On Stage
2009 MAINSTAGE SERIES
Diamond Anniversary Season features wonderful mix of Comedy, Drama and Music
Our 2009 season offers highlights from our past sixty years, and celebrates six decades of creating entertaining, engaging and dynamic theatre, performed by top Canadian talent.
We are thrilled to announce that as part of our season we will be featuring the outstanding talents of two guest directors. Robert More, the celebrated Artistic Director of Victoria Playhouse, Petrolia will direct the comedy Harvest and Sue Miner one of Canada’s most sought after artists and next summer’s Director of the prestigious “Dream in High Park” for Canadian Stage will direct the musical, The Fantasticks. Also, back for his eighth season is Artistic Director, Jordan Merkur, who will be directing two plays this season: the classic The Glass Menagerie and the touching comedy The Melville Boys.
The Glass Menagerie
Originally performed during the inaugural 1949 Season at The Red Barn Theatre, we are proud to present The Glass Menagerie (June 18 to July 4) as the first production of our 60th Anniversary Season. The Wingfield family struggles to improve their lives: mother Amanda, a single parent, determined for change; son Tom, rebellious and daughter Laura, withdrawn. This entertaining memory play uses humour and pathos to examine a family unraveling, lost in their individual fantasies and dreams.
The Melville Boys
One of The Red Barn’s more current productions was Norm Foster’s debut comedy hit, The Melville Boys (July 9 to 25) which was first produced here in 1992. This production captures the essence of Foster’s writing: it’s funny yet profoundly emotional. Brothers Owen and Lee Melville arrive at their aunt’s cottage for a weekend of fishing and beer, but their plans are thrown out of whack by the arrival of two sisters. The women become catalysts for a humourous and unsentimental look at four lives in transition.
The Fantasticks
Performed twice at The Red Barn Theatre, during the 1968 Season and 1982 Season, The Fantasticks (July 30 to August 15) is the longest running musical in the world. It tells an allegorical story concerning two eccentric fathers who put up a wall between their houses to ensure that their children don’t fall in love. The result is a timeless fable of young love that manages to be nostalgic and universal at the same time, punctuated by a series of catchy, memorable songs, many of which have become standards including “Soon Its Gonna Rain” and “Try to Remember.”
Harvest
Looking towards the future, we have chosen to present for our final show of our 60th anniversary season a co-production with Victoria Playhouse Petrolia of the new comedy Harvest (August 20 to September 5) by Ken Cameron. Allan and Charlotte have retired from farming, and even though they’ve sold the land and moved to a condo in the city, they can’t bear to part with the old farmhouse. So, they rent it to Ron who seems too good to be true. The tale that unfolds is full of twists and surprises and is based on a true story of a couple that nearly lost their life savings when “a nice young man” turned their family farm into something not quite legit. This hilarious and sobering play was a hit last season at the acclaimed Blyth Festival
