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After two years of hiatus because of Covid-19, we are so excited to announce that the Okanagan Zone Theatre Festival is back again; and even more excited that SOAP is the host club for this year's event. There will be six different plays presented at the Venables Theatre in Oliver during the week of May 22 to May 27, followed by an awards banquet at the Oliver Senior Centre on Saturday May 28.
Five of the participating performances will be competing for a range of awards and recognition, to be announced and presented at the awards banquet at the end of the week. The May 25 performance is not part of the competition. It is a new play that Nicolle will be workshopping with the playwright and the actors. Anyone with a ticket to any one of the competing performances will be able to attend the workshop play free of charge. Each adjudication will include a "coffee critique" held in the lobby of the Venables Theatre the morning following each competing performance. Ticket holders to each of these competing shows can attend its coffee critique the following morning, free of charge. |
Meet our Adjudicator, Nicolle Nattrass: "Be Kind. Those two words resonate with me deeply, not only because of the past 2 years but also as I reflect on my career in the Theatre. To be kind requires collaboration with others for a greater good, an openness and a tenderness, and it feels good to give and receive it. I am honored to be here to give and receive in adjudication and I want to thank you all for your kindness and warm hospitality."
Nicolle Nattrass is an actress (CAEA / UBCP), playwright (Playwrights Guild of Canada) and a Director/Dramaturg. Nicolle has served as Deputy Chair for the Women’s Caucus (2008- 2012) as well as National Forum Rep for Vancouver and the Gulf Islands (2016-2019). She is a graduate from the University of Victoria (1991) with a BFA in Theatre, Acting Specialization. Nicolle is thrilled to be back working for Theatre BC. She has worked as a Juror, Workshop Instructor, Dramaturge and Assistant Director for Theatre BC. She was honored to work as Workshop Director with Nanaimo Theatre Group’s production of, God of Carnage, which won Best Production at the 2014 Theatre BC Mainstage Awards, and the play, Bus Stop, which swept the 2015 Mainstage Festival with 10 awards. She was Artistic Associate for Theatre One’s Emerging Voices as both a Dramaturge and Director from 2013 to 2021. She worked as a Director and Dramaturg on a new play, Shield Maiden, written by Melanie Froh-Teichrob, which allowed her, pre-Covid, to debut on Theatre Row, 42nd Street at the United Solo Festival in New York. As an actress, Nicolle has performed for many regional theatres across Canada and worked in film, tv and radio. She is a Jessie Richardson Theatre nominated actress & playwright who has explored her own work since her very first play, Brownie Points, which received nominations for Outstanding Performance and Outstanding New Play. Other recent acting credits include: Post Secret: The Show. Nicolle joined the Canadian cast for both 2015 & 2016 at the Firehall Theatre in Vancouver. Her comedy duo, The Drama Queens has also been featured on She Kills Me comedy TV series. Currently Nicolle is working on her new solo play, Suddenly 50, with Director/Dramaturge TJ Dawe as well as coaching actors/artists, through Tender-hearted Revolution Coaching. |
Ticket InformationTicket pricing will be similar to what local theater patrons are used to paying for SOAP Theatre productions:
Remember, if you buy a show ticket, you can attend its critique by the adjudicator the following morning at no cost. Also, the workshop play scheduled for May 25 is free to anyone who holds a ticket for any of the other plays. |
The Line-upSix Dramatic Days of Live Theatre, plus a banquet are scheduled as follows. All performances are at Venables Theatre (6100 Gala St. Oliver). The Awards Banquet will be at the Oliver Senior Centre (5876 Airport St. Oliver).
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Synopsis of the Festival Plays
When the Wind Blows, by Raymond Briggs: Jim and Hilda Bloggs are English retirees, living in a country cottage during the height of the Cold War. War with Russia seems imminent, and Jim starts taking precautions against a nuclear attack. Nostalgic about World War II, Jim and Hilda staunchly believe that everything will be okay, even if nuclear weapons are involved. But will it? This powerful, poignant play mixes nonchalance and English laugh-in-the-face-of-danger humour with some incredibly shocking reminders of the effects of nuclear war – funny, terrifying, and emotional all at the same time. We see flashes of Jim and Hilda's history, the life they had, the simplicity and innocence of their existence and how this is shattered. (Full details here)
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Raymond Briggs was born 1934 in Wimbledon, London. He went to Rutlish School for Boys and enjoyed producing cartoons. From 1949 to 1953 Briggs attended Wimbledon School of Art. He completed two years of National Service in Catterick in the Royal Corps of Signals. Briggs became an illustrator, adding images to children’s books. When the Wind Blows, released in 1982, is a powerful graphic novel about a couple dealing with the reality of nuclear war. It was later made into an animated feature film and a stage play, caused a sensation in England for its depiction of a nuclear attack. |
Above and Beyond, by Robert Scott: Mortimer and Philomena run a hotel with their child, Alexus. But this is no normal hotel - for one thing, it’s in a bookshop, and for another, the clients and owners are from outer space!
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Robert Scott is an award winning British playwright. His scripts range from dark tragedies to light comedies and have currently been performed in 38 countries to countless positive reviews from audiences and critics. His musical abilities have received praise from established professionals such as Wang-Chung founder and former Sony producer Nick Feldman and Ivor Novello award winner David Matthews. Robert has written a variety of full-length, one act plays and comedy sketches published which receive hundreds of performances a year all over the world. Popular productions include All By Myself, Some People, According To Rumour, Checkmate, 12Hr Life, The Angry Doctor A Spy With A View and A Charming Affair.
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Wit, by Margaret Edson examines the internal life of an English professor suffering a terminal illness. As the professor nears the end of her life, she starts to ask hard questions about what she did wrong and also what comes next. The stage play itself has been critically lauded. Since its debut, Wit has played in stages worldwide and was adapted into an HBO Film. It has won several Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG and Peabody Awards. The show has also earned a Pulitzer Prize.
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Margaret Edson was born in Washington, D.C. in 1961. Her father, Peter Edson, was a newspaper columnist, and her mother, Joyce Edson, was a medical social worker. Edson briefly pursued her interest in drama during high school at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. After majoring in Renaissance history and graduating magna cum laude in 1983 from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edson worked in a series of odd jobs. She returned to graduate school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1991. Between degrees, Edson spent two years working as a unit clerk at an AIDS-oncology research hospital in the D.C. area. Drawing on her experiences there, she began to write Wit in the summer of 1991, a year before receiving her master’s degree in English literature from Georgetown. |
Gift from the Sea, by Cara Nunn: A full-face mask performance based on the classic Celtic legend of the Selkie Bride. Times of the year that are magic, like the full moon, allow seals that swim off the rugged shores of the coast of Ireland, Scotland and Wales to transform into women who dance wildly through the night. Sometimes the night ends unexpectedly. In this original, whimsical continuation of the legend, retribution is offered to redeem the past. A girl, transformed into a seal, embarks on a journey to discover her roots and feel the embrace of a mother’s love. With larger-than-life masks and puppets, the story is pure magic.
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Cara Nunn has been with Powerhouse Theatre for a dozen years now, and has been very active in many capacities: actor, set designer, lighting design and most recently she was elected to the position of Vice-President, Facilities on the Board. This is the second full face mask play that she has created. She finds the magic of the mask to be equal to the magic of the story. Cara loves a good fairy tale and even more, a magical presentation. She invites you to sit back and enter the world of possibilities and forget the toils of your day for this short while. Perhaps some of the magic will leave with you! |
The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble, by Beth Graham: Seen through the eyes of a young woman, this warm hearted drama could be taking place in kitchens anywhere. Bernice Trimble, mother of three grown children, is the centre of this family’s universe, and when serious illness threatens, her children cope with it in opposite ways, especially when confronted with her terrible decision. Will this loving family survive the resulting conflict intact?
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Beth Graham is a playwright and actor. She was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, grew up in Cochrane, Alberta and now lives in Edmonton. Her plays have been produced across Canada and internationally. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award as well as the Carol Bolt Award. Her plays and collaborations have received the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, Sterling awards, Betty Mitchell awards and the Alberta Playwrights’ Network Award. Beth has served as an artist-in-residence with Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, Catalyst Theatre, and has attended retreats at the Banff Playwrights’ Lab, The National Theatre School and The Stratford Festival of Canada. Her plays include: The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble, Flight, Pretty Goblins, Icarus Air, and Working It Out. Her collaborations include: The Drowning Girls, Fortune Falls, Comrades, Mules, and Victor and Victoria’s Terrifying Tale of Terrible Things. She is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA acting program. She is currently the Lee playwright in residence at the University of Alberta.
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Ben Hur, by Patrick Barlow is a hilarious comedy about a troupe of overconfident performers doing their best to mount an epic for the ages … to varying degrees of success. They said it was unachievable! They said it couldn't be done! But now the greatest book ever penned is brought to the stage by a towering team of just four actors - turning a theatre near you into one of the most authentic versions of Ancient Rome ever seen! Complete with stunning combat (featuring the latest 3D technology – suitable for all ages), a bona fide chariot race (with REAL chariots) and an authentic sea battle (with REAL water)! Ben Hur is the epic set to stir your very soul.
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Patrick Barlow is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, Desmond Olivier Dingle, is the founder, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, which has performed on stage, on television and on radio. Barlow is the scriptwriter, as well as lead performer, in many National Theatre of Brent productions, in particular All the World's a Globe (1987), Desmond Olivier Dingle's Compleat Life and Works of William Shakespeare (1995) and The Arts and How They Was Done (2007). In non-Theatre of Brent performances, he wrote and played in the 4-part situation comedy for radio called The Patrick and Maureen Maybe Music Experience which ran for four weeks from January 1999. |