PLAYBOT: Stage mom goes overboard in Miss Teen
What it is with stage moms becoming obsessed by their daughters’ beauty pageants? Could it be a faded rose from days gone by?
You want to be supportive for your kid and all, but some mothers go way overboard.
Many ridiculous cases both real and fictional are evoked in Michele Riml’s new play Miss Teen, playing Jan. 23-Feb. 10 at the Varscona Theatre in a Shadow Theatre production. Starring Patricia Cerra, Kristi Hansen, Emma Houghton, and Emily Howard, the story revolves around an awkward young girl who wins a local beauty pageant. Cue the mom – who figures her suddenly famous kid is going to make them all rich. And you can see where this is going. Director John Hudson says it best: It’s a “beautiful dysfunctional family comedy.”
Lake of the Strangers
Hunter Cardinal, son of Lewis, stars in this one-hander about two First Nations brothers who take an unauthorized fishing trip into the deep woods – “finding each other and themselves.” Plus, we assume, wild animals. That the press release calls this the boys’ “last” summer adventure together has sinister portent, but it’s probably just nothing but growing up and moving on.
Hunter is the co-writer with his sister Jacquelyn, and the play runs Jan. 22-Feb. 2 at the Backstage Theatre in the ATB Financial Arts Barns.
Ali Hassan & Dave Merheje – We Ain’t Terrorists
You may know Ali Hassan for his extensive work for the CBC, and for his one-man show Muslim Interrupted. Dave Merheje, meanwhile, originally from Los Angeles but currently in Toronto, has also done material that touched on religious extremism. Together on the Festival Place stage Sunday, Jan. 27, they’ll marshal their combined courage to tackle the tricky topics suggested by the title of their show. Because we could all use a good laugh right about now.
Minerva – Queen of the Handcuffs
Edmonton magician Ron Pearson’s latest play is based on the true story of old-time escape artist Minerva Vano and her rivalry with Harry Houdini. It’s set in the very early 20th Century – when women couldn’t even vote. The very idea of a female magician made American citizenry frown. Houdini wasn’t too keen on the idea, either.
The play stars real-life escape artist Miranda Allen, and in addition to the drama of struggling for magic in a male-dominated industry, will feature actual tricks of the sort that would’ve been seen back in the 1910s.
The world premiere runs until Jan. 27 at the Roxy on Gateway.
Inferno
Fun fact: Did you know hell is never described in the Bible? We can thank 14th Century writer Dante Alighieri for our common Hell: with the flames and the eternal torment and the demons and whatnot. Thanks, Dante!
Hell has since been depicted in many ways – but not on high wires, as far as we know. Cue the latest workshop show from Firefly Theatre and Circus for an unusual adaptation of Dante’s Inferno by Belinda Cornish and Jocelyn Ahlf. Playing until Jan. 26 at the Westbury Theatre in the ATB Financial Arts Barns, the story follows a man’s journey to the underworld to rescue his one true love. The action is rendered by aerialists, contortionists, acrobats, singing demons, flying zombies and an adorable dog who answers to the name of “Cerberus.”
The Cardiac Shadow
This is one of the edgiest plays Northern Light Theatre has ever produced: Based on the true story of four female Jewish concentration camp prisoners who were experimented on by an evil Nazi doctor – specifically to find out how much a human being could endure extreme cold.
This is one of many little-known Holocaust atrocities, brought to light by playwright Clay McLeod Chapman, with performances by the Good Women Dance Collective. Director Trevor Schmidt is quoted in a press release, “In our current era of dehumanizing language and violent actions towards society’s most vulnerable, The Cardiac Shadow more than resonates.”
The Canadian premiere of the play runs until Feb. 2 at the Studio Theatre in the ATB Financial Arts Barns, and will coincide with World Holocaust Day on Jan. 27.
KaldrSaga: A Queer Tavern Drama for a Midwinter’s Night
Dangerous tales in shades of One Thousand and One Nights in Cardiac Theatre’s latest production as two friends – named Kaldr and Saga – who have only one night each year travel to a faraway pub to share their stories with each other. Lucky for us, the pub they chose is in Edmonton, at the Almanac, where this play runs until Jan. 26. They’re searching for stories of Pride in the lore of the Norse Gods – and there’s got to be some overlap.
Sweat
The Citadel Theatre’s first show of 2019 hits the nail on the head of recent Alberta concerns. It’s called Sweat – wherein real men (and women) with hard and hard-held jobs struggle with the “changing landscape of America.” This Lynn Nottage play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2017, and they don’t give these things to just anyone.
It’s set in Reading, Pennsylvania, which after the almost complete loss of its heavy industry became one the poorest cities in America. Life-long friends in the community provide the real inside story of their death-of-the-American-dream plight; a cast of eight is led by noted Canadian actor Ashley Wright, and runs at the Citadel until Feb. 3.
Canada 151
Last chance for romance! This is the last weekend for the truly Canadian love-in happening at the Mayfield Dinner Theatre until Jan. 27. Music by Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Anne Murray, the Guess Who, Alanis Morissette, the Tragically Hip and many more is presented in a fantasy musical celebration that hits all the bases of the Canadian musical canon in a breathless two-and-a-half hour show. A great band, as always, does a fine job replicating all the different artists in their eras of history.
