Meet the Cast of A DOLL’S HOUSE – Marsha Amanova is Mrs. Christine Linde

MarshaWhat is your role in this production? I am playing the role of Mrs. Christine Linde, a widow and childhood friend of Nora’s. Christine has returned to town, looking for work, after a decade of caring for her infirm mother and younger brothers. She is pleasantly surprised to find that her old flame, Nils Krogstad, is here and a widower himself. Christine is an independent woman who values honesty and hard work and wants to be useful. She adores Nora, and even though the two of them have led very different lives, Christine is a true friend who only wants the best for Nora.

What is your background at Walterdale? A Doll’s House is my 10th show (as an actor) at Walterdale. The first was Cyrano de Bergerac (also directed by Alex Hawkins) in 2004. I have also directed two From Cradle to Stage productions here and was a member of the Board of Directors for 4 years.

What brought you out for this show? Why did you want to become involved? I really enjoy performing in period pieces, and having studied Ibsen’s work in school, I thought it would be a great learning opportunity. I’ve also had wonderful experiences in the past, working with Alex Hawkins and the incredible production team. Alex is a talented director and an excellent teacher, and I always learn something from him, and the design team always creates a work of art that I feel privileged to perform in and on.
IMG_5391Photo Credit: Kristen Finlay
Featuring Marsha Amanova & Nicole English (in background, Tim Marriott)

Meet the Cast of A DOLL’S HOUSE – dale Wilson is Dr. Rank

IMG_5406What is your role in this production?  The good doctor, a long time friend of the Helmers, seems a curmudgeony sort dedicated to the family.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I’ve been performing on Walterdale’s stage for going on 27 years as well as various stints on other stages. I used to do a lot with the  U of A MFA directing candidates, that was like a master class every time. I’d like to do more of that.

What brought you out for this show? This presented the chance to work with a lot of people I’m familiar with on and off stage and I’d been curious for some time about doing an Ibsen piece so it seemed a good fit. Besides the fact that it may be the only ancient role in the season

What do you think audiences will take away from the show? If one only takes away that you have to treat people well as in, thinking as much about them at least as much as yourself, we’ll have spent a merry evening together.

Money is a big issue in this play. Got any funny stories about money? The only story I have about money is I don’t have nearly enough of it and there ain’t nothin’ funny about that.

 

Photo Credit: Kristen Finlay
Features: dale Wilson as Dr. Rank, and Nicole English as Nora

 

Meet the Cast of A DOLL’S HOUSE – Tim Marriott is Torvald!

IMG_5389What is your role in this production? I play Torvald, the husband of Nora. Torvald has just received a promotion in the bank where he works, and this new position is very important to him. He and Nora have been married for eight years and to others their home is “lovely and peaceful”. Torvald is concerned about appearances, but if anyone asked he would say that he and Nora have very successful and loving marriage,

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I have been around Theatre in Edmonton all of my adult life. This year is forty years since my first involvement with Walterdale.

What brought you out for this show? Why did you want to become involved? I think the play explores very effectively the difference between people’s assumptions about their world, and its reality. This is a very intriguing examination of this theme, in a compelling drama focused upon male/female, husband/wife relationships.

What do you think audiences will take away from the show? I think a modern audience will see this 19th century play as being very contemporary.

 

Photo Credit: Kristen Finlay
Photo features: Tim Marriott as Torvald and Nicole English as Nora.

Set Designer – Joan Hawkins
Costume Designer – Geri Dittrich
Lighting Designer – Richard Hatfield

Meet the Team of A DOLL’S HOUSE – Alex Hawkins is the Director!

1-DollsHouseWhat is your role on this production? My name is Alex Hawkins, and I am the director of A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the first show of the 2017-2018 Walterdale Theatre season.  I submitted this play to the Walterdale Artistic Director and Board earlier this year, and I am very pleased that it was chosen for the season.  One of the reasons is that this play is often misunderstood as an old-fashioned, talky, domestic drama, featuring an oppressed doll-wife, a nasty husband, an even nastier villain, and an avuncular family friend who secretly has designs on the doll-wife.  But Henrik Ibsen was not only a good playwright; he was an extraordinarily gifted playwright, whose characters are complex, emotionally rich, textured with multiple motivations.  The situation in the play between Nora the wife and Torvald the husband is subtle and complicated, as is the character of Krogstad, whose actions toward Nora come out of desperation and despair, and not from some sort of evil plot to oppress her.  Nora and Krogstad actually share in the same back-story, and are more alike than they are different.  And the avuncular Dr. Rank is a genuine friend to Nora, but his clumsy yet well-intentioned effort to help her fails, and she is left to solve her own crisis.  My job as director was to manage a number of things:  to work with designers to determine the nature and look of the physical theatre space; to work with the production team to manage the progress of the characters — and the audience’s gaze — through that space; and to work with the actors to help them come to a rich understanding of their characters and their moment-by-moment progress through their story.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I started in theatre in high school, by acting and singing roles in three Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and I was exclusively interested in musicals for my first four years of theatre. Then in the Spring of 1965, I took a role as a “singing monk” in a production of the play Luther by John Osborne, at the MAC Theatre in Calgary — and I never looked back.  I have been committed to non-musical theatre ever since.  After studying theatre in university and graduate school, I have been in Edmonton since 1979, teaching drama at the UofA until my retirement in 2013.  Since 2004, I have directed seven plays at Walterdale Theatre.  For the past 13 years, I have been delighted to work in this wonderful community theatre, with so many talented and committed theatre workers — university/college students; Walterdale veterans; young people with an eye toward professional theatre; people from a wide variety of professions doing theatre at nights and on weekends; and many others.  It is a rich, diverse, dedicated, talented, and skilled community.  And the physical building, although somewhat small and unassuming, is extraordinarily well-equipped technically, with a wonderfully personal theatre space, and audiences that experience theatre close-up and intimate.

IMG_5416What do you hope that audiences will take away from the show? I wanted to deliver a well-known, but often misunderstood, modern classic play by one of theatre history’s greatest playwrights to an audience that I hope will see and appreciate the richness and complexity of the characters and their situations. I hope that audiences will be surprised at how relevant the play is to issues of class and gender conflict in our society today.

 

Meet the Cast of A DOLL’S HOUSE – Dave Wolkowski is Nils Krogstad

dave wolkowskiWhat is your role in this production? I play Nils Krogstad. A disgraced, former lawyer who is trying to put some respectability back into his life. He is often viewed as a scoundrel but I prefer to see him as someone with a heart. He only really wants the best for himself and his children. With those worthy intentions in mind, only good things are ahead for him.
What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I was bitten by the acting bug 20 years ago when I was volunteering for Central Alberta Theatre in Red Deer. I was a Sound Operator at the time when I was asked to step in for an actor who became ill. The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve been in a variety of theatre, film and TV projects over the years. I have been a member of Walterdale Theatre for about 10 years and have a done a few shows in that time on our well trod boards.
What brought you out for this show? Why did you want to become involved? After a brief time living in BC I returned to Edmonton last year and was anxious to re-connect with the folks at Walterdale Theatre. When I saw the audition call for A Doll’s House I thought this would be an opportunity to get to work, once again, with all the many energetic men and women of this wonderful community theatre group. I lucked out and have landed in with a cast and crew of dedicated and talented souls for this production of A Doll’s House. I do feel blessed.
What do you think audiences will take away from the show? Every audience member will come away with something different from this show. If you have ever been in love, have ever been out of love, have had ups and downs from these experiences and from the things life can throw at you then you will be able to relate to the issues dealt with in this play by Henrik Ibsen. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it is 1879 or 2017. People are people and the struggles and the joys we face transcend the ages.
Let’s lighten things up a bit – got any funny stories about money? Is there anything funny about money? It has been called the root of all evil but most of us want more of it. I suppose the funniest thing about money is that here at Walterdale, like all community theatres, we do it simply for love not money.

Introducing the Cast of A DOLL’S HOUSE!

1-DollsHouseWe’d like to welcome the first cast of our 2017/18 Season:
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Directed by Alex Hawkins
Cast:
Nora Helmer – Nicole English
Anne-Marie – Leslie Caffaro
Torvald Helmer – Tim Marriott
Mrs. Christine Linde – Marsha Amanova
Nils Krogstad – Dave Wolkowski
Dr. Peter Rank – Dale Wilson
Creative Team:
Alex Hawkins – Director
John Anderson – Assistant Director
JOAN HAWKINS – Set Designer/ Master Painter
Geri Drittich- Costume Designer
Jackie Lotery – Production Manager
Cassie Duval – Stage Manager
Pierre Valois – Master Builder
Alayna Hunchak – Props Master
Richard Hatfield- Technical Advisor/Lighting Designer
A Doll’s House runs from October 11-21, 2017
Tickets are available at Tix on the Square – 780.420.1757 or www.tixonthesquare.ca