The 2010 NotaBle Acts
Theatre Festival
is quickly approaching, and what does that mean? It means you need to get yourself out to see some fabulous theatre! We have a wonderful festival for everyone to experience this year jam packed with 100% original (never before seen) New Brunswick theatre! So come join us from July 23rd to August 1st at our many fabulous productions!
What can you see?
Try our MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION,
DEMOLITICS by Ryan Griffith.
July 24-27, 8 PM nightly, Memorial Hall, UNB
Tickets: $15 regular; $10 students; pay-what-you-can July 26.
(Available at the door or in advance at Westminster Books.)
The newest comedy from Woodstock’s Ryan Griffith, graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting program, is a play that will delight all who have followed the many twists and turns on the province’s political scene in recent years with even the most casual interest. A rural New Brunswick cabinet minister is forced to defend his government’s record and confront a dark secret from his past when he becomes the victim of a friendly hostage-taking at the hands of a former friend and his demolition derby team buddies. Calvin Culberson, newly minted Minister of Social Services, learns how disconnected he has become from his constituents when the man who saved his life turns up on his doorstep, seeking a political favor to balance the scales. Demolitics is a hilarious, acerbic, and profoundly heartfelt dissection of New Brunswick politics that boldly and humorously demolishes some of our most sacred cows. Required—but perhaps uncomfortable–viewing for all New Brunswick MLAs, pundits, political junkies, and captains of industry.
Directed by Emma Tibaldo, featuring Jeffrey Bate Boerop, Matthew Heiti, Leah Holder, Robbie O’Neill, and Warren Macaulay.
Special events: join us after the show July 25 for a question and answer session with the playwright, cast, and director. Join us after the July 26 pay-what-you-can performance for a panel discussion featuring responses to the play by representatives of New Brunswick’s provincial political parties.
Or also try our Workshop Reading of,
ALDEN: a play by Rick Merrill.
July 23, 8 PM, Beaverbrook Art Gallery
Tickets: Pay-what-you-can, at the door.
Alden is the story of celebrated New Brunswick poet Alden Nowlan, as told exclusively through his own words, in the form of poems, letters, and interviews. Nowlan’s remarkable journey, from a hardscrabble childhood and functional illiteracy to becoming one of Canada’s most acclaimed literary figures, winner of the Governor-General’s Award, and long-time Writer in Residence at UNB, is portrayed with remarkable grace, sensitivity, and humour in Merrill’s passionate and moving script.
A work in development for NotaBle Acts’ 2011 season, Alden is being presented this year as a staged reading for one night only.
Directed by Len Falkenstein, and featuring Victor Stanton, Rebecca Chassé, Thomas Fanjoy, and Derek Mitchell, with original music performed live by Sarah Farquhar.
Special events: An audience response session with the playwright, dramaturge, director, and cast of the play, facilitated by NB Acts Dramaturge in Residence, Jenny Munday, will follow the performance. Cash bar open for the evening.
Don’t forget our contest winning scripts!
Acting Out:
A Double Bill of the Winners of the 2010 One-Act NotaBle Acts Playwriting Contest
July 30-August 1, 8 PM nightly, Memorial Hall, UNB
Tickets: $15 regular/$10 student. August 1 pay-what-you-can. Tickets available at the door or in advance at Westminster Books
Join us for the two winners of our one-act contest, Hardwire by Chris Fulton and Christmas Break by Michael Milech. On tap: plenty of surreal and cerebral comedy, mixed with heartrending poignancy.
HARDWIRE by Chris Fulton
Walt, hopeless neurotic and perpetual loser in love, prepare to defend his thesis on biologically determined gender behaviour (topic: why do women always spurn the intellectual, sensitive type in favour of bad boys), even as his attempts to woo Alice, waitress at his favorite coffee shop, are frustrated by his alpha male buddy, Walt. As the end of his thesis journey seems to be in sight, his reality begins to break down, and visitors from the Pleistocene era take him back in time to challenge his well-wrought arguments.
Directed by Matthew Spinney, featuring Michael Holmes Lauder, Aiden Dewhirst, Carolyn Higle, and BronweN.
CHRISTMAS BREAK by Michael Milech
Janet, a Jewish housewife, is awakened late on Christmas Eve by a red-suited home invader. What begins as something that seems to be the setup to farce turns both hilarious and dark as two lonely souls find companionship under strange and forced circumstances, in a play full of surprising and moving twists.
Directed by Clarissa Hurley, featuring Elizabeth Goodyear and Ian Murphy.
Special events: An audience response session with the playwright, dramaturge, director, and cast of the play, facilitated by NB Acts Dramaturge in Residence, Jenny Munday, will follow the performance on Saturday, July 31.
Or free over lunch? Come out and join us
Taking It To the Streets:
Five Award-Winning Ten-Minute Plays.
July 26-30, 12 noon-1 PM daily, outdoors in Barracks Square, corner of Carleton and Queen Streets, downtown Fredericton. Rain venue: in case of rain the performances will take place under the tent in Barracks Square.
Tickets: free admission, with donations accepted.
Taking It To the Streets presents the five winners of NotaBle Acts’ 2010 playwriting contest for short, ten-minute scripts. Bring your family, bring your lunch, and bring a blanket if you like (lawnchairs also provided) to sit on the grass, soak up some sun and watch some great, entertaining short plays. An ever-popular component of the festival, this year’s plays offer comedy, mystery, romance, suspense … and clowns!
The five plays include:
Body in the Barracks by John Ball. A surreal murder mystery unfolds before the audience’s eyes. This comically entertaining puzzler will have you scratching your head—and watching your back.
Directed by Thomas Fanjoy, featuring Laura Biggar, Andrew Jones … and others.
The Peanut Butter Formula by Dennis Poirier. A filmmaker gives the ultimate ten-minute pitch to a producer. Will Harry ever get his peanut butter sandwich? Join us to find out.
Directed by Becky Forbes, featuring Brent Howe, Chris Nyarady, Dan Doran, and Brittany Stuart.
Sadie Meets Her Match by Kathy Mac. Sadie finally finds the man of her dreams. But there’s only one problem: he’s a dog.
Directed by Christine Bissonnette, featuring Michael Mallaley and Kaitlyn Adair.
Train Ride by Michael Milech. A seemingly innocent encounter on a VIA rail train takes a surprising and suspenseful turn as a young college student turns his hand to extortion.
Directed by Thomas Fanjoy, featuring Jeff Dingle and Julie MacDonald.
Clown College by Chris Nyarady. An awkward family dinner ensues when the black sheep of the clown family comes home to announce that instead of following in the family trade, he’s decided to go … to law school. Cream pies may ensue.
Directed by Madeleine Whalen, featuring Brent Howe, Katie Doran, Mike Mallaley, and Dan Doran.
Enjoy even more NewBrunswick voices as we,
Play Out Loud:
Readings of New Plays in Development
July 28-29, 8 PM nightly, Beaverbrook Art Gallery
Tickets: free admission, donations accepted.
Play Out Loud presents three runners-up from the 2010 NotaBle Acts one-act playwriting contest, along with a new work in development by Playwright/Dramaturge in Residence Jenny Munday. At Play Out Loud, new scripts are presented in the form of public readings, with audience response sessions following each play. Come listen to some exciting new scripts in their first stage of development and be part of the conversation that will shape their ongoing evolution!
This year’s plays:
Never Drive East Before Noon by Jenny Munday. Kelly Green, fading star of an autobiographical one-woman show, returns to her hometown for a four night run. Along with several demons from her past, she must do battle with the ultimate theatre critic, Death, in this metatheatrical comedy.
Performed July 28
The Devil’s Advocate by Ted Boothroyd. A crusading Human Rights Board chair is pushed to the limit by a PR consultant hired to grill her in a mock trial, forcing her to question her own beliefs—and perhaps you will as well.
Performed July 28
The Third Life of Eddie Mann by John Spurway. A suicidal man on the ledge of a hospital is engaged in conversation by a man named Angel. Is he one, or just a refugee from the pysch ward? And will Eddie Mann be saved by his new friend’s mixture of off-the-wall philosophy and baseball lore?
Performed July 29
The Perfect Woman by Bruce Allen Lynch. The author of last year’s Acting Out portrait of Virginia Woolf, The Nicest Place in England returns with a play about another historical woman (or was she…?), Wallis Simpson, the divorceé who led a King to abdicate. A portrait of the regal couple in later life, The Perfect Woman explores the secrets of Simpson’s enduring allure.
Performed July 29
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