FRIDAY, September 8, 2017
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Comic Strippers return to Kamloops SEAN BRADY STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
The Comic Strippers will play Kamloops on Sept. 15.
I
t’s a comedy show without any scripts — and without any shirts. The Comic Strippers try to be sexy. The characters in the show, all named Chip, think they’re pulling it off, too. Oiled-up “comedy bodies” dance across the stage as they take suggestions from the audience on what to do next. The show has taken the Vancouver-based improv group all over Canada, up and down the West Coast of the United States and even to Australia. But it’s their upcoming Kamloops show that’s on one comedian-stripper’s mind. “Kamloops is my home town, so it’s wicked to come on home,” said Ken Lawson, who, like all other cast members, plays Chip. Lawson’s history in the city includes playing in a number of bands and a tenure as Billy Miner, the outlaw train robber featured in the Two River Junction production put on for the Rocky Mountaineer. Lawson has been back to Kamloops with the strippers twice before, in 2015 and 2016. The homecoming can still get him a little nervous before the show if there are people he knows in the audience.
“I used to be super shy about taking my shirt off, so the fact that I’m in my late 40s and not only taking my shirt off, but flaunting it. . . . It feels really great, to be honest,” he said. Lawson said he feels lucky to be able to travel with friends and perform a show that provides people an escape into a “foolish, ridiculous world” where the troupe’s dad-bodied performers
could possibly be strippers. “We try to act sexy, and our characters think they’re really sexy and hot, but we have very average and non-toned bodies. So it just becomes so silly,” he said. The show is performed by members of the Vancouver TheatreSports League and was created by Roman Danylo, whose comedy credits include Comedy Inc., Corner Gas and Just for Laughs.
Kamloops is the fourth stop on the group’s tour, which will continue onto Vernon and then Alberta and the rest of Canada right through to June of next year. Lawson will hit the stage in his uncomfortably tight-looking pants on Sept. 15 at Sagebrush Theatre. Tickets are available through the Kamloops Live box office. For more, go online to thecomicstrippers.com
her beloved ranch to Victoria for fraction of what the property was worth. The Witness — a play produced and now being performed by Chimera Theatre at Tranquille on the Lake, west of Kamloops Airport at 4600 Tranquille Rd. — tells the story of how family members and staff at the King Edward Sanatorium came together after the death of Betsy in 1942 to discover what really transpired between Betsy and devilish government carpetbaggers. The true story has been researched and written by Chimera Theatre members. The interactive play is being
performed amongst the fabled buildings and tunnel system at Tranquille, which is also the grounds of the legendary King Edward Sanatorium and site of what was once known as Padova, Three one-hour shows will be performed each Thursday Friday and Saturday, with the last show scheduled for Oct. 21. Show times are at 7 p.m., 8:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The Witness is being presented by Chimera Theatre and its partner, Tranquille Farm Fresh, a Kamloops-based company that provides a variety of family entertainment activities each fall celebrating the rich history of the
Tranquille On the Lake property. Tickets to The Witness are available online at www.tranquillefarmfresh.ca. Exclusive private shows (with a minimum of 20 participants) can be booked Wednesday evenings by corporations, not-for-profit organizations, families, sports teams or a group of friends. Call 250-572-2530 for more information. The cast: Morgan Benedict plays Sybil MacFarlane, Trina Budai (Betsy Cooney), Juli Harland (Doctor Gee), Maddison Hartloff (Jean Cooney), Taylor James McCallum (Charles Cooney), Erik Stephany (Don Elson) and T. D. Roth (Doctor Stalker).
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Demi Lovato working to help those impacted by DACA, storm The Associated Press
The Witness inhabits Tranquille One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Betsy and Charles Cooney (after whom the bay is named) settled at the confluence of Tranquille Creek, teh Thompson River and Kamloops Lake with their two-week-old daughter Kathrine. Over the years, the ranching couple became local legends as their fruit and produce won prizes in Europe, their horse herd grew to become Canada’s largest and they expanded their ranch west 30 kilometres to the end of Kamloops Lake. In 1922, five years after the death of Charles, the provincial government forced Betsy to sell
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NEW YORK — Demi Lovato says she’s reached out to the nonprofit organization Voto Latino to find out how she can help after President Donald Trump said he’s rescinding a program that allows young immigrants who were brought to America as children to remain in the U.S. Trump’s administration said Tuesday it is phasing out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, but is giving Congress six months to take action on it. Lovato, who is white and Mexican, said she reached out to actor Wilmer Valderrama, who has worked with Voto Latino, to see how she can help out. The pop singer and Valderrama dated for six years until last year. “I work with Voto Latino sometimes and I contacted Wilmer [Valderrama], who’s part of the organization. I contacted him and said, ‘What can I do to help?’ So we’re going to try to figure something out,’’ Lovato said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. Former President Barack Obama created DACA by executive order in 2012. “We’re so fortunate in the United States and we have it so lucky compared to some other countries. And it’s sad, it’s frustrating and it just goes to show you that this isn’t — this is just a race problem. I genuinely believe that this is just a race problem and I think that it’s something [that] is just not right, and we need to stand up for the things we believe in,’’ she said. “All I can do is post on Twitter and text my senators on the Resistbot and raise the awareness as much as I can. But I feel kind of helpless.’’ Lovato, 25, grew up in Dallas and said she’s also been working to assist those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Harvey has killed at least 70 people who drowned in floods, got crushed by trees and died during power outages. “I have family in Dallas and everybody is OK and safe. . . . I started a fundraiser with the Houston Food Bank,’’ she said.
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