Walterdale Playhouse opens its 52nd season with a Canadian play by two-time Governor General’s Award winner Judith Thompson.
Perfect Pie was originally written in 1993. But in 2000 it was expanded to a full-length play about two teenage girls whose lives are dramatically altered after more than one boy abuses one of them on prom night.
They meet after a 30-year absence and share a day reminiscing about a lost childhood that awakens an unbroken bond between the two women.
While Perfect Pie is propelled by the acts of rape and abuse, this memory play also deals with pain, loyalty and the choices people make to protect themselves and each other.
“The play has a fascinating structure that shifts back and forth in time revealing the complex layers of two women’s lives culminating in a stunning climax,” says director Mary Jane Kreisel.
Perfect Pie opens tonight and runs until Saturday, Oct. 16 at the playhouse on 10322 – 83 Ave. Tickets range from $12 to $16 and are on sale at 780-420-1757 or online at www.tixonthesquare.ca.
Across the street from Walterdale, Teatro la Quindicina is finishing up its summer season with The Infinite Shiver slated to run at Varscona Theatre from Oct. 7 to 23.
Created by the theatrical wizards who developed last year’s smash hit Everybody Goes to Mitzi’s — writers Jocelyn Ahlf and Andrew MacDonald-Smith, lyricist Farren Timoteo and composer Ryan Sigurdson — this songfest invents a page in Edmonton’s imagined history.
This time around it’s after the Second World War and a returning serviceman falls in love at first sight with surprising consequences for the whole town.
MacDonald-Smith reprises the leading role as the lovestruck private Arthur Fitzroy and Ahlf is Sadie, the object of his affection. Complicating the road to romance is Kendra Connor with Shannon Blanchett as a wiseacre widow and Geran Koornhoff makes his Teatro debut as Arthur’s best friend.
Ticket prices are $21-$26 with pay-what-you-can Tuesdays. Friday, Oct. 8 is two-for-the-price-of-one.
Tickets are available at 780-420-1757 or online at www.tixonthesquare.ca
Once again Mump and Smoot revisit the Roxy with Mump and Smoot Cracked! running from Oct. 7 to 24.
Commissioned by Theatre Network, Mump and Smoot Cracked! was workshopped last May and the disastrous duo toured this “not for children” play all summer stacking up rave reviews from the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Kitchener-Waterloo.
These scatterbrained clowns travel to a parallel universe, the terrifying world of Planet Ummo. While yakking in gibberish Ummonian, Mump and Smoot set out to defy their God Ummo, who is bent on destroying their friendship and their existence.
Created and performed by Michael Kennard and John Turner, the duo met during Second City workshops in 1986. They went on to study under acclaimed clown artist Richard Pochinko and in 1988 debuted Mump and Smoot in Jump the Gun.
The Roxy is at 10708 – 124 St. Tickets are $14.50 to $55. Call 780-453-2440 or purchase online at www.theatrenetwork.ca.
The Brian Webb Dance Company and les Ballets Jazz de MontrĂ©al set the pace for Edmonton’s contemporary dance season on Oct. 7 and 8 at the Timms Centre for the Arts.
Zip Zap Zoom and Rossini Cards have been hailed as bold, lush and revolutionary. Choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Zip Zap Zoom transports dancers in the realm of the cyber world on Internet games where real emotions and impulses are played out by avatars.
And in Rossini Cards, choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti marries the music of Italian opera great Gioacchino Rossini’s music with his own more contemporary baroque, larger-than-life classical choreography.
Individual tickets are $30 each or $20 for students/seniors. Tickets are available at 780-420-1757 or online at www.tixonthesquare.ca.
