Teatro hosts premiere of Going, Going, Gone

Theatre actor Celina Dean’s home is in Los Angeles, however St. Albert is where the heart is.

“I still have stuff in my parent’s basement,” laughs Dean, formerly known as Celina Stachow to her St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumni before she married actor Josh Dean.

South of the border Dean has racked up a hefty resume doing voice-over work, filling in vocal takes for leads and performing in regional theatre.

She is in town as part of Teatro La Quindicina’s premiere production of playwright Jana O’Connor’s romantic comedy Going, Going, Gone – an apt description for the screwball events that meticulously unfold.

Set in the 1930s, this light entertainment is one big chase triangle as a man pursued by a desperate woman in turn falls for another.

Grant Carlisle (Andrew MacDonald-Smith), a sweet, but unsuccessful antique dealer, tries to acquire a specific candlestick. He already owns one and if he can form a pair and sell it for a bundle, it will float his shop.

Dean’s character is Betsy Barford, a socialite with her eye on the main chance and she’s set Grant in her sights.

“She’s very motivated to be married because she’s not getting any younger,” said Dean. “When he mistakenly proposes, she accepts.”

But fate intervenes in the form of Edie Addison (played by Rachel Bowron, St. Albert Children’s Theatre musical director).

“She’s a whirlwind of a human being. She’s a girl about town and she knows what she wants. She’s an independent woman and no way is marriage on her mind.”

The clash of titans begins after Grant and Edie mistakenly grab each other’s valise.

“Jana has really tapped into that era and fun to play in it,” said Dean. “In this kind of a show, you could pull a thread and it unravels. But Jana has thought of all the permutations and keeps it together in an elegant way.”

O’Connor is known for bringing out the laughs, not only as a familiar face at Teatro, but also as a guest improviser on the nationally acclaimed CBC Radio’s The Irrelevant Show.

Back in 2010, she received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award as an emerging playwright. With part of the award’s money, she booked a writers’ retreat in the Catskill Mountains.

Although the retreat proved to be an idyllic vacation, “I was stuck and couldn’t go anywhere,” said O’Connor until she hit on the idea of two people at a phone booth who accidentally pick up each other’s suitcase.

The creative juices were unleashed and she showed a rough draft to Stewart Lemoine, founder-playwright-director of Teatro.

“He liked my style,” she noted. While her infant daughter slept, O’Connor stepped into her creative world fleshing out the comedy.

“I always had the voice of the actors in my mind and I always hoped Teatro would produce it.”

MacDonald-Smith and Bowron, a real-life couple, are a natural fit as is Dean who had partnered seamlessly with O’Connor in Panties Productions.

And in this four-actor show, Mark Meer is a versatile resource playing every other character.

“He’s incredible. In the subtle shift of his mouth or posture, he can embody a different character.”

And both O’Connor and Dean speak highly of Dave Horak’s directorial approach.

From the writer’s viewpoint, O’Connor notes, “He has a great sense of humour and a great eye. But he also approaches moments of great depth with sensitivity.”

And as an actor, Dean explains, “He’s very good at finding comedy and mining it for more gold – like a piece of music.”

Going, Going, Gone runs at the Varscona Theatre from June 22 to July 1.