‘Tis the season. Not the Holiday season, the Theatre season!
It is an exciting time here at Lunchbox Theatre as we are about to embark on season number 34. Rehearsals for Stagefright begin in just over a week so there is a flurry of activity as we all get ready to say goodbye to summer and hello to our 2008/09 season! I am excited to welcome Mark Bellamy and a talented cast of actors. Natascha Girgis, Mallory Minerson, Kevin Rothery and Brent Rock are getting ready to sing and dance their way into your hearts beginning September 17 in this hilarious and touching musical by Jim Betts.
I always wonder when the season starts if it’s all going to work. Well we’re about to find out. When I chose this season, my first for Lunchbox Theatre, I tried to take into consideration not only what our audiences want to see but also what they don’t even know they want to see, if that makes sense. There are so many one act plays out there but not al will resonate with our audiences.
To celebrate the move into our brand new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower, I have chosen plays that celebrate the magic of the theatre. From the rehearsal hall setting of Stagefright to David Mamet’s hilarious and moving homage to the theatre in A Life in the Theatre, to the show biz music of “old Blue Eyes” himself in Come Fly With Me, to the wonderfully theatrical The Invention of Music by our favourite playwright Clem Martini to the magic of the trailer park in Darrin Hagen’s tribute to trailer court women in Tornado Magnet (where else but in the theatre could you have an entire trailer park on stage!) and the sheer joy of brand new our holiday comedy The Christmas Tree by Canada’s most produced king of comedy, Norm Foster, these plays collectively pay tribute to the magic of the theatre and all things theatrical. At least that’s what I’m hoping you will feel when you join us this season.
Once things get under way I’ll let you know whether I am right or not. And I’m sure you will let me know too! Ah, what the hell, it’s still summer. I’m going to grab a cold beer.
Martie
