LIFESTYLES
Sidekick Players holding auditions
July 6, 2023 The Delta Optimist A23
Event to report??
Contact Ian att ijacques@delta-optimist.com 6 or 604-998-3616
Delta well represented at this year’s Theatre Under the Stars in Stanley Park PHIL MELNYCHUK
C o n t r i b u t i n g Wr i te r
The Sidekick Players are on the lookout for seniors for the first production of the 27th season. Senior Follies, a comedy by Billy Wayne St. John and directed by Jeff and Teala Pannell, will be in the Tsawwassen Arts Centre from Oct. 20 to Nov. 4. The rocking is not done in chairs at the Pleasant Valley Retirement Home, especially since Howard discovered Viagra. The feisty divorcee and lovely widow who are constantly scurrying out of his reach and refuse to play strip poker or skinny dip in the hot tub, breathe a sigh of relief when a new resident actually seems to enjoy Howard’s advances. Characters required: four senior women, four senior men and one woman 30’s to 50’s. Auditions will be held at The Tsawwassen Arts Centre, 1172 56th Street on July 11 and 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. Cold read from the script. No appointments, first come basis. This is a non-equity production and there will be no renumeration paid. All those cast are required to become members of The Sidekick Players Club at the first reading for a fee of $10. Please contact directors Jeff and/or Teala at jefpan@hotmail.ca for any further information.
Stanley Park becomes a musical place during midsummer nights at Malkin Bowl, in Vancouver. Contributing to this year’s Theatre Under the Stars are two Delta performers playing lead roles in two musicals, The Prom and Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, July 6 to Aug. 26. The Prom is a Broadway musical, and a Netflix movie, based on a 2010 incident in Mississippi when Constance McMillen wanted to bring her girlfriend to the school prom and wear a tuxedo, however, she was banned from attending by the local school board. The play debuted on Broadway in 2018, and balances hopefulness with “hardhitting hilarity,” as four downon-their-luck actors try to help out. Playing the role of Alyssa Greene in The Prom is Brianna Clark from North Delta, who also lives in New York. She’s back to renew her visa because her student visa is expiring. Her previous roles, eight years ago, with Theatre Under the Stars were as a dancer in the ensemble. “So, it’s been really fun to return and do a big role that I’ve always wanted to play,” she said. Clark recently graduated from New York University in musical theatre and is a classically trained pianist. She recently appeared as a series regular in AppleTV’s SEE, starring Jason Momoa. She got involved in theatre as a hobby when she was in high school and previously
EMILY COOPER PHOTOGRAPHY
Theatre Under the Stars presents North Delta’s Brianna Clark and Anna Pontin in The Prom and Siggi Kaldestad and Ladner’s Jyla-Robinson in Roald Dahls Matilda The Musical. studied molecular biology at SFU. Clark said she switched to acting on a dare, adding that in a perfect world, she would love to return to science when she’s older, but that she’s very happy performing now. “It’s challenging and also really rewarding, especially doing a show like The Prom where you get to be part of a story that’s really important today,” Clark said. Once she gets permission to work in the U.S. she wants to return and try to get a major role in a Broadway musical. “That’s the dream. I would love to go back and actually play the role that I was offered for that tour, which was Zoe, in Dear Evan Hansen,” she said. In Matilda the Musical, Jyla
Robinson, who owns Studio West in Ladner, is taking on the role of meanie headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. Matilda, now on Netflix, is set in an English village, “where a brilliant little girl with a lively imagination is bullied by her self-absorbed parents and tyrannical head mistress.” Miss Trunchbull is not a nice person and knows how to get what she wants. “She’s very mean. She’s a disciplinarian and she’s basically the evil character of the show,” Robinson said. It’s been challenging and exciting to play such a character. She said Trunchbull is definitely the hardest role she’s ever played.
“She goes so deep and so dark into getting what she wants and she’s not kind and not nice about it,” she said, adding it’s an emotional roller coaster for her as an actor. “But I’m excited to bring my authenticity to the role. I think people will be entertained. I hope people will enjoy my performance.” Another Tsawwassen performer is also part of this year’s Theatre Under the Stars. Eric Timuss, a Capilano University musical theatre student, is part of the supporting ensemble in The Prom. It’s his second production with Theatre Under the Stars. For showtimes and ticket information see: https://www. tuts.ca/.