The Drowning Girls By BETH GRAHAM, CHARLIE TOMLINSON and DANIELA VLASKALIC - September 19 to 28, 2019 | PAVILION THEATRE - Western Canada Theatre
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The Drowning Girls By BETH GRAHAM, CHARLIE TOMLINSON and DANIELA VLASKALIC September 19 to 28, 2019 | PAVILION THEATRE
THANK YOU! TO OUR SPONSORS PRESENTING PARTNER GOVERNMENT FUNDERS SEASON SPONSORS STUDIO SERIES SPONSOR THE DROWNING GIRLS SHOW SPONSOR FOUNDATIONS GUEST SERVICES For Assistance and Accessibility: We’re here to help. If you require assistance, please ask the House Manager or one of the ushers. The Sagebrush Theatre now has hearing assist listening systems. And both the Pavilion and Sagebrush theatres are wheelchair accessible and equipped with wheelchair-seating locations. Please see the House Manager for details. In consideration of your fellow audience members’ comfort and enjoyment, we ask the following: Electronic Devices: Please turn off all cellular phones and watch alarms prior to the show. Due to copyright regulations, the use of cameras and other video or audio recording of this performance by any means is strictly prohibited. Late Arrival and Re-admission: If you arrive after a performance has begun or leave the auditorium during the performance, we will make every effort to seat you at an appropriate interval in the program. Please be advised that this may not be the seat you are ticketed for, depending on its location in the theatre. Scent-free Facilities: Please arrive perfume/cologne-free and do not bring flowers into the lobby or theatre. Children: WCT productions, unless they are identified as family friendly, are not suitable for children or babes in arms. Every patron, regardless of age, requires a ticket. For more information, please visit the FAQs on wctlive.ca.
WELCOME! I first met The Drowning Girls in a workshop production in Edmonton almost 20 years ago. The creators were emerging playwright/actors who went on to refine and develop the play, which has since been produced all across Canada and abroad. I loved its brashness, its daring, its theatricality, and its subversion of genre: melding the tragic, the comic, the mysterious, and the dramatic in a storytelling format that keeps you on your toes. I have always questioned why our popular culture identifies and obsesses over the perpetrators of violence, while we turn the “victims” into passive participants. The appeal of this play lies in the way it gives voice to the women who were targeted by this real-life sociopath, empowering them to take control of their own stories, and to present them as living, breathing, excited individuals instead of faceless statistics. The play also speaks of the early- UP NEXT 20th century, a time when women were severely on the stage: restricted in their options, but were on the brink of DRACULA: emancipation, including suffrage. THE BLOODY TRUTH Taking advantage of the flexible space the Pavilion October 10 to 19 Theatre offers, I chose to stage the play in the round, SAGEBRUSH THEATRE in order to immerse the audience (sometimes literally!) other activities: in the production and performances. At the theatre we can often feel that we are witnesses to a story; the BREWLOOPS 2019 unique, 360-degree perspective of staging in the round September 27 & 28 takes it one step further, allowing the audience to feel Evenings for the adults like active participants. Sat. afternoon for everyone MacArthur Island This is a play that stimulates our imagination, engages TAKE A BEHIND THE our intellect, and provokes our emotions. A perfect STAGE TOUR OF THE encapsulation of why we come to the theatre! DROWNING GIRLS for Culture Days 2019 September 28 Pavilion Theatre James MacDonald, Artistic Director of WCT Director of The Drowning Girls wctlive.ca We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create and perform on the beautiful land located in the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory within the traditional lands of the Secwépemc Nation.
WCT STAFF BOARD JAMES MACDONALD Artistic Director TIM RODGERS President EVAN KLASSEN Managing Director GRANT CHU Past President LORI BREGOLISS ADMINISTRATION MARILYN CROSSEN TERRI RUNNALLS Education & Outreach Director BEVERLEY DESANTIS RON THOMPSON Finance Director WESLEY ECCLESTON SUSAN THOMPSON Associate Finance Manager SHARON FRISSELL CATRINA CROWE Marketing & Communications Director GORDON MILLER FRANKIE KNIGHT Marketing Associate CHRYSTIE STEWART SUZAN GOGUEN Growth & Engagement Director ROGER DOWNIE Fund Development Manager David Ross † ALI WEBSTER Special Events Manager Tom Kerr ‡ SARAH BLUMEL Fund Development Coordinator Judge T.W. Shupe § D. Michael Dobbin * PRODUCTION Peggy Gilmour * DAWN BERGSTROM Producer Francis Barnett * BILL CHABASSOL Production Manager Mike Latta * BRIAN ST-AMAND Sagebrush Technical Director Anne Manson * PAUL CUTHBERT Sagebrush Assistant Technical Director Maureen Marshall * LIAM BEFURT Associate Technical Director Lanni Shupe * CINDY WIEBE Head of Wardrobe RORY LYNCH Head of Scenic Carpentry § Honorary Life Chairman ANGELA FRYE Head of Properties & Scenic Painter * Honorary Life Member SELENA “TWITCH” TOBIN Intern Production Manager/ † Honorary Life Artistic Producer Technical Director ‡ Founding Artistic Director RYAN PINETTE Production Assistant CHARLOTTE WAGNER Wardrobe BRITTNEY MARTENS Scenic Paint Apprentice SPECIAL VENUE SERVICES SHEVAUN FORTUNE Venue Services Director MICHELLE CHABASSOL Venue Services Coordinator THANKS ALLISON BREGOLISS Volunteer Coordinator MORGAN BENEDICT House Manager House Staff: AMANDA BREUER, NICOLLE DUPONT, MAXWELL GALLAGHER, BERT KEEPER, JAKOB KOPYTKO, KELLY MCCALLUM, KAMLOOPS LIZ SPIVEY JENNIE WIEBE Kamloops Live! Box Office (KL!BO) Representatives: HOME HARDWARE KORY CUDMORE, MAXWELL GALLAGHER, JANE HARESTAD, JAKOB KOPYTKO, GRACE LABOSSIERE, KELLY MCCALLUM, STEPHANIE MONIUK, GRAYSON NORSWORTHY 1322 McGill Road 40 Sales•Design•Installation info@kamtileworks.com Phone: 250-374-1300 • Fax: 250-374-8115 www.kamtileworks.com
BRAVO! TO OUR DONORS Western Canada Theatre gratefully acknowledges the following government agencies, corporations, foundations, and individuals for their generous contributions through sponsorships and/or charitable donations. We thank everyone who plays their important part in helping us to bring the highest quality of work to the broadest possible audience. Listings based on annual contributions, September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. FUNDERS DIAMOND COMPANIONS: Evelyn Baziuk The City of Kamloops $10,000+ R.C. Bidnell & K. Cousins Canada Council for the Arts Michael E. Black and the Late Christine Bilbey Department of Canadian Heritage Denise E.L. Fortier Richard & Fearon Blair Canada Cultural Spaces Fund In Honour of Helen Barnett’s Jack & Pauline Braaksma Government of Canada Birthday Mavis Chalmers The Province of BC Raymond & Toshi Chatelin PLATINUM PATRONS: $5,000- British Columbia Arts Council Ken & Brenda Christian $9,999 Margaret Chrumka FOUNDATIONS Rae E Nixon Lois Crown BC Interior Community Foundation GOLD PATRONS: $3,500-$4,999 Fred & Helen Cunningham RBC Emerging Artists Project The Bostock and Fallis Families of Kathy & Sinclair Dalgleish The Hamber Foundation Monte Creek Heritage Fund Ian Dalgleish & Melisa Hunter PRESENTING PARTNER Dan & Denise Douglas SILVER PATRONS: $2,000-$3,499 David & Laura Farrow Kelson Group, Ron & Rae Fawcett Roland & Anne Neave Glen & Sara Farrow SEASON SPONSORS Peter H Baron Jim & Joan Rosemary Gordon CFJC TV Bonnie Green COPPER PATRONS: $750-$1,999 Home Hardware Rosemary Hibbard Bill Adams Kamloops This Week Lois K. Hollstedt Hugh & Marilyn Fallis Stone Hazell & Company Rob & Lila Jennejohn Guy & Jeanine Parker Wayside Ted & Maryann Kowalsky Edith Pletzer MAINSTAGE SERIES SPONSOR Kim Senklip Harvey Fred & Nancy Leake TNRD James MacDonald & Tracey Power Ray LePage Russ & Jane Reid Sandy & Ellen McCurrach STUDIO SERIES SPONSOR Tacey Ruffner Terry & Joan McQuillan New Gold Bud & Daphne Smith Tanya Mihura SHOW SPONSORS James & Barbara Wentworth Vic & Sally Mowbray 98.3 CIFM Jim & Beverley Mundle PATRONS: $500-$749 Jeannine & Bob Nishiguchi B-100 Anonymous British Columbia Lottery Richard Olthius Ben & Lorene Anders Colene Palmer Corporation Patricia & Don Andrews Schoening & First Memorial Funeral Mary Ann Peressini Ed & Patti Bruzzese Tracey Pointer Services Jill Calder & Robert Walter ideaLEVER Dean & Lauryn V. Purych Grant & Nancy Chu Ginny Ratsoy Kami Countertops Jessie & James Fedorak Kamloops Airport Tim Rodgers Mirella & Bob Holden Ray & Susan Sewell K97.5 Charles Izowsky & Judy Moser New Country 103.1 Craig & Sharlene Sharpe Michael & Debbie Kowbel Marijke & Al Stott Overland Press Donna Marchand Paul & Company Telus Communications Len & Laurie Marchand Florence Thomson Radio NL June McClure The Riverland Inn & Suites Marg & Don Waldon Master Robert W. McDiarmid & Dave & Maryanne C. Whiting Simply Computing Justice Sharon Matthews Watson Engineering Ltd. Thomas & Sharon Moore BENEFACTORS: $100-$199 MAINSTAGE PWYC SPONSOR Judy Moser Anonymous BEST WESTERN PLUS Kamloops Murphy & Katharine Shewchuk Helen Bailey Hotel Nancy Stewart Wendy Bainbridge David & Rosemarie Stoltze Mike & Mary Elizabeth Baker Barry & Judy Brown INVESTORS: $200-$499 Norm & Heidi Bryson Anonymous Patrick & Jeanne Callahan Peter & Debra Allik-Petersenn Michael & Gerrianne Clare Dianne Almond Geoff & Kathy Collier Francis & Helen Barnett Sally Cornies & Hap Ryan
John & Jean Crowe Marilyn Kay McLean FRIENDS: $25-$99 Brent & Eija Cryderman Doris McNutt Alana Abramson Jeffrey Cummings Ron & Glenda Miles Karen Albiston Joan Cummings Dennis & Maxine Mucha Ruth M. Beday Roxanne Dauncey Wendy Nielsen Colleen Bell Fay Davies Ross Outerbridge Margaret Brown Linnea Davies Maria Paccagnella Glen Cairns Rhonda Diaper Margaret H. Patten Sharon Carrell & John Dittrich Ross & Judy Dickson Carl & Penny Pentilchuk Cathie Cooper Larry & Edie Dixon Robert & Lorraine Pick Cheryl Ann Davison Vivian Edwards Cindy Piwowar Donna Demarni Bob & Pat Esdale Sandra Pryce Beth Dye Shirlee Ezowski Karl & Debbie Rainer Dave & Irene Edamura Reno & Marie Fabbro Niki Remesz Jack & Linda Fulton Ronald & Doreen Fairhurst G Kelly & Shirley Rowland Cathy Hall-Patch Ruth & Michael Fane Lynn Rutherford Ron & Judy Hatch Dan & Laura Ferguson Peter Ryan Jon & Helen Helvoigt Marvyn Fitzpatrick Susan Safford Ken & Marylyne House Chet & Pria Flanagan Rosemary Saint-Michaels Valerie Kemp Ali Floyd Veronica Marie Schnell Rod & Dawn Killough Blake & Linda Fox Shirley Sze & Peter Schwirtz Evan Klassen Louella Garner Ethel Sheremeta In Memory of Brian Loadman Linda Hall Karen Siggers Avalean Loerke Susan Hammond Manju Singh Ron & Marilyn MacKenzie Coleen Hansen George & Simone Smith Beverley Martin Lillian Harcus Shannon Smyrl Robert & Marian McLaren Marianne Hardy Evelyn Smyth Dean & Wendy McLean Helena Hasler Don & Sandy Staff Carol McNeil Bill Victor Heese S Sunder Stan & Louise Oakes Dian Henderson Peggy Swanson Wilma Pagan Lucy Heslip Colleen Joan Tabata Mavis Paravantes Dave & Dorothy Carl Hilton Lynne Totten Joan Parker Mavis Hollman Nicole Tougas Barbara Pettie Donalda Jamrich Nu Master Chapter of Beta Sigma Valentina Putoto Darrel Jones Phi Nancy Rigby Brenda Keay Judith Treherne Jay Rilkoff Sharon Kika Bob & Jennifer Trudeau Bill & Beverly Roberts Bob & Pat King Nancy Van Wagoner Lorraine Romanin Wendy Krauza Di Webb Margaret Sharon Melissa Lowenberg John Weller Kathy Sinclair Terri L. MacLennan Sheryl Willis Jeff Sodowsky Bruce Maricle Jennie Stadnochuk Kathy McArthur Dawne Taylor Kirsten McDougall Lois & David Williams Gillian Mary Woods E FRE BACKSTAGE TOUR OF The Drowning Girls Saturday, Sept 28 4:00–5:00pm PAVILION THEATRE Curious about how theatre is made? Join WCT Artistic Director James MacDonald on Culture Days for a free backstage tour. See how WCT’s production team overcame the technical challenges of this play, including taking into account all that water and having the audience on four sides of the stage – with no wings in which to hide production features. More tour details at wctlive.ca.
The Drowning Girls By BETH GRAHAM, CHARLIE TOMLINSON and DANIELA VLASKALIC FEATURING MORGAN BENEDICT Alice GENEVIEVE FLEMING Margaret CHEYENNE SCOTT Bessie CREATIVE TEAM JAMES MACDONALD Director ANGELA FRYE Set Designer CINDY WIEBE Costume Designer BILL CHABASSOL Lighting Designer LUKAS VANDERLIP Sound Designer TRACEY POWER Choreographer NANCY YUEN Stage Manager DUSTON BARANOW-WATTS Apprentice Stage Manager 75-minute running time – No intermission The Drowning Girls is staged by arrangement with Ian Arnold, Catalyst TCM Inc. www.catalysttcm.com The Drowning Girls premiered at PlayRites Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, 2008. Western Canada Theatre is an active member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. Programme Producer: Western Canada Theatre • wctlive.ca • 250-372-3216 Printer: Wayside Press • www.waysideco.ca • 250-372-3373 Box Office: Kamloops Live! Box Office • kamloopslive.ca • 250-374-5483
Western Canada Theatre continues to deliver vibrant and professional theatre to our community. The City of Kamloops is a proud sponsor and wishes WCT all the best during its 2019–2020 season. Kamloops.ca T R U A C T O R S W O R K S H O P T H E AT R E 2 0 1 9 / 2 0 S E A S O N Sept 26–28 & Oct 3–5 TRU, Old Main, Student Street Curtain Nightly @ 7:30pm Tickets $15, Available Online tru.ca/awt or by calling the Box Office 250-377-6100 WARNING: Some Vulgar Language ART20007 by Stefanie Zadravec directed by Wesley Eccleston
PLAYWRIGHTS BETH GRAHAM, CHARLIE TOMLINSON & DANIELA VLASKALIC Daniela, Charlie, and Beth met at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Together, they created The Drowning Girls, a play that has had a long and surprising life. Since premiering at Alberta Theatre Projects’ Playrites Festival in 2008, The Drowning Girls has been performed in professional theatres, high schools, community halls, and found spaces across Canada. It has also been published by Playwrights Canada Press and produced internationally in the United States, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. The play has received Sterling, Betty Mitchell and SATA awards, as well as the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Literary award and a Dora nomination. Daniela now lives in Ontario, Charlie in Newfoundland, and Beth in Alberta. Riverland Inn & Suites is a proud supporter of Western Canada Theatre Company 1530 River Street | Kamloops, BC V2C 1Y9 tf 1.800.663.1530 | t 250.374.1530 riverlandinn@shawbiz.ca | riverlandinn.kamloops.com
PROUD SUPPORTER Theatre OF LIVE Printing | Signs + Displays | Responsive Marketing PRINTING SIGNS+ DISPLAYS RESPONSIVE MARKETING 902 Camosun Crescent, Kamloops, BC 250.372.3373 | waysideco.ca CHAMBER MUSICIANS OF KAMLOOPS Chamber Music - Close and Personal October 11, 2019 On an Overgrown Path November 9, 2019 Heritage Piano Quintet All concerts start at 7:30 p.m. Info and tickets: chambermusiciansofkamloops.org | (250) 377 1880
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM DUSTON BARANOW-WATTS MORGAN BENEDICT BILL CHABASSOL DUSTON BARANOW-WATTS Apprentice Stage Manager At WCT: Debut Elsewhere: Some selected recent credits include Stage Manager on Enter Laughing (Theatre in the Raw); Japanese Poets North of the 49th Parallel (TASAI Collective); Selfie (Rumble Theatre); Yuko-Kai (TomoeArts); and She Kills Monsters (UBC); Apprentice Stage Manager on It’s a Wonderful Life (Gateway Theatre); Assistant Stage Manager on No One’s Safe (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity); World of Dreams Vancouver (Takarazuka Revue) and Kayoi Komachi/Komachi Visited (TomoeArts). Other: Duston holds a BFA in Theatre Design & Production from the University of British Columbia. He is excited to be working in Kamloops with WCT for the first time! You can find him at dustonbw.com, @dustonbw, or collecting cat mugs. MORGAN BENEDICT Alice At WCT: Debut Elsewhere: Morgan is a TRU Actors Workshop Theatre Alumni, a Stage One Theatre School instructor, and has worked both onstage and offstage with Project X Theatre. Other: Combining her love of theatre, baths and strong female actors, to be a part of this show is truly a dream come true for Morgan! She is so grateful for this opportunity to open the 2019-20 season with WCT! It is such an honour to have her first professional acting credit come from a company that is so near and dear to her heart. Morgan would like to thank her family, friends, boyfriend and Gatsby for their never-ending love and support. BILL CHABASSOL Lighting Designer At WCT: Associate Lighting Designer: Meet My Sister; Production Manager at WCT, in his fifth season Elsewhere: Graduate of Sheridan College and former attendee of the Banff Centre’s Technical Production Work-Study program. Bill has taught, mentored, and been found backstage on many theatrical productions across Canada for over 15 years. Other: Thanks to Michelle for being the brightest light in my life.
In association with Theatre NorthWest, Prince George By LE NAVET BETE & JOHN NICHOLSON OCTOBER 10 – 19 SAGEBRUSH THEATRE WCTLIVE.CA 249 Victoria St, Kamloops 250-374-1711
GENEVIEVE FLEMING ANGELA FRYE JAMES MACDONALD GENEVIEVE FLEMING Margaret At WCT: A Christmas Carol (2010) Elsewhere: Genevieve is an award-winning actor, director, and producer. Based in Vancouver, Genevieve is the Artistic Producer of indie theatre company Hardline Productions and works professionally in theatre, film and television, and voice over. Select performance credits include Wet (Itsazoo); The North Plan (Upintheair); Creeps (Realwheels); and Bug (Hardline). Select directing credits include Wilderness (Studio 58); Flare Path (Slamming Door); and Of Mice and Men (Hardline). Film and television: Select credits include Travelers, Motive, Supernatural, and Package Deal. Other: Genevieve is the recipient of two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards for performance and the Ray Michal Prize for direction. She is a graduate of Mount Allison University and Studio 58. ANGELA FRYE Set Designer At WCT: Debut Elsewhere: Someone to Watch over Me, St. Mary Ignasius Explains It All For You, Duck Variations, Talking With…, Mousetrap. Other: Angela is Head of Props at WCT and has a Master’s in Fine Arts, Painting from Washington State University. She has also worked as a set painter, stage manager and production assistant in several theatres around B.C. Thank you to Maxwell who constantly shows me the great potential of the world. JAMES MACDONALD Director At WCT: Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story, Vimy, GLORY, A Christmas Carol, Million Dollar Quartet. James is also the Artistic Director of Western Canada Theatre. Elsewhere: 36 productions at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Venus in Fur, Vimy, and Billy Bishop Goes to War; Julius Caesar (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); The Old Ladies (Shaw Festival); A Few Good Men (Citadel/Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Miss Shakespeare (Escape Artists, Vancouver), As You Like It, and Much Ado about Nothing (Canadian Stage, Toronto). James is the founding Artistic Director of the River City Shakespeare Festival and the former Program Director of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program.
Locally Owned & Operated Proudly Supporting Western Canada Theatre homehardware.ca Home Owners Rick Kurzac Home Store Owner Kamloops, British Columbia helping homeowners 1325 Josep Way Phone: 250-377-7234 Hours: Monday - Saturday 7am-6pm Kamloops BC, V2H 1N6 Fax: 250-377-7256 Sundays 9am-5pm
TRACEY POWER CHEYENNE SCOTT TRACEY POWER Choreographer At WCT: Director and Choreographer: ELF – The Musical; Playwright and Choreographer: GLORY; in 2020 she will direct Chelsea Hotel, The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Elsewhere: Tracey has worked for theatres across Canada and internationally as an actor, playwright, director and choreographer. She recently directed Cinderella for Project X, choreographed The Coyotes for the Caravan Farm Theatre, and is also very proud to have again choreographed the twenty-four week national tour of GLORY, bringing this WCT premiere production to twelve different theatres across this amazing country. Upcoming: Choreographer and Assistant Director of La Traviata for Vancouver Opera. She is the recipient of the Betty Mitchell, Sterling and Jessie award for her work. www.traceypower.ca CHEYENNE SCOTT Bessie At WCT: Julia in Children of God Elsewhere: Cheyenne is Coast Salish of the Saanich Nation and a theatre artist with a focus on developing new works. Through impactful personal expression and storytelling, her work is an exploration and celebration of her Indigenous heritage. She played Julia in the Urban Ink/NAC premiere production of Children of God and continued with the show for two other tours across Canada. She is a Dora-nominated artist for Now You See Her (Quote Unquote Collective/Nightwood/Why Not Theatre). Additional performance credits include Squawk, Sidewalk Chalk (Geordie Productions); and Savage (Native Earth). Cheyenne has been an artist-in-residence with N’we Jinan Integrative Arts and Mikw Chiyam for several years, working with Indigenous youth across Turtle Island.
LUKAS VANDERLIP CINDY WIEBE LUKAS VANDERLIP Composer/Sound Designer At WCT: Composer/Sound Designer: Vimy, Armstrong’s War; Actor: A Christmas Story Elsewhere: Lukas is a composer and sound designer, based in Kamloops. He has done sound and music composition for local film and theatre productions, such as Disappearing Summers and The Wolf and the Woods (films by Kora Vanderlip); She Kills Monsters (TRU Actors Workshop Theatre); The Robber Bridegroom, Frankenstein (Chimera Theatre); Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella (Project X); and Medea (Performing Arts Westsyde). Other: Lukas has released two albums of music under the name Beholding, with a third coming out this year. Lukas is in his third year, studying for his Bachelor of Arts with a major in history at TRU. Lukas is very excited for the world to experience this production, and he wishes much love to the cast, crew and audience of WCT. He also wants to thank his family and friends for their love, support and constant encouragement. CINDY WIEBE Costume Designer At WCT: Cindy has been Head of Wardrobe since 2003. Past costume designs with WCT include Meet My Sister (with Theatre NorthWest), GLORY, Million Dollar Quartet, Made in Italy, Don’t Dress For Dinner (with Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque, ON/ Richmond Gateway Theatre), Closer Than Ever, Dreary and Izzy, Never Shoot a Stampede Queen, A Christmas Story, A Christmas Carol (2010), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Elsewhere: Romeo and Juliet, Elizabeth Rex, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest (Project X). romantic 28 SEPTEMBER elements Noran Masterworks Saturday Timothy Chooi, violin • 7:30pm Dina Gilbert, Music Director
NANCY YUEN Stage Manager At WCT: Debut Elsewhere: As an Edmonton-based stage manager, Nancy has worked at the Mayfield Theatre for over 50 productions, including Sleuth, Sister Act, Forever Plaid, All Shook Up, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Cabaret, Hairspray, Chicago, and many more. Some other theatre credits include: Witness to a Conga (Teatro la Quindicina); Crazy For You (Cameco Capitol Arts Centre); Fatboy (Edmonton Actors Theatre); Strike! (Workshop West Theatre); The Last Tree of Rapa Nui (Manitoba Theatre for Young People); Love Song, The Liars (Shadow Theatre); The Three Musketeers, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Equus, A Year with Frog and Toad, The Syringa Tree (Citadel Theatre); Rock ’n Roll, Fire (Canadian Stage Company/Citadel Theatre co-production); Humble Boy (Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre); and The Winter’s Tale Project (OrangeBus Production). Nancy is happy to be working on her first show at WCT, The Drowning Girls. Enjoy the show!
HEXSA’AM / TO BE HERE ALWAYS OCTOBER 5 TO DECEMBER 31, 2019 From Hexsa’am: To Be Here Always, 2018, Photo: Marianne Nicolson Kamloops︱BC • kag.bc.ca Enjoy The Drowning Girls PROUD SUPPORTER OF THE WESTERN CANADA THEATRE
PROGRAM NOTES THE EVOLUTION OF A MURDER STORY: THE DROWNING GIRLS RISE(S) AGAIN Beatrice (Bessie) Munday, Alice Burnham, Margaret Lofty Credit: John Frost Newspapers / Alamy Stock Photo Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic rise to a big challenge in The Drowning Girls: they take an early 20th Century British true crime, refocus the lens from which it has historically been viewed, do not give short shrift to its horrors, and make their docudrama entertaining and relevant – at once gripping and humorous, a period piece with contemporary resonance. Society is only beginning to acknowledge the compounding injustice of placing perpetrators of crimes in the spotlight while relegating victims to bit-player status. From 19th and 20th Century British and American to late- 20th Century Canadian serial killers, the names stay recognizable; the names of those who suffered at their hands decidedly less so. A groundbreaking work in Canadian theatre in this regard is Métis playwright Marie Clements’ The Unnatural and Accidental Women (2000): a group of Indigenous women found dead in the company of the same man in Vancouver’s downtown eastside over the course of the previous two decades or so rises from their graves and exacts justice. In an interview in
PROGRAM NOTES . . .CONTINUED Playing the Pacific Province, Clements acknowledges that encountering in a local newspaper a “huge spread” on the perpetrator with “maybe half a page of all of his victims” was the catalyst for her play. A similar impetus seems at play in The Drowning Girls. Narratives around the “Brides in the Bath” murders – the killings of three newly married women by their serial bigamist groom – have been male centred. For example, the husband’s waxwork likeness was exhibited at Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors, and the protagonists of fiction by William Trevor and Anthony Burgess (among others) take his deeds as inspiration for their crimes. The case has also remained well-known because of two men who helped solve it: a famous detective fiction writer and an eminent pathologist. Graham, Tomlinson, and Vlaskalic turn traditional narratives on their heads by reviving the three women – Bessie, Alice, and Margaret – as the stars of their show and relegating the husband to a few lines – spoken by one of his victims. The central question becomes not “Who dun it?” or even “Why and how did he do it?” but “How did these women get deceived by this con artist?” In order to answer that question, of course, the audience needs to get to know the three as individuals. The characters re-enact their respective relationships with their husband, render the conventions of their British Edwardian society, particularize the gruesome details of their demises, and relate the subsequent trial and conviction. Importantly, this is all done through the prisms of dark wit and irony. As audience members, we are likely to shift between the comfort afforded by the humour and the spatial and temporal distance and a more complicated empathy, or even identification, as we recognize that things have changed a great deal, but then they haven’t. The Drowning Girls rose from humble beginnings at the Edmonton Fringe to enjoy productions in theatres across North America – a testament to its creators’ ability to envision the power of a narrative creatively refocused and spiritedly retold. Ginny Ratsoy Associate Professor of English Thompson Rivers University
Tell us how you Thank you for sharing your thoughts towards a collective vision for the next ten years at TRU. Whether you’ve already contributed or are new to EnvisionTRU, we invite you to our final community consultation where we’ll ask: “Describe your ideal TRU 10 years from now.” COMMUNITY CONSULTATION September 25 | 4:30–6:30 p.m. Desert Gardens Community Centre (540 Seymour Street) Find details and more ways to get involved: tru.ca/envision MAR20055 STAGE ONE THEATRE SCHOOL CLASSES AGES YEAR 4 - 18 WCTLIVE.CA ROUND terri@wctlive.ca
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