Opening Night for St. Albert Theatre Troupe

There’s a new community theatre company in St. Albert and next week it debuts its first dinner theatre production at the Kinsmen Korral.

Almost as a tongue-in-cheek joke, St. Albert Theatre Troupe premieres its first show with Norm Foster’s Opening Night running February 9 to 11, 16 to 18 and 23 to 25.

The newbie theatre troupe, an offshoot from St. Albert Theatre Arts Guild Entertainers (STAGE) was founded by local thespians Mark McGarrigle, Danielle Pearce, David Haas and Shirley Williams.

McGarrigle and Pearce first teamed up in 2011 when STAGE produced the Norm Foster comedy Self-Help. However, after Self-Help was mounted there was a lull in the season.

“STAGE was formulating policy and we got tired of waiting for it to do something. We wanted to start producing plays. The stars aligned and it became suitable for us to start our own theatre group,” says McGarrigle.

Much like Self-Help, Opening Night is layered with comedy blending laughter and heartache. Rather than passing on a deep profound message, the Canadian playwright simply writes about ordinary people trying to get by in life. His warm characters and rich humour are a staple across the country with about 150 productions produced annually.

“He’s a fantastic writer. He knows how to structure a play and set up jokes. He’s definitely one of Canada’s best and his style of play suits dinner theatre,” McGarrigle adds.

In Opening Night, Ruth and Jack celebrate their silver anniversary. Ruth (Shirley Williams) wants to put some zip into their marriage and has scored a couple of tickets to a new play making its debut. Jack (Steve Palmer), a varnish salesman, would rather stay home and watch the World Series.

In the theatre’s VIP lounge they run into bizarre characters starting with Michael (Kelly Aisenstat), an out-of-work actor and Tom (Trevor Lawless), an aspiring actor employed as a waiter. Then there’s Richard (Mark McGarrigle), the pompous director of the show fending off his girlfriend Cilla (Melanie Pattison). She suspects him of cheating with Libby (Kate Elliott), an ambitious novice actress. And then there’s experienced actor Clayton Fry (Ali Yusuf), the latest acting talent, contributing to the mayhem.

Directing this madcap adventure is 2008 Grant MacEwan theatre arts graduate Joshua Schilds.

“It’s a broad play. The slapstick comedy and sarcasm are quite large and the comedy is very fast-paced, which is nice for dinner theatre. Situation comedy is something everyone connects to,” says Schilds.

In his first directing venture, Schilds stepped into the chair after Pearce, the original director, returned to her native England for personal reasons.

As director, his main goals for community theatre are to entertain the audience and make sure the actors are pumped.

“A few times at rehearsal, we’ve had to take a break and recoup from laughing so hard.”

“Norm Foster is one of Canada’s premiere playwrights. It’s hard not to enjoy the script. The actors do a very good job and it’s a really funny play.”