As the Morinville Community Cultural Centre heads into the 2015 portion of the season, the phone lines are ringing with individuals booking events or buying tickets for upcoming professional shows.
“So far we’ve had very good crowds – 150 to 200 each show and with the Elton John-Billy Joel tribute, we had well over 200 people,” says Laurie Stalker, cultural centre manager.
Tickets for 2015 provide patrons with passports to a series of interactive plays, country music and acrobatic comedy.
Kicking off the season is Monster Theatre’s The Little Prince on Saturday, Jan. 24. This original adaptation from Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry’s novella brings to life the poetic tale of an aviator stranded in the desert who meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tiny asteroid.
This commentary on the strangeness of the adult world looks at the true meaning of love and loyalty and celebrates the beauty of the imagination with puppets, masks, original music, grand storytellers and a sprinkle of theatre magic.
“This is the first time they will be in this region and we are looking forward to having them here,” Stalker noted.
The centre has nabbed country gold with the arrival of singer Jimmy Rankin on Thursday, Feb. 12. With over 25 years in the biz, Rankin released his sixth solo album Back Road Paradise in 2014 and is on a 24-stop western tour.
“He’s primarily country with some Celtic, roots and rock mixed in. He’s really established his career in the last decade. He’s doing a small-town tour and we are thrilled to have such a big name in Morinville.”
At the request of patrons, Missoula Children’s Theatre returns to the cultural centre with The Little Mermaid on Saturday, Feb. 28. The Montana-based company roars into town one week before the production with costumes, props and music. It auditions area youth from kindergarten to Grade 12, rehearses them for a week and mounts a show. Stalker sees many pluses for this style of community theatre.
“It’s that wonderful thing of going through the teaching process and things happening. It’s fun. It’s a good team building exercise. It boosts confidence. They dance, sing and build on their skills. And the audience loves it.”
Tomás KubĂnek, a self-described “Certified Lunatic and Master of the Impossible,” leaps onto the cultural centre stage on Friday, March 20. The Czech-born master of the absurd mixes acrobatics, physical comedy and clowning with poetic trickery and devilish wit.
“He wows the crowd. He holds them in the palm of his hand doing tricks and stunts. He is very much a physical performer, but his routines are very refined. He’s a performance artist whose passion just happens to be circus.”
The last children’s show is Kaybridge Puppets presentation of The Frog Prince on Saturday, April 11. Actor-director Kate Ryan, co-founder of Kaybridge, is mounting a 45-minute production at 10:30 a.m. followed by a puppet-making workshop at 11:30 a.m. This program is geared for children three to eight years old.
Rounding out the season is Ain’t No Rodeo, a four-man country rock band headed by Morinville’s own Darcy Hjelsvold, a competitor on the 2008 CMT Karaoke Star. The newly formed country rock band released a three-song EP in 2014 and is a frequent guest at festivals and rodeos.
A town favourite, Stalker hopes Ain’t No Rodeo will be a town sellout.
“We’re still experimenting in what people like and want to see. In our first four years we’ve offered a bit of everything to see what the community likes. We’re not trying to book things that happen anywhere else. We try to include variety such as the familiar like Jimmy Rankin and the not so familiar like Tomás KubĂnek.”
Tickets are available through the Morinville Community Cultural Centre box office at www.morinvillecentre.ca or at Tix-on-the-Square, 780-420-1757.
