Since You Left Usby Susinn McFarlen
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RUN DATES: April 28 - May 6, 2017
Also played as part of the Okanagan Zone Theatre Festival on May 25 in Salmon Arm |
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:
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
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Cast & Characters
Production Crew
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/ 
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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