arts www.nanaimobulletin.com
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Nanaimo News Bulletin B1
AND ENTERTAINMENT
Spas ~ Pools Pool Tables ~ Saunas 4000 CORUNNA AVE | 250-758-3003 www.calaisspas-billiards.com
Yellow Point Drama Group seeing stars in fall play BY LINDSAY CHUNG BLACK PRESS
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Kelly Kijek, left, joins Lauren Janolino and Brett Trimble on stage during rehearsal for Boeing Boeing, staged by Nanaimo Theatre Group this month. The play, a comedic farce, was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most performed French play.
Sixties flair marks theatre farce
I
I
NANAIMO THEATRE Group stages Boeing Boeing this month.
t’s the 1960s, and swinging bachelor Bernard couldn’t be happier – a flat in Paris and three gorgeous stewardesses all engaged to him without knowing about each other. But Bernard’s perfect life gets bumpy when his friend Robert comes to stay and a new and speedier Boeing jet throws off all of his careful planning. Soon all three stewardesses are in town simultaneously, timid Robert is forgetting which lies to tell to whom, and catastrophe looms. Boeing Boeing is a classic
farce, written by Marc Camoletti, and was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most performed French play in the world. Arlene Blundell, who produced My Fair Lady at the Port Theatre, directs the comedy for Nanaimo Theatre Group. An innocent farce about how technological advances can unravel a life of meticulous precision, this production features new actors Kelly Kijek, Brett Trimble and Natasha Koch, the seasoned actor and theatre group president, Sheila Coultish, and regulars Cindy Peters and Lauren Janolino. The flamboyant ’60s set is designed by Jolyon Brown
Quickfacts
BOEING BOEING by Nanaimo Theatre Group Oct. 10-12, 16-19, 23-26 at 8 p.m.; Oct. 13 and 20 at 2 p.m. Gala opening Oct. 9. Tickets $1820. Call 250-758-7224.
with set dressing by Dave Bigelow. Boeing Boeing opens Oct. 10 and runs until Oct. 26, 8 p.m., at the Bailey Studio on Rosstown Road. Matinees at 2 p.m. are scheduled for Oct. 13 and Oct. 20. Tickets $18-20. For tickets, or for more information, please call 250-7587224 or visit www.nanaimo theatregroup.com.
Imagine the excitement of finding out major stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift are filming a movie in your small town. This is how the residents of Natchez, Miss., are feeling in 1956 in Seeing Stars in Dixie, the fall play presented by the Yellow Point Drama Group Oct. 3-19. It’s the days before the paparazzi, and star-struck locals are hoping to spot Taylor and Clift nearby shooting a movie. But there’s much more going on in the play than the movie production. Seeing Stars in Dixie, written by Ron Osborne and directed by Joanne Rowland for the Yellow Point Drama Group, centers around Clemmie’s Tea Room, where an insecure proprietress attracts a secret admirer, directs her own cast of customers and competes for a moment in the spotlight. This lighthearted comedy stars Patricia Zogar as Clemmie; Evelyn Applin as Tootie, her opinionated friend; Tabi Jasper as former beauty queen Jo Beth; Michael Robinson as Glease, a man with a welldeveloped fashion sense; and Inge Cathers as devious social climber Marjorie. “It’s a lovely, gentle comedy set in the 1950s, and I think it’s relative to today because there are a lot of relationship issues in the play,” said Brian March, drama group president. “The things they have to overcome are things we still have to deal with today, failure and how we deal with it. Really, it’s a story of how the characters within the play deal with their own personal issues of inadequacy and the problems they have in their personal lives, and how they get through it through the excitement of a movie coming to town. There is a lot of good stuff in it. It has that lovely
appeal of the southern U.S. in its set, the accents and the costumes of the period.” Rowland agrees the play is “really quite fun.” “They learn a lot about themselves in this play,” she said. “They take chances they’ve never taken before; they overcome obstacles in their life that makes them enjoy life more.” Rowland feels the play is quite relatable. “We watch these real people discover something about themselves, and I think we’re all looking to do that,” she said. “It has some humor, but there are also some life stories in it.” Seeing Stars in Dixie is Rowland’s directorial debut for the drama group. She has been an actor for many years, and she says she has enjoyed learning a lot about acting from the various directors she has worked with and by listening to adjudicators at the Theatre BC Mainstage festival in Kamloops. The actors, who are all volunteers, have been rehearsing for seven weeks, and Rowland says there is mix of experience levels, and they’ve all really supported one another. “They’re all so generous with helping each other and trusting each other,” she said. “It’s a good ensemble cast.” Seeing Stars in Dixie opens Thursday (Oct. 3) with a discounted preview evening when tickets are $12, and the play runs Oct. 4-5, 11-12, 18 and 19. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $17; $12/youth. On Oct. 12, doors open at 6 p.m. for a special 8 p.m. dinner-theatre presentation. Tickets are $35 and include a three-course dinner. On Oct. 19, doors open at 1 p.m. for a 2 p.m. matinee performance; tickets are $12. Tickets are available at the door at Cedar hall or by calling 250-245-7516. editor@nanaimobulletin.com
single story
With Beltone, you won’t miss a thing. We're more than a hearing aid company. We're part of your family's hearing care. 105 – 2000 North Island Hwy Nanaimo, BC V9S 5W3 250.756.9900 | BeltoneCare.ca