CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

NEWSLETTERIssue No. 14. March, 2019

Editor – Paul Brown

Introduction:Our theatrical season is almost over, as is our long and cold winter (we hope!). We are now in deep conversations about the plays for next season. We have requested three dates for next season at the Pumphouse, and we will inform you when they are confirmed. Our most recent play “French Kiss-Off”, a farce by Alan LeBoeuf was a success. To finish up the season, we will be performing our radio play “Shackleton” in Carstairs on Sunday afternoon, April 7th 2019. Our seniors entertainment group has been busy with recent successful performances of “More Senior Moments” in Haysboro and Confederation Park. Upcoming is a Murder Mystery, “Audition for Death” on April 12th at Confederation Park. After that there will be performances of “More Senior Moments” in April at Huntington Hills Pioneers Association and in June at the Good Companions 50+ Club.Enjoy the Spring and - enjoy this Newsletter. We hope the humour at the conclusion of the Newsletter will leave you laughing!

NEXT SEASON’S PRODUCTIONSVarious options are being considered for next season’s plays. We have booked the following dates for next season, but to date no decisions have been finalized about the actual plays:

Friday, October 4th 2019 to Saturday, October 12th 2019 Friday, January 31st 2020 to Saturday, February 8th 2020 Friday, April 10th 2020 to Saturday, April 18th 2020.

Check out the next Newsletter for confirmation of these dates and the plays to be performed.

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

“French Kiss-Off”From Friday, February 15th 2019 to Saturday, February 23rd 2019 we presented Alan LeBoeuf’s play “French Kiss-Off” at the Pumphouse Theatre. This was a comedy in the theatrical tradition of farce. A play is only funny if the audience thinks that it is funny, and when I saw the play, one member of the audience laughed loudly throughout the play and at the end turned and said that was incredibly funny. Praise indeed.

Simon Larter and Mark Fraser

Yvonne Friedrich, Mark Fraser and Murray Melnychuk

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

The cast of “French Kiss-Off” on set

The cast for “French Kiss-Off”

KIERAN CRUDUPP - Mark FraserRICK GERRARD - Simon LarterCARLA CRUDUPP - Yvonne FriedrichARNOLD CLOVIS - Greg SpielmanNATASHA PAVEY - Lisette AllanJEN - Jen LeclaireMR. WYNDHAM - Bill McCarthyGERALD PAVEY - Murray MelnychukARTHUR - Ross Hart

Some comments from the appreciative audience:

loved the rehearsal so much, I am coming back to see the play. SM Ohio (USA)

Please send me a copy of the play. I want my cousin in Florida to put this on.

Very clever, very funny. I was in stitches.

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

SHACKLETONWe have been invited to perform our Radio Play, “Shackleton” in Carstairs on the afternoon of Sunday, April 7th 2019, in their Community Hall. Their poster is below. We are pleased to bring our well-written and unique show to the Carstairs audience.

INTERNATIONAL FILM NIGHTSWe have two films to report on in this Newsletter. On Tuesday, January 22nd 2019, we held our fifth Film Night, and on Tuesday, March 5th 2019, we held our sixth Film Night, both at The Dog and Duck Pub, downstairs, at 5340, 2nd Street S.W, Calgary.

In January we saw, The Chorus (French: Les Choristes) a 2004 European film.

In March, the film was Hell and High Water (American)

The next International Film Night, our seventh, will be on Tuesday April 16th 2019 at 7 p.m. at The Dog and Duck Pub, downstairs, at 5340, 2nd Street S.W, Calgary. The feature film will be

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

The Intouchables (French: Intouchables also known as Untouchable (UK). The film is a 2011 French buddy comedy-drama film directed by Olivier Nakache & Éric Toledano. It stars François Cluzet and Omar Sy.

A Parisian aristocrat, quadriplegic since a paragliding accident, hires a young man to be his live-in caretaker. Although very different, the two men bond and develop a close friendship.

Nine weeks after its release in France on 2nd November 2011, it became the second biggest box office hit in France, just behind the 2008 film Welcome to the Sticks (which we look forward to presenting sometime in the near future) “The Intouchables” was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar for the 85th Academy Awards.

Running time: 112 minutes

Language: French with English subtitles

A LITTLE NIGHT READING

We are continuing our “A Little Night Reading” activities, where we workshop new Canadian plays. On Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019, we will workshop John Moerschbacher’s play “The Talent Show”, at the Dog and Duck. As a group, we read through and discuss each play, and offer suggestions and encouragement to the playwrights. You are welcome to come and be part of the group.

If you have written a play that you would like to have workshopped, please let us know.Notification of play names and dates of the readings will be sent through the Calgary ACTS emails as well as Confederation Theatre’s email list.

THE SENIOR’S GROUP ENTERTAINS

On the afternoon of Thursday, February 28th, our seniors entertainment group performed for the Haysboro Community Association. This was our “More Senior Moments” program. In the audience there were about 40 seniors, who, judging by the laughter and applause, thoroughly enjoyed the show. This was reinforced by the many generous comments from the audience after the show.

Some photographs from the Haysboro show:

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

Lana Patterson with Terry Ager in “Paddy” in Haysboro

Zena Drabinsky and Peter Warne in “The Minister Calls” in Haysboro

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

Terry Ager with Bill McCarthy in “The Social Workers” in Haysboro

On the afternoon of Friday, March 15th we performed the same show, “More Senior Moments”, at the Confederation Park 55+ Activity Centre. There were more than one hundred people in the audience all dressed up in green ready for Saint Patrick’s Day. They were in a good mood and laughed a lot and applauded all the way through. Alas, we had no camera to record the event. After the show a green-clad lady approached us and asked if we were available to perform at other locations. Yes, of course we are!

Future performances of “More Senior Moments” will be as follows:

Thursday, April 18th 2019 at 2 p.m. at Huntington Hills Pioneers Association

Saturday, June 8th 2019 at 2:30 p.m. at Good Companions 50+ Club

On Friday, August 12th 2019 we will perform a Murder Mystery “Audition for Death” written by Alan LeBoeuf at the Confederation Park +55 Activity Centre.

Our seniors actors/actresses are as follows:

Terry Ager Arthur ZrillZena Drabinsky Alex SmileyLana Patterson Bill McCarthyPeter Warne Alan LeBoeuf

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

Paul Brown

And that is all the news for now from Confederation Theatre Society. We conclude our Newsletter with a few laughs. Enjoy!

Who Thinks These Things Up?

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.

I'm reading a book about antigravity. I just can't put it down.

When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.

Broken pencils are pointless.

I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.

I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.

Velcro: what a rip off!

Don’t worry about old age; it doesn't last. 

Some Definitions of Community Theatre

ETERNITY: The time that passes between a dropped cue and the next line.

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

PROP: A hand-carried object small enough to be lost by an actor exactly 30 seconds before it is needed on stage.

DIRECTOR: An individual who suffers from the delusion that he/she is responsible for every moment of brilliance cited by the critic in the local review.

DRESS REHEARSAL: The final rehearsal during which actors forget everything learned in the two previous weeks as they attempt to navigate the 49 new objects and set pieces that the set designer/director has added to the set at just prior to the DRESS REHEARSAL.

SET: An obstacle course which, throughout the rehearsal period, defies the laws of physics by growing smaller week by week while continuing to occupy the same amount of space.

MONOLOGUE: That shining moment when all eyes are focused on a single actor who is desperately aware that if he forgets a line, no one can save him.STAGE MANAGER: Individual responsible for overseeing the crew, supervising the set changes, baby-sitting the actors and putting the director in a hammerlock to keep him from killing the actor who just decided to turn his walk-on part into a major role by doing magic tricks while he serves the tea.

ACTOR [as defined by a set designer]: That person who stands between the audience and the set designer's art, blocking the view. Also the origin of the word 'blocking.'

CREW: Group of individuals who spend their evenings coping with 50-minute stretches of total boredom interspersed with 30-second bursts of mindless panic.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Individual willing to undertake special projects that nobody else would take on a bet, such as working one-on-one with the brain-dead actor whom the rest of the cast and crew (including the director) has threatened to take out a contract on.

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

And finally a few quotes from Oscar Wilde.

Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do.

Alas, I am dying beyond my means.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

I am not young enough to know everything.

This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do. (famous last words).

THESE PHOTOS ENSURE THAT THE WORLD WILL ALWAYS NEED DOCTORS. REMEMBER: SAFETY FIRST!

 

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CTS Newsletter No. 14 March 2019

Son, next time I'll be William Tell

An opened window does not a balcony make

Do you think he's a professional window cleaner? I’ll wear it because I have to.

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