You're invited!

Good thing I’m not superstitious. Last week’s farewell-to-city-hall piece was my thirteenth post of the year, and I began my “new” full-time writing-from-home job on April Fool’s Day. What could possibly go wrong?

To prove I’m keeping busy, I’d like to invite you to three upcoming events I’m participating in and would love to have you join me.

Faith and Humor Night

For all St. Claude and area readers, you’re invited to join me at the Club Age D’or in St. Claude for an evening they are calling “Faith and Humor.” Part writing workshop, part sharing about my journey, part hanging out together and signing books. I hope your English is better than my French. I had to use Google Translate just to know that Club Age D’or means “Golden Age Club.” 

This event isn’t only for seniors, however. It’s open to the public and it’s free. You can register or get more details by calling Jackie at 204-379-2281. The venue is at 64 1st Street in St. Claude. Thursday, April 11, 7:00 – 9:00 pm. I’d love to meet you there!

Toastmasters

Are you one of those folks who’d rather die than speak in public? What if you could learn how in a supportive, fun environment? Last fall, the Portage Chamber formed a new lunch hour Toastmasters club. If you are employed by, retired from, or volunteer for an organization which is a Chamber member, you’re eligible to join us. We have a blast together every Monday from 11:45 – 12:45 in the board room of the Community Futures Heartland office (under the same roof as the Glesby Centre).

It’s one fast-paced hour of practicing rehearsed and impromptu public speaking and meeting management. We share lots of laughs, learning, and encouragement. (Face it, how many times in an average month does anyone applaud you? Join us and experience it every week!) There is a cost to join, but you can check us out for free and then decide. Contact Cindy at the Chamber office, 204-857-7778 or info@portagechamber.com

Peace We Often Forfeit

Imagine a road trip with four women. But not just any women. Four women from four different generations of the same family. Ages sixteen, forty, sixty-five, and ninety. Harassment, hilarity, and hysterics. That’s what you’ll see when you come out for Peace We Often Forfeit, a little play I wrote and am directing for our own Prairie Players. It features the brilliantly talented cast of Haley L’Heureux, Rita Carignan, Vicki Hooke, and Nita Wiebe.

Five bucks gets you in to our performance on Friday, April 26 at 7:00. The short play (seriously – maybe fifteen minutes) will follow opening ceremonies, kicking off the 2019 ACT Festival— a province-wide, weekend-long theater festival hosted in Portage’s William Glesby Centre by the Prairie Players April 26 through 28.

All the plays throughout the weekend are open to the public:

Friday night: $5

Saturday pass: $10

Sunday pass: $5

Weekend pass: $15

Watch the website for a full schedule: http://prairieplayers.ca/actfest-2019/

If I were superstitious, I’d call myself lucky to be part of all these engaging opportunities. But I don’t believe in luck. I prefer to call it blessed.

A Little Arsenic, Anyone?

The Prairie Players are at it again. Rehearsals are underway for Arsenic and Old Lace and you won’t want to miss this insanely goofy comedy. This famous play written by Joseph Kesselring debuted on Broadway in 1941. The dialogue takes several snide jabs at theatre critics, and when you know Kesselring’s history, you’ll understand why.

His earlier plays met with cutting critique. Walter Kerr’s harsh review of Four Twelves Are 48 said Kesselring “…conceived a comic situation which takes precisely four minutes’ acting time to exploit.”

There’s Wisdom in Women met with equally ruthless reviews.

So when Arsenic and Old Lace appeared on the scene, it surprised critics. What they may not have known was that Kesselring had help with the writing. Though he retained full credit for the piece, the producers who bought the script, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, all but rewrote everything, changing many of the situations and introducing some new characters. So the script became a true collaboration and its wild success gives testament to the power of team work.

Speaking of team work, you’re going to love Connie Krawec and Peggy Tidsbury’s portrayals of the two charming sisters who welcome lonely old men into their peaceful Victorian home so they can poison them and bury the bodies in their basement, all in the name of charity. Doesn’t sound exactly side-splitting, does it? But when you add Kevin Hamm’s depiction of their nephew, Mortimer, (along with a large cast of other confused and colorful characters), you will know why the Herald Tribune called it “the most riotously hilarious comedy of the season,” and the Sun’s critic proclaimed, “you wouldn’t believe homicidal mania could be so funny.”

Under the direction of Stephanie Kauffman and stage manager Myrna Nichol, the cast is rounded out by Preston Meier, Paul Warthe, Sharon Morrison, Ember Rodgers, Jordan Thiessen, Tyrone Taylor, Terry Tully, Rosa Rawlings, Theresa Bergen, Gord Holm, and me!

Mark your calendars now for the play on November 11 and 12, or for dinner theatre on November 13 and 14, all at the William Glesby Centre. I understand tickets for the November 11 performance will be free to veterans.

In the meantime…

Some of my column readers have asked how the “Bake-Off” playwriting competition went, and I’m delighted to report the end result might be one of the funniest pieces I’ve ever written called Peace We Often Forfeit. The three ingredients they gave us were: a yellow submarine, hysteria, and a red line. The audience will have fantastic fun seeing how each of the five playwrights incorporated these elements into their scene and then voting for the one they like best.

With the pressure off, I intend to sit back and enjoy it. When I saw the credentials of the other writers, I waved goodbye to any hope of winning and feel humbled and grateful to have been chosen to participate! The others come from Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver, so I feel like I’m representing the rural world.

I’d be thrilled if you could attend, too. It’s on Monday, September 14, 7:00 p.m. at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film, 400 Colony Street (north of the old bus depot off Portage Avenue.) Then at 9:00, the reading of my one-hour play, Irony: A Tragic Comedy about Life and Death will take place in the same venue. So you can take in both events with one trip, and tickets are available for a suggested donation of $10 at www.sarasvati.ca/femfest/tickets/

I’d love to see you there!