The notorious Nurse Ratched and kooky flower child Jill Tanner will make local stage appearances when Central Alberta Theatre launches its fall season.
Ken Kesey’s riveting drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Leonard Gershe’s ‘60s-era comedy Butterflies are Free are on CAT’s fall/winter schedule, along with another well-known play — Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling — and several lesser-known gems.
The Christmas-time production will be a locally written musical pantomime, Cinderella Dances With the Stars, by Albert Azzara. The zany, broad comedy “is for everyone from age five to 95,” said CAT veteran member Carole Forhan, who’s please with the new lineup.
“We have a good mixture of plays — from the silly to musicals and dramas.”
There will be more well-known plot lines staged in the upcoming season — as well as some meaty ones, which Forhan believes is necessary to attract an audience, since CAT will not be holding dinner theatres in the near future.
She’s looking forward to the new season now that CAT is on fiscally stable footing once again. Earlier this year, the in-debt non-profit community theatre group worked out a repayment plan with creditors, as well as a five-year financial plan.
Forhan said things are now much more predictable and manageable for CAT members. The group is taking applications to fill a paid operations director position by August. The board of directors is also seeking to fill two voluntary positions — for vice-president of business and vice-president of training. (Call 403-347-8111.)
In the meantime, CAT members are also negotiating with Red Deer College to use the downtown City Centre Stage for some of its upcoming productions. Others will be held at the Memorial Centre and the smaller upstairs Nickle Studio.
l The fall season will open with the comedy Butterflies are Free, which helped launch Goldie Hawn’s acting career (she starred as Jill Tanner in the film version). Slated to run Sept. 26 to Oct. 13 at the Nickle Studio, the play is about a young blind man who finds love with a free-spirited neighbour while struggling for independence from his over-protective mother.
l The tight-knit southern women of Steel Magnolias will take the stage from Nov. 1 to 16 at a venue to be announced. The tear-jerking comedy/drama (also made into a film) is about a group of friends who stick together through the highs and lows of their lives in Louisiana. It will be directed by Albertus Koett.
l From Dec. 13 to 21, Cinderella, aided by her unionized fairy godmother, will face off against rivals in a no-holds-barred dance-off for Prince Charming in Cinderella Dances With the Stars. The play, written and directed by Red Deer playwright Azzara, will be staged at Red Deer’s Memorial Centre. There will be several matinees, including some geared towards school groups.
l The second longest running off-Broadway musical, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts, will run in a yet-to-be-announced venue from Jan. 16 to Feb. 1. The musical, to be directed by Lori Lane, is comprised of series of vignettes on the theme of love and relationships. The tag line is: “Everything you have ever secretly thought about dating, romance, marriage, lovers, husbands, wives and in-laws, but were afraid to admit.”
l The Oldest Profession, a satire, sort of musical, by Paula Vogel, goes from Feb. 20 to March 8 at the Nickle Studio. It features a group of senior hookers who are working the grey-haired circuit (senior centres, retirement homes) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This Brechtian play, directed by Derek Olinek, offers a mix of social commentary about economics and the roles of women amid stylized musical interludes.
l The drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, adapted from a book by Ken Kesey, will be staged from March 27 to April 12 at a venue to be announced. The movie version famously starred actor Jack Nicholson as Randle Patrick Murphy, who fakes a mental illness to get out of a jail sentence, but clashes with nurse Mildred Ratched at a psychiatric facility. It will be directed by Jeremy Robinson.
l Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s comedy Looking, about four 40-somethings who are searching for love, will unfold from May 1 to 17 at the Nickle Studio. Lynn Olson will direct.
l And the season will wind down with CAT’s One-Act Play Festival, which will run June 12 to 21 at a venue to be announced.
For more information, visit www.centralalbertatheatre.ca.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com