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CAT changing lineup

A widow who discovers a marijuana-grow op in her barn and a Newfoundlander who hits the road seeking his fortune are both coming to you in 2013, courtesy of Central Alberta Theatre.

A widow who discovers a marijuana-grow op in her barn and a Newfoundlander who hits the road seeking his fortune are both coming to you in 2013, courtesy of Central Alberta Theatre.

Some changes were made to CAT’s lineup of plays for the new year.

The new comedy for January is Culture Shock, by Chris Lorne Elliott, about a bored Newfoundlander who tries his luck in Montreal.

The March production will be The Prairie Winter Theatre, featuring the one-act play Bloom, by Leanne Minogue. It’s about what happens when the co-chair of a Communities in Bloom committee discovers some illicit plants growing in her deceased husband’s barn.

Vice-president Lawrence Hobbs said some revisions were necessary because of a decision to move most of the season into the smaller, 60-seat Nickle Studio, where dinner theatres cannot be offered.

“Some of the plays were pretty dinner theatre-y,” said Hobbs, who believes the newly announced comedies will fit the venue, and hopefully appeal to a broader audience.

Culture Shock was extremely popular when staged in Red Deer some five or six years ago as an independent production, added Hobbs.

“People kept asking (director Brian Spenser) when he was going to do it again.”

The Prairie Winter Theatre, directed by Deb O’Brien, will also include another one-act play or some prairie-related monologues.

Also slated for the Nickel Studio in April is Gladys in Wonderland, by Rosemary Frisino Toohey. The comedy is about a feisty 87-year-old who thumbs her nose at the grim reaper and refuses to die.

The biggest CAT play of the new year, On Golden Pond, will have a short run in the 700-seat Memorial Centre mainstage in February.

The bittersweet comedy by Michael McKeever — which was turned into a beloved movie starring Henry Fonda — is about a cantankerous old man who makes friends with his step-grandson, and peace with his daughter at the twilight of his life.

After the current run of the comedy 2 Across, by Jerry Mayer, wraps up on Oct. 27 in the Nickle Studio, CAT will present its Christmas play, My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack, in the Memorial Centre from Nov. 22 to Dec. 7.