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Nanaimo News Bulletin
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 B3
Playwright bases new work on true events of a widow’s dating life STAFF WRITER NEWS BULLETIN
Olivia Etey will hold a public reading for Woman Against Gravity, presented by TheatreOne, at the Port Theatre on Feb. 11. (Submitted photo)
The play is inspired and based on the true events of a woman the playwright personally knew named Evie Wallace. She met Wallace during a women’s meetup at a remote The second show in TheatreOne’s series of mountain chalet that was accessible only by workshops and public readings of original helicopter. plays is about a senior woman entering the “They were all incredible women there. dating world. Woman Against Gravity by Olivia Etey arms The very first time that they met and all asthe main character with the motto, “suck life sembled together, Evie had put a whoopee dry,” and her late husband’s words, “you have cushion on every single woman’s seat and they all sat down as a congregation and it was energy and only one life, so use it.” Tessa, unbelievable.” the main character, launches herself into the Etey grew up without any grandparents, as world of seniors’ online dating, and examines they all died before she was born, and was her fierce battle against gravity as she yearns completely captivated by Evie and her life to master the art of living in the moment. story. Etey started writing the play roughly six “I’ve always romanticized and fantasized years ago, and previously it had been a part grandparents … and I think getting the of the Stage One Festival of new Canadian chance to spend time and hear the stories work for the Lunch Box Theatre in Calgary. of people from the baby boomer age demoDue to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it hasn’t yet been read out loud in its entirety graphic for me is a really fascinating place for me. I have so much admiration and respect before a live audience before.
for that age group,” she said. Woman Against Gravity’s public reading will be held at 2 p.m. on Feb. 11 in the Port Theatre’s Harmac Pacific Room. Admission is by donation and seating is limited. This year, the Emerging Voices program is being led by TheatreOne Artistic Associate, Tamara McCarthy, who works as a dramaturg with the playwright and directs a cast of professional actors in each public reading. The group will join the playwright for two days in Nanaimo, examining each script and asking important questions that can only be discovered through the deep dive offered through this process. The goal is to provide questions and comments that will help the playwrights move their scripts to the next level. The final part of the program involves bringing the scripts to the public with a reading. Those attending will be able to give feedback to the playwright as well. arts@nanaimobulletin.com
Nanaimo actor appears in Florida play depicting power struggle between professor and student “The play is so intense and provocative … People often side with one of the characters A Nanaimo-raised actor will vehemently … They’ll often watch the same performance headline a play at a top repeand come out with completely tory company in the United different opinions about the States this spring. Ella Olesen will star as Carol two characters,” Olesen said. The play will open April 16 in Pulitzer Prize-winning and run until May 19 at the playwright David Mamet’s Artstage Studio Theatre. two-person play, Oleanna. STAFF WRITER NEWS BULLETIN
Last year, Olesen joined the same company in a leading role as Cecily Cardew in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. As part of the actor’s educational background, she graduated from the University of Michigan’s musical theatre program, where she was the only Canadian in her class,
the second-ever Canadian in the program, and the first British Columbian to be part of the program. Olesen has also supplemented her education last year with Shakespeare studies at England’s renowned University of Oxford, for an “opportunity of a lifetime.” arts@nanaimobulletin.com
Nanaimo actor Ella Olesen, second from right, as part of the cast of The Importance of Being Earnest last year. (Submitted photo)
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