is we never judge the success of a show on the box office, that can never be the ulti- mate gauge of whether a show is successful or not." "Besides the big crowd pleasers, Sponge Bob, Spam-A-Lot, Mamma Mia!, we've always liked doing scripts that push bound- aries," Olson says, citing productions like last year's darkly fun- ny and squirm-worthy Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County, or the provocative Pillowman, or the racially charged play Blue/Orange. "We've never been afraid to let an audience walk out of a show," Olson says. Putting on original works is yet another hallmark of MAT. MONTANA ACTORS' THEATRE SERVES UP TOP-QUALITY THEATRE by CHARLES FINN photos by JIM POTTER

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