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Since You Left Us
     by Susinn McFarlen

​RUN DATES: April 28 - May 6, 2017
​Also played as part of the Okanagan Zone
​Theatre Festival on May 25 in Salmon Arm

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Theatre Festival Award Winner!
Cast and Crew did a great job at the 2017 O-Zone Theatre Festival in Salmon Arm, bringing home four awards:
  • ​Best Runner-up Production
  • Best Newcomer (Valerie Heathman)
  • Best Sound Design (Trevor Leigh)
  • Best Backstage Cooperation

Synopsis
There’s dysfunctional and there’s really, really dysfunctional. The family in Since You Left Us is one of the latter: shot through with alcoholism, bad parenting, sibling rivalry and unhealthy co-dependency (with a Jack Russell terrier named ... Jack).

Since You Left Us is laugh-out-loud funny until the end when something is revealed that suddenly makes the play profoundly poignant.

The dog-obsessed Denny is the crazy glue that keeps the laughs coming in this production. Mouth-to-mouth on a mutt? Diapers on a dog? Cooing and baby-talking to Jack Denny is hysterically funny but can turn an evil eye on her mother, brother and sister that stops them dead in their tracks. Denny is a ‘don’t mess with me’ sort of gal – and who would mess with her? She’s big and tough and strong. 

But the story is really Fanny’s, the sister who arrives at Denny’s in search of her AWOL son, Danno. Fanny can be uptight, nervous, and anxious but she is able to loosen up and, in doing so, is pulled back into this flawed family that is, nevertheless, a family.

It’s Dolly’s 70th birthday but she’s one sexy septuagenarian in a plunging leopard-skin patterned blouse, cinch belt, tight pants and spike heels. She’s got herself a much younger boyfriend – married, alcoholic Chuck, with whom she’s about to move in. 

Mike is Denny and Fanny’s fireman brother who, along with his friend Chuck, is always enjoying yet another beer with the toast, “first one of the day”. These people, with the exception of reformed alcoholic Fanny, really drink.

There’s a lot of fighting, bitching, arguing and yelling so if your own family dynamic finds itself in the same position, Since You Left Us might not be for you. On the other hand it will make your family appear positively happy. It’s funny, the dialogue crackles with wit, these are people you might know (and love).

        - adapted from a review by Jo Ledingham
Early Rehearsals
Cast & Characters
  • Brian Hesje is moving down from the control room to the stage as DANNO - Fanny's missing son.
  • Diane Gludovatz, one of our SOAP veterans, gets her man on as CHUCK - Dolly's much younger, alcoholic boyfriend.
  • Jeff Smith makes his SOAP debut as MIKE - Denny and Fanny’s fireman brother, who, along with his friend Chuck, is always enjoying yet another beer.
  • Christine Rothwell is back on stage after a four-year hiatus, playing FANNY - the sister who arrives at Denny’s in search of her son. She is uptight, nervous, and anxious.​
  • Valerie Heathman also new to SOAP, playing  DOLLY - Mother of Fanny, Denny and Mike. Dolly is one sexy 65-year-old in a plunging leopard-skin patterned blouse, cinch belt, tight pants and spike heels. 
  • Aimee Grice returns in her seventh role with SOAP as the dog-obsessed sister, DENNY, the crazy glue that keeps the laughs coming.
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Production Crew
  • Producer - Nathan Linders
  • Director - Trevor Leigh
  • Assistant Director & Stage Manager - Jenn MacNeil
  • Dramaturge - Tracy Doucette
  • Set Design & Construction - Tom Szalay
  • Properties - Louise Szalay
  • Costumes - Bernice Myllyniemi
  • Lighting Design & Operator - Tom Szalay
  • Sound Design - Trevor Leigh
  • Sound Operator - Jackie Brockholm & Nathan Linders
  • Graphics & Promotion - Aimee Grice

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Director - Trevor Leigh
Trevor has been a stage and film performer, director and designer for over 25 years. He has been nominated and has won several awards including two Betty Mitchell most outstanding supporting actor awards, the Noel Coward memorial award for excellence in acting and the Victoria Critics' award for outstanding sound design. Trevor currently teaches acting skills and lives in Osoyoos, with his family. For his full biography, please visit http://www.trevorleigh.ca/


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Playwright - Susinn McFarlen
Susinn McFarlen is an award winning actress, known for The Grocer's Wife (1991), 24/7 (2005) and Relentless: Mind of a Killer (1993). She was born in Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto and attended Brock University. She then moved to Vancouver where she still makes her home and is active in Theatre. McFarlen won one of the nine Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards given to Vancouver’s Playhouse Theatre Company in 2004. She was recognized for her work in Hello Dolly by the award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. She resides in Vancouver and is one of the founders of Wet Ink Collective.

Susinn is married to Kevin McNulty. They have two children.

Since You Left Us is Susinn's first play. If is a dark comedy about a recovering alcoholic who is forced to reconcile with her party animal mother in a play about making peace with the family you have, not the one you wish you had.


Watch a 360-degree video clip of our first rehearsal without scripts on April 4. Use your mouse to scroll around.
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​SOAP Theatre gratefully acknowledges support from our current corporate sponsors.
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PO Box 1315, Oliver, BC    V0H 1T0

Admin Login
  • Home & News
  • 2022-2023 Season
    • Black Bonspiel
    • 7 Stories
  • Archives
    • 2022 O-Zone Festival
    • 2020 - Present >
      • Knickers
      • When the Wind Blows
      • Flaming Idiots
      • Born Yesterday
    • 2015 - 2019 >
      • Bob's Your Elf
      • Lawrence & Holloman
      • Beyond Therapy
      • It's a Wonderful Life
      • Outside Mullingar
      • Old Love
      • The Game's Afoot
      • Since You Left Us
      • Don't Dress for Dinner
      • Boeing Boeing
      • Sleeping Indoors
      • Noises Off
      • Melville Boys
    • 2010 - 2014 >
      • Nunset Blvd
      • Lend Me a Tenor
      • Twisted Tales
      • Love, Loss and What I Wore
      • The Long Weekend
      • Wild Guys
      • Odd Couple
      • Rumors
    • Prior to 2010 >
      • Sand Mountain
      • Sound of Music
      • All in the Timing
      • California Suite
    • List of All Shows
  • About Us
  • Get Involved
    • Interest Form
    • Sponsorship
    • Newsletter
    • Membership