Hobson's Selection: Two new performs to assist shut out October

Article content material

Workshop Theatre and Hearth Exit Theatre are providing two very alternative ways to shut out October’s theatre scene.

Simply in time for Halloween, Workshop Theatre is presenting Dracula, American playwright Steven Dietz’s 2019 model of Bram Stoker’s basic story with Kimberly Elliott because the vampire.

Article content material

“Kimberly shouldn’t be taking part in the vampire as a lady. Her Dracula is androgynous. We’re giving our manufacturing of Dracula a punk rock aesthetic, so for the vampire, there is no such thing as a reference to gender in any respect. Assume David Bowie,” says director AJ Pearce who explains, “Everybody who auditioned for the play, no matter age, gender or race learn for the position of Dracula, and Kimberly gave, by far, the perfect studying.”

Commercial 2

Article content material

Dracula
Kimberly Elliott as Dracula and Caylie Kornelson as Mina in Workshop Theatre’s Dracula. Courtesy, AJ Pearce/Workshop Theatre Picture by Workshop Theatre /jpg

Pearce feels the casting “has given some thrilling undertones to the plights of Lucy and Mina, the primary feminine characters on this model of the story. Dietz’s method makes Lucy and Mina the central characters of the story.”

Even with these tweaks to the enduring horror story, Pearce says “that is nonetheless a basic story of fine versus evil, and science versus faith. We take a look at what all of the characters are going via as soon as Dracula enters their lives.”

Pearce says any model of Dracula “will need to have blood, and will need to have a couple of bounce scares as a result of that’s what folks anticipate. Dracula has haunted our imaginations for greater than 125 years due to the sensuality of Bram Stoker’s characters, and since, on the finish of the day, folks prefer to root for the unhealthy man.”

Lucy is performed by Chantal Brosseau, and her fiance Dr. Seward by Tim Hanna, whereas Mina is performed by Caylie Kornelson, and her fiance by Shamoon Ikram. Ron Brouwer is the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, with Robert Bourne as Dracula’s poor demented henchman, Renfield, who acts because the play’s narrator.

Workshop’s Dracula runs within the Pumphouse’s Victor Mitchell Theatre from Oct. 27 via Nov. 4 with performances at 7:30 p.m. plus 2:30 p.m. matinees on Oct. 28 and Nov. 4. On Halloween evening, there will probably be a dressing up contest. Advance tickets for all performances can be found at workshoptheatre.ca/dracula-tickets.

Article content material

Commercial 3

Article content material

REMEMBERING CAN BE PAINFUL BUT HEALING

From Oct. 25-29 within the Arts Commons Engineered Air Theatre, Hearth Exit Theatre is internet hosting American playwright, actor and educator Ingrid De Sanctis in her extremely private solo present, The Issues I Forgot.

In 2019, De Sanctis wrote a play known as Stained Glass a couple of girl attending her father’s funeral who confronts the scandal that, 20 years earlier, tore aside her household and her pastor father’s congregation.

De Sanctis explains Stained Glass was semi-autobiographical because it handled the very actual tragedy that unfolded in her life, and “it was the primary time I had accomplished a play that was based mostly by myself life, however in that play, I might conceal, as a result of the character wasn’t known as ‘Ingrid. I had written a play and hid myself in it. I’ve a wierd, distinctive, odd, tragic, stunning, bizarre story.”

De Sanctis is not hiding in her solo present, The Issues I Forgot. She is alone on stage baring her coronary heart and soul, and he or she admits “It’s the most terrifying, inventive factor I’ve ever accomplished. I preserve ready for my scene associate to reach, however nobody is coming.”

Commercial 4

Article content material

Fire Exit
Ingrid De Sanctis and her solo present Issues I Forgot at Hearth Exit Theatre. Picture by Richard Finkelstein /jpg

In 2016, Hearth Exit produced De Sanctis’ play Sarah and the Dinosaur a couple of girl coping with a most cancers analysis that presents itself as a inexperienced dinosaur. When Hearth Exit’s inventive director Val Lieske heard about The Issues I Forgot, she invited De Sanctis to carry out it in Calgary to open Hearth Exit’s twenty second season.

Lieske calls The Issues I Forgot humorous, heartbreaking and complicated, and guarantees “Ingrid is a grasp storyteller whose vulnerability is matched by her wit and love of phrases.”

Performances on Oct. 25-28 are at 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on Oct. 28 and 29. Tickets can be found at fireexit.ca/present/the-things-i-forgot

Article content material

Feedback

Postmedia is dedicated to sustaining a full of life however civil discussion board for dialogue and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Feedback might take as much as an hour for moderation earlier than showing on the positioning. We ask you to maintain your feedback related and respectful. We have now enabled electronic mail notifications—you’ll now obtain an electronic mail if you happen to obtain a reply to your remark, there may be an replace to a remark thread you observe or if a person you observe feedback. Go to our Group Tips for extra data and particulars on how one can modify your electronic mail settings.

    Commercial 1