Shows for all tastes
The eight plays hitting the stage at the Arts and Culture Centre during the 61st Provincial Drama Festival have a broad appeal and are sure to provide theatre-goers with entertainment they will not soon forget.
Opening the week will be the Exploits Valley's own Northcliffe Drama Club, which is performing Timothy Findley's "The Stillborn Lover."
On April 24, the Off-Broadway Players perform Sam Shepard's "True West."
In this show, brothers Austin and Lee are polar opposites, the former a successful family man with a budding screenwriting career, the latter an alcoholic thief.
With their mother on vacation, Austin comes home to house sit, while Lee returns to the homestead for an entirely different reason.
The following evening will see the Bay Theatre perform "Jenny's House of Joy," by Norm Foster. This show is a humourous look at the world's oldest profession and the relationships that are born out of hardship.
Next up, on April 26, are the Northern Lights Theatre Company with Martin McDonagh's dark comedy "The Cripple of Inishmaan."
Set on the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland in 1934, a crew from Hollywood arrive to document life on the island, and Billy Claven, eager to escape the gossip, poverty and boredom of his home, vies for a part in the film.
The Wednesday night show is "Seven Stories," by Morris Panych, which will be performed by the Avion Players.
In the play, a suicidal man prepares to jump to his own death from the seventh story of an apartment building. Before he takes his leap, he is confronted by the stories of the residents inside.
On April 28, Joanna McCelland-Glass's "If We are Women" will be performed by the Mokami Players. Three generations of women gathered at a Connecticut beach house, where they discuss their past and present lives.
Friday, April 29 has the Carol Players onstage performing David Lindsay-Abaire's "Rabbit Hole."
This play follows Becca and Howie Corbett, who have everything a family could want, until their lives are turned upside-down by a horrible accident. The couple drifts apart in the wake of the tragedy, and search for comfort in the darkest of places until they return to the light of day.
And finally, closing the show on Saturday, April 30, are the Beothuck Street Players with "Scorched," by Wajdi Mouawad.
In the play, a mother falls into complete silence, then dies, leaving her twin children to find the source of their departed mother's despair.
They must find their father who they never knew, a brother they never knew they had and their search for answers takes them from Montreal to a war torn desert.
