It promises to be seven great days of plays in May right here in the South Okanagan.
The South Okanagan Amateur Players are pleased to be hosting the 2016 Okanagan Zone Drama Festival (Theatre BC) at the Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver May 21 – May 27.
Each year, Okanagan theatre groups are invited to stage a production and compete for a spot in the provincial Mainstage Festival, held July 2016 in Chilliwack. There the winning “O-Zone” play competes against the top plays from all other zones in the province.
Opening the festival on Saturday May 21 will be newcomer Crimson Tine Players of Princeton performing the bittersweet Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire. A young couple seem to have everything a family could want until a life shattering accident turns their world upside down and leaves them drifting perilously apart.
Fred Skeleton Theatre Company of Kelowna, last year’s double winner of both O-Zone and Mainstage, present The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh on Sunday May 22. In this black comedy, a mysterious writer is interrogated. His deranged tales link him to a string of copycat murders. Secrets are revealed, mystery unravelled, and fiction influences reality.
Host club, South Okanagan Amateur Players, stage Sleeping Indoors by Jim Holt on Monday May 23. When a philanthropic housewife invites a homeless stranger into her home for the holidays, she and her family must re-evaluate their priorities, what makes a person ‘rich’, and the definition of personal freedom, and gain a new perspective on sleeping indoors.
On Tuesday May 24, Back Stage Theatre will perform Posing for Mr. Wiser written, produced and directed by Michael L. Poirier. Mr. Wiser is a bitter alcoholic, retired police officer, and determined artist. He cannot keep a willing model until a cheeky twenty-one-year-old enters his studio and challenges his attitude.
Powerhouse Theatre returns to the festival this year on May 25th with the hilarious Unnecessary Farce by Paul Slade Smith. A cheap motel room. Two undercover cops. Three crooks. An embezzling mayor. His female accountant, who keeps taking off her clothes. Go figure.
On Thursday May 26, the Asparagus Community Theatre presents The Maids by Jean Genet. Two sisters are maids to a wealthy society woman. The unstable relationship between the revengeful maids and their unsuspecting employer escalates until violent fantasies threaten to become reality.
Closing night, May 27th, goes to Shuswap Theatre with Guy Vanderhaeghe’s I Had a Job I Liked. Once. A by-the-book RCMP sergeant must uncover the truth when a crown attorney’s daughter accuses a troubled teenage boy of an egregious crime. Is he guilty? What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell the truth?
The curtain rises each night at 7:30 p.m. at the frank Venables Theatre, 6100 Gala Street, Oliver. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. A wine bar and light refreshments are available.