A woman inherits a house from someone she’s never met, while a street person accepts an unexpected invite from a well-to-do sister.
These and other locally written plot lines will be brought before an audience when the collaborative Central Alberta Theatre and Writers’ Ink Workshop Theatre is launched next week.
Four original one-acts, written by Writers’ Ink members, will be workshopped by Central Alberta Theatre actors from Nov. 9-12 at the Nickle Studio, upstairs at the Memorial Centre. (Two plays will be performed during each 90-minute show.)
“It’s been a learning experience for all of us, but very much a fun time,” said CAT member Craig Scott. He believes the audience will get an interesting peak into the playwrighting process, and chance to talk to the writers following the performances.
The collaboration between the two local groups started about a year ago when Scott was approached by Lauranne Hemingway of Writers’ Ink, who wanted to hold a script-writing workshop, but wasn’t sure how to finance it. CAT members helped her draft a grant application that was successful, allowing professional dramaturge Gordon Pengilly, from Calgary, to be hired to teach the session, which Scott also attended.
Four of the projects that sprang from the workshop will be acted out on stage for the first time. While CAT held its One-Act Play Festival in June, it was too soon to include these just-written plays, said Scott, who noted a decision was made to perform them at a later date.
Scott is directing two of the one-acts. The other two are being helmed by Brendan Kearney.
The plays running Nov. 9 and 11 are:
- Saving Grace, by Richard McIntyre: A woman living on the streets gets an unexpected invite from her well-to-do sister, who’s been keeping a secret.
- And Going Postal, by Patricia Mary O’Neill: A middle-age woman who’s about to remarry returns to her hometown and gets into a confining situation that interests her old flame, the mayor and an Irish wanderer.
The Nov. 10 and 12 plays are:
- The Love Lottery, by Lyle Meeres: A Canada Revenue Agent, who loses his phone, has it recovered by a beautiful stranger. It leaves him wondering if meeting someone special is pure luck or predestined?
- And The Keepers, by Danielle Lee: A young woman inherits a house, its servants and all its contents, from a woman whose funeral she attends, but has never met in life.
Shows start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door, or from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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