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Hamluke
By Nightfall Productions
Written by Brad Erickson
Playing at
Show Description
A long time ago in a castle far, far away... young Hamluke is thrust into a tragic tale of betrayal and revenge in this "Star Wars" version of "Hamlet" as told by Ewoks, droids, and Jedi Knights!
Genre and Content
Content Warnings
The creators say this show is appropriate for ages 7-11 and up
Learn How To Fringe
Seat Reservations and Show Tickets
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Video Trailer
Cast and Crew
Dylan Rugh
HamlukePreviously performed at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, Children's Theatre Company, Artistry and Theatre Latte Da. Some roles include; Hans/Frozen, Ren/Footloose, Tommy Devito/Jersey Boys and Melchior/Spring Awakening. Dylan would love to thank Brad for this incredible experience, and Emily, Penny and Daisy for their continuous love and support. *Proud member of AEA*
Duck Washington
DarthiusDuck is an actor, director, audio designer, improviser, producer and playwright who has been working as a theatre artist in the Twin Cities for a quarter century. Duck is the Executive Director of the Twin Cities Horror Festival, and is a company member of Blackout Improv, Theatre Pro Rata, The Theater of Public Policy and Vilification Tennis. Duck has been a regular performer in the MN Fringe and you might recognize him from such shows as, My Only Hope for A Hero, Caucasian-Aggressive Pandas and Other Mulatto Tales, Finger Lickin' Good, Family Friendly Pulp Fiction, The Sound of Footloose, or Macbeth the Video Game Remix. Also in this year's festival, Duck is directing and producing Jewelry Power Elite, a one woman show starring Twin Cities comedy legend Lauren Anderson, and is appearing in one performance of the show Final Dress. Duck has the same birthday, shoe size, last name and first initial as Denzel Washington.
Justine Carroll Melchior
Queen GertrudalaJustine is a Twin Cities based actor/singer/VO artist. Her first Fringe festival was 25 years ago (cringe), in a Grant Richey directed production of Tall Tales from The Kentucky Cycle. She was more recently Featured in Hour Town with Dana’s Boys and Fargo Allegro with Nightfall Prod. She has graced the stages at The Ordway, History Theater, Hey City Theater (Hennepin Stages), The Plymouth Playhouse and many more. She can be seen around town in two bands: LoverCraft R&B and Big Love, Little Lies: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute (Shameless plug for our show at Park Square Theater on September 5th). She enjoys moments here and there with her loving family, thank goodness they are both in this show or she would never see them. They all did extensive research this summer at Galaxy’s Edge: Disneyland to prepare for these roles.
Ben Tallen
HoreepioBen has acted in, written, and produced several Shakespeare-style mashups in the Minnesota Fringe Festival for Tedious Brief Productions including Bard Fiction and Tempests. His work has been produced in New York, L.A., Toronto, and other North American cities, as well as in Australia and Poland. He has also performed with several companies in the Twin Cities including Theatre Pro Rata, Theatre in the Round, and Gremlin Theatre. He has seen at least one film featuring a Star War.
Clarence Wethern
Ghosty/PolyodiusClarence is returning to Hamluke after playing the title role in the 2011 Minnesota Fringe. He co-produced and co-starred in Caryl Churchill's A Number at last year's festival. Clarence has a history of performing in pop culture/classical mashups at the Fringe, with previous forays including Tedious Brief's original Shakespearean adaptation of Pulp Fiction titled Bard Fiction (2009) and Mead Hall (2016), a collision of Beowulf and the movie Road House. Outside of the Fringe, Clarence has performed on stages throughout the Twin Cities, with notable credits including the title role in Hamlet (Theatre in the Round), The Pride (Pillsbury House), Death Tax (Pillsbury House), Killer Joe (Theatre Pro Rata), Some Girl(s) (Walking Shadow), Complicated Fun (The History Theatre), 800 Words: The Transmigration of Philip K. Dick (Workhaus Collective), and many more. He recently received acclaim for his role in the series Incompleteness, which has won over 50 "best of" awards at film festivals around the world. Clarence is a member of Actors' Equity Association.
Elora Riley
OpheleiaElora is a performer, stage combatant, and D&D enthusiast who's excited to be returning to the MN Fringe Festival as yet another iteration of Princess Leia (her first two being in The Tragedy of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Xena and Gabrielle Smash the Patriarchy). She's also done work with other notable companies like Dangerous Productions and Reverend Matt's Monster Science as assistant-turned-field-agent Elora. When she's not gracing the stage or the screen, she's enjoying downtime with her partner Jay and their cat Frida.
Jay Melchior
Laersolo/Biggsardo/Reynalda Fett/GravediggerJay is very excited to be performing in his 9th Fringe Festival, and 5th production of Hamluke! He does some other theater too, like The Twin Cities Horror Fest and The Mystery Cafe.
Thomas Matthes
Wedgecisco/Lobotstern/LucinbrasThomas is an actor, teacher, mediocre musician, and bouldering enthusiast. Thomas has been in a number of excellent and less than excellent fringe shows over the years. Thomas loves Star Wars. When Thomas was a child he would watch the original trilogy almost daily and since then he's watched and re-watched almost every bit of Star Wars there is. He is so excited to sort of fulfill his lifelong dream of being in Star Wars. When he's not playing with lightsabers and Shakespeare you can find Thomas climbing on plastic rocks or teaching the next generation to love Star Wars.
Aron Woldeslassie
LandocrantzAron is a stand-up comedian, actor, and producer based in St. Paul. His work has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio, TPT’s Almanac, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, and various literary magazines. Selected as a “Comic to Watch” by Racket Magazine, he has performed at the Limestone Comedy Festival, the Fountain City Comedy Festival, and the Milwaukee Comedy Festival among others. When he isn't performing, Aron can typically be found biking, baking, or reading.
Adam Fielitz
PorkinzAdam’s two loves are finally merging. He has been in several Shakespeare plays from Comedy of Errors, to Midsummer Night’s Dream to Henry V. When Adam was 4, during nursery school, the teacher asked if anyone had a song that the whole class could sing, Adam stood up and shouted, “Star Wars”. To which he got the whole class to hum the opening theme (this actually happened and it’s in his baby book). So he likes Star Wars too. Adam has been in a variety of Fringe shows, arguably the most popular was “The Rotten Michael Show” with got rave reviews. Sorry, I mean horrible reviews. So things can only go up from here.
Karianna Barrientos
Gonk/Probe/Plawa/Stage MagicThroughout her high school career, Karianna has performed a multitude of shows including Hamluke, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Alice By Heart, and Footloose. She was an award-winning competitive dancer for 10+ years and has been a production dance captain for 3 years, including choreographing and assisting with choreography for 10+ shows. You may recognize her as the Ferrell Dance Award recipient from the 2025 Hennepin Arts Spotlight Showcase.
Abby Wiberg
R2-Datio/Plawa/Stage MagicAbby has been involved in theatre both in her community and competitively for 10 years and is beyond excited to be involved in her first Fringe experience with Hamluke! She has performed in many shows over the years, some of her favorites being Hamluke, Chicago, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alice by Heart, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Much Ado About Nothing. She has great enthusiasm for both classic literature and science fiction, which means she is more than ready to be a part of this stellar adventure!
Beatrice Wethern
Plawa/EwokBeatrice is a student, swimmer, rock climber, and amateur dragonologist. She has provided voice over for commercials (YMCA, Aveeno) and narrated several interactive eBooks for beginning readers. Hamluke is Beatrice's first stage production.
Jaxon Melchior
Plawa/EwokJaxon is a 9 year old goof ball who is pleased to be a part of his first Fringe Festival! He has recently joined Stages Theater for their Summer Camps, played big roles in his school musicals, rocked out at Katy Camps in MPLS, voiced a commercial for Nature Valley and his true love… is playing video games and yelling very loudly so all the neighborhood can hear that he’s, “COOKED!” In the future he hopes to be a pro baseball player, study “funniness” at a university and hopefully make it on SNL. His golden birthday was Star Wars themed and included a very brave friend who dressed up like Darth Vader in 105 heat to make his day.
Carin Bratlie Wethern
Child WranglerCarin is a freelance director living in Minneapolis, MN. She is the Artistic Director of Theatre Pro Rata and has directed over 100 productions in Minnesota and Wisconsin. At the Fringe she has directed Trainspotting with Theatre Pro Rata, Bard Fiction, The Final Act, and MeadHall with Tedious Brief Productions, and High Flight, Circus McGurkus, Rumpus, and Medusa with Mike’s Brass. She received a full scholarship as a participant director at the Wesley Balk Opera/Musical Theater Institute and a BA from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN. Her all-female production of Julius Caesar with Theatre Unbound won an Ivey Award in 2012. In her free time Carin is a Minnesota State Fair Blue Ribbon winning knitter and enjoys all sorts of activities, including playing tuba, leading her daughter’s Girl Scout Brownie Troop, camping in MN State Parks, and training their two dogs, Harry and Hazel, to be their best doggy selves.
Aisha Ragheb
MusicianAisha is a performer, video editor, and audio engineer. She was the sound designer for The Regular (TC Horror Fest 2024), co-arranged and performed music in a previous Nightfall production of Fargo (MN Fringe 2023), and appeared as an asylum patient in Mad as Nell, or How to Lose a Bly in Ten Days (MN Fringe 2019). She co-hosts a quarterly MOVIE FIGHT CLUB at Bryant Lake Bowl with Josh Carson, where Twin Cities comedians and performers battle with their hottest movie takes—and the audience votes on who made their point the pointiest. While traversing production roles around town, she is an AV engineer for Frontend Masters, a local coding education company.
Hawken Paul
MusicianHawken Paul is a Minneapolis-based actor, musician & teaching artist, and is thrilled to be once again working with Nightfall Productions! You may have heard him as a musician in Fargo Allegro at the 2023 Fringe Festival, or seen him as Bart in Bart & Arnie (Melancholics Anonymous), Saint-Lambert/Lewis in Legacy of Light (Theatre in the Round), or Bank Manager in Once (Theatre L’Homme Dieu). You can also catch Hawken as a musician in 503 with Jackdonkey Productions during the 2025 Fringe Fest, and in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 with Theatre Elision. When not on the stage, Hawken teaches with the Children’s Theatre Company, The Zephyr Theater, and the Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth, and enjoys playing board games with 100+ page rulebooks.
Brad Erickson
Emperor/Gravedigger/Tosricken/DirectorWithin the Fringe, Brad previously directed and performed in Fargo Allegro, Repertoire Dogs, Hour Town, Hamluke, and The Life of Charles Schulz. Other Fringe performances include The Zoo Story (Mortimer Productions) and A Justice League Of Their Own (Mainly Me Productions). Outside the Fringe, Brad has performed in Little Shop of Horrors (Daleko Arts), The Saved By The Bell Show (Dana's Boys), 'Til Death Do Us Die (The Mystery Cafe), and spent the last twelve years or so as the terrorist Karl in A Very Die Hard Christmas at the legendary Bryant-Lake Bowl. You may (or may not) recognize him as Abraham Lincoln, Jim Henson, or Jacques Cousteau performing in metro area schools with History Comes To Life or quite possibly as Mr. Rogers, Obi-Wan Kenobi, or Cookie Monster with the Saint Paul Saints.
More Information
A (NOT SO) BRIEF HISTORY OF HAMLUKE
HAMLUKE - A high-energy, comedic:dramatic Star Wars version of Hamlet as told by Ewoks, droids, and Jedi Knights!
Back in 2003, I saw a group of USC alumni present a whiz-bang production of the Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes while living in Los Angeles. They delivered exactly what they promised: a madcap retelling of the original movies reduced to thirty minutes.
I was floored; beside myself with joy and jealousy that I hadn't thought of it myself. It was hilarious!
I went back ten times over the next month bringing family and friends along with me. It was fun, funny, and inspiring - I wanted to see if I could do a version of it myself, but I didn't attend the same college as George Lucas, and so I was told I would never get permission.
A few years later I moved back to Minnestoa and in the summer in 2005, I attended the Minnesota Fringe where two things happened.
1. I saw a few friends in a hysterical show called Kung Fu Hamlet. Yes, a clever mash-up of both those elements.
2. I saw some other show that I can not remember, but the venue was the Rarig Thrust. Audiences on three sides and a balcony!
The idea struck Iike a bolt of lightning from the hands of the Emperor himself:
Mash-up the story of Hamlet with the look and feel of Star Wars, reduce it down to one-hour, and somehow perform it at the Rarig Thrust for the Minnesota Fringe!
Well, I hammered out the first version of the show mixing characters together (Darth Vader + Claudius = Darthius), swapping out any sword play with plastic lightsabers, and tried to find the right blend of Shakespeare's quotable prose to clash with Lucas' technical jargon and equally quotable dialogue. I took notes on the shared similarities (evil father figures, talking ghosts, questioning if old friends can be trusted) and grappled with the differences (can Chewbacca be cast as a main character and still be understood?) My niece and nephews begged me to be a part of it and I spent weeks trying to decide if they could portray the visiting troupe of actors to present the play within a play. Should they be droids, Ewoks, or Jawas?
Even before I thought it was ready, I co-produced it with my friend Mike, and lo and behold, Hamluke premiered at the Bryant Lake Bowl in January of 2007.
People enjoyed it! Some of them loved it, some of them didn't; some laughed uproariously, some just chuckled; but it was out in the world for anyone to come and see. And see it, they did! We ended up staging it a few times ourselves at various venues around town (niece and nephews included) picking up steam each time, and in 2011, got into the Minnesota Fringe, but at a smaller, in-the-round venue.
It was a resounding success! We had a great mix of talent, two bonafide actors who had just performed Hamlet a few months prior, finally got the blend of Elizabethan/Star Wars recipe balanced out, and somehow the timing was right for it. The audiences showered the show with a lot of love, positive reviews, and three sold-out performances. We got the encore slot, back when they awarded the highest-selling shows another performance. Hamluke seemed to take on a life all its own.
In recent years, I've been part of a team bringing Hamluke to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (yes, the one in Scotland) and also helped adapt and stage a 35 minute version for high school competition (thank you, Grif!). Both were dynamic and impressive, especially for a cast of younger performers, but I've never caught up to the elusive dream of a full-hour version performed in the venue that it was written for, the Rarig Thrust.
Until now.
I've somehow assembled the most amazing cast and crew for this version. Some of them are Equity actors. Some of them are fairly new to acting. Some of them have been a part of the journey several times- my good friend Jay has been in the show every time I've directed it. Two of the most diversely talented musicians are playing live Elizabethan/Star Wars inspired music that brings forth a deeper level of emotions to the story. All of the cast and crew are breathing new life and finding great moments that I know will amaze, inspire, and delight the audience. My niece and nephews are all adults now, but we have a new crop of amazing children ready to present the play within a play and twist the heart of Darthius. It's been almost a twenty year path leading up to this and I truly can't wait to share this with you.
We would be honored if you would join us!
-Brad
