Kristen Finlay – Page 12 – Walterdale Theatre

Meet the Cast of SHATTER – Mikaylee Boutin is a Shadow

What is your role in this production? I am playing a Shadow in Shatter. Basically, the shadows are six people who represent the different points of view, types of people and stories of the people who would have been affected by the Halifax explosion. I am playing an child/ orphan character, so I represent all of the children who were left without their families after the explosion. The naivety of a child is important to recognize because the mind of a child can be swayed easily, which is one of the main focuses of Shatter.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? Almost all of my theatrical training comes from High school/ school theatre! I go to Archbishop Jordan Catholic High school where we have an incredible fine arts program. I have been a costume designer for two shows at my school and have worked on about five shows in total there, mostly as a technical theatre member. This is my first community theatre show since I was in The Wizard of Oz at Festival Place (Sherwood Park) when I was around 11-years-old. I am so happy to be expanding my knowledge and learning about theatre because it is something that I’d like to pursue for my future. I have never done any other shows at the Walterdale but I have loved working there!

What brought you out for this show? I heard about auditions for Shatter through our director, Josh Languedoc, who I know from The Wizard of Oz where he played the Cowardly Lion. I was looking for auditions outside of school and I saw this audition, which was open for everyone; no matter what age or how much experience. I was just so excited to be out auditioning for the show, so, when I heard that I was cast, I was absolutely ecstatic!

What do you think audiences will take away from this show? Why should they come and see it? Personally, I think that the audience will take away a new awareness from the show. Shatter reveals how those around you can affect your decision making and beliefs and also how the media can influence your thoughts and actions. I hope that people will learn to question or research all of the different opinions that they hear about everything they see around them and I also hope that they can learn to be informed about everything that they read, hear or see.

Shatter deals with a major event in Canadian history that Canadians today might not know too much about. Are there any other major events in Canadian history that you feel we should know more about than we do?

It is estimated that about 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend residential schools. (Library and Archives Canada/PA-042133)

I think that Canadians should educate themselves more about Residential Schools and the effect that they have had on the past, and the future, of our Canada. I know that a lot of people recognize the impact that Residential Schools have had, but I don’t think that everyone realizes the impact they still have. There are still familial and cultural ties within First Nations people that have been cut because of the mistreatment in Residential Schools, and I think it would be great if there was more awareness about this very current situation.

Meet the Cast of SHATTER – Viktoria Bradley is a Shadow

What is your role in this production? I am portraying one of the shadow characters in the play. In this particular production we have been given the opportunity to play these very eerie characters that we can really play with. Originally these shadow characters would have been played by doubling the leads however our production has taken a different road by creating a chorus ensemble that I see as more fun! We made my character into a single mother of a young baby. She lost her husband in the war and is currently trying to use her job as a schoolteacher as a way to keep her and her son afloat. After the explosion, I think she is rather tormented by the things she has gone through and she really struggles to find an outlet for her darker emotions, which I will not go into much detail about! (Cue my evil laugh)

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I took theatre training sporadically since I was young, starting in school clubs and eventually taking some classes at the St. Albert Children’s Theatre Company, and the Foote Theatre School. In high school I took drama classes as well and was given the amazing chances to perform in M*A*S*H and in A Christmas Carol as Dean Mercy Lodge and Belinda Cratchit, respectively. I took a year off from acting in order to focus on my studies last year but I am glad to be back onstage. This is my first time performing at the Walterdale Theatre and hopefully it will not be my last!

What brought you out for this show? Well… I blame the ‘Dear Canada’ series! I saw the advertisement for the auditions and I saw what the play was about I knew I had to take part in it. I had read this ‘Dear Canada’ book about the Halifax Explosion many times with my younger sister and it has fascinated me since. It was called No Safe Harbour if you are interested in it! That and this play is such an amazingly heart wrenching story that I really connected with on my first read.

What do you think audiences will take away from this show? Why should they come and see it? I do think they will come out with more knowledge about this really devastating tragedy in our history, and maybe learn something more. This play becomes more and more relevant to me as I watch the news. Although this story is set a hundred years ago, it is quite modern in its discussion about the way people deal with trauma. I do think that it is an important story to tell! This chapter in Canadian history has been largely forgotten when it really shouldn’t be. Prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Halifax Explosion was the largest man made explosion in history!

Shatter deals with a major event in Canadian history that Canadians today might not know too much about. Are there any other major events in Canadian history that you feel we should know more about than we do?

UNDATED -- Undated archival handout photo of Viola Desmond. On April 15, 2010, the Nova Scotia legislature will grant a controversial, posthumous pardon to Desmond, whom many consider Canada's Rosa Parks. In 1946 Viola Desmond was arrested and jailed for sitting in the whites-only section of a local cinema. The case ignited the civil rights movement in Canada. MANDATORY CREDIT: HANDOUT PHOTO: Effective Publishing Ltd. For Richard Foot (Canwest) CNS-PARDON — UNDATED — Undated archival handout photo of Viola Desmond. On April 15, 2010, the Nova Scotia legislature will grant a controversial, posthumous pardon to Desmond, whom many consider Canada’s Rosa Parks. In 1946 Viola Desmond was arrested and jailed for sitting in the whites-only section of a local cinema. The case ignited the civil rights movement in Canada. MANDATORY CREDIT: HANDOUT PHOTO: Effective Publishing Ltd. For Richard Foot (Canwest) CNS-PARDON

Oh goodness this is tough! To keep with the theme of things set in Nova Scotia I would actually think that talking about Viola Desmond would be interesting. Viola was a businesswoman who fought against racial segregation in Canada after an experience at a film theatre in Nova Scotia. She refused to leave the ‘Whites Only’ section of the theatre and was wrongly accused of tax evasion for it! Her story launched the civil rights movement in Canada, and yet I didn’t even know she existed until I read about her in my grade twelve social class last year.

Or if I was thinking in the mind of my character I would talk about the thalidomide crisis and its repercussions. I think my character, as a mother, would feel very strongly about this event if she was around for it. Thalidomide was considered to be this ‘wonder drug’ and it was often prescribed to mothers in early pregnancy to deal with morning sickness and sleeplessness. Thalidomide was not properly researched at the time and it caused between 5,000 and 7,000 children to be born with severe birth defects, many never even survived childhood. The children who did survive can now receive compensation from the Canadian government but those children whose mothers took free samples cannot receive compensation unless they get specific paperwork that oftentimes cannot be found.

Shatter runs December 6-16, 2017
Call 780.420.1757 or go to www.tixonthesquare.ca for tickets today!

Meet the Creative Team of SHATTER – Josh Languedoc is the Director!

What is your role on this production? I am the director of Shatter.

Is there a quote from the play that speaks to you? Why? I keep returning to the final line in the show: “Oh…well….we all do our part.” It seems simple, but to me, this line is both a strong message of empowerment, but it is also a call out on dangerous behaviour we have as a society. Throughout the arch of this play, we see incredible tensions between friends and strangers as mistrust builds through the social circumstances surrounding the tragedy. So, on one hand, we need to recognize we have a power in the face of tragedy. That power is in coming together, supporting one another, and never losing hope. That is the part we must play when faced with tragedy. However, on the other hand, we also do our part in adding to the tension that comes with tragedy. We tend to look for a source to blame and we tend to foster division rather than acceptance.. So, we as a society can add greatly to the negativity to a situation if we choose to push people away and divide rather than accept.

Why should audiences come see the show? Even though this tragedy took place 100 years ago, the cautionary message in this play is currently relevant to the state of our world. All across the United States, and extending here in Canada, numerous debates have occurred over how to handle issues of terrorism, mistrust, and the political climate. This play does an incredible job of capturing the drama individuals face when a tragedy occurs. Who do we really trust? Who are our real friends? What should we do to keep ourselves safe? Is it reminding ourselves we will be OK? Do we take shelter in our lover? Or do we build a wall and protect us from the dangers? All of these questions are explored in the drama of the play, and I feel this play will provide audiences with an incredible sense of emotion as we explore these questions together. Especially by recognizing the dangers we can place ourselves in by going the mistrust route.

What is your background in theatre? At Walterdale? I have been onstage since the age of 5. Theatre has very much remained in my life since that age. Currently, I work as a theatre educator for the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton Public Schools, Black Gold Schools, Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, Kompany Family Theatre, and in my own company, KidLibs Theatre. I’m also a professional improviser with The 11 O’Clock Number (Grindstone Theatre) and with KidLibs Theatre.. Plays like Shatter also inspire me as a playwright. Currently, I am the Playwright in Residence at Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, and am writing several plays for different theatre companies, including Native Earth Theatre and Kompany Family Theatre.

At the Walterdale, I have performed as an actor in 3 shows. I played Art Milligan in The Male Order Bride, and was part of the general ensemble in Walterdale’s musical productions of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and The Three Penny Opera.

What do you hope that audiences will take away from the show? Honestly, I just want audiences to feel the emotional weight of this tragedy. Through the drama of the main characters, the full sense of uncertainty and anger associated with this tragedy is felt. I want audiences to see themselves in these characters – would I change the way Anna does within this tragedy? Would I feel like Jennie if I experienced what happened to her? Would I be proud in my tactic if I were in Brian’s shoes? Would I be like Elsie and remain hopeful in the presence of extreme tragedy? And then, which of these characters gives us any insight in how to handle these types of tragedies?

Interview by Stephanie O’Neill

Introducing the Cast and Creative Team of THE WOMEN!

CAST:

Mary – Roseanna Sargent
Sylvia – Nicole Lemay
Edith – Jenn Robinson
Peggy – Mandy Stewart
Nancy – Sarah Van Tassel
Jane – Sadie Bowling
Mrs. Morehead – Syrell Wilson
Miriam – Katelyn Arthurs
Countess De Lage – Trish Van Doornum
Little Mary – Lilianna Coyes-Loiselle
Crystal – Julie Whelan
Maggie & Ensemble – Peg Young
Pilates Instructor & Ensemble – Sarah Spicer
Sadie & Ensemble – Wendy Shobe
Olga & Ensemble – Katie Elliott
Lucy & Ensemble – Chantal Rohovich
Miss Watts & Ensemble – Katrina Kunkel
Miss Timmerback & Ensemble – Tyra Watkin

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director – Catherine Wenschlag
Production Manager – Steven Sobolewski
Stage Manager – Gaby Phaneuf
Dramaturg – Anne Marie Szucs
Fight Director – Julianne Murphy
Set Design – Leland Stelck
Costume Design – Mandy Mattson
Lighting & Projection Design – Jessica Poole
Sound Design – Erin Foster-O’Riordan
Hair & Makeup Design – TBD
Properties Master – Alayna Hunchak
Master Builder – Morgan Smith
Master Painter – Brooke Emberly
ASM(s) – Nic Juba & Cassie Duval
Lighting Operator – Fraser Thurston
Sound Operator – Glenn Cook
Dresser – Liz Cook

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

What 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.

Photo 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

What 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!

What 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!

What 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.

What 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

What 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.

Announcing the Cast of SHATTER

CAST:

Anna MacLean – SIAN GODSMARK
Jennie Maclean – YANIT TEREFE
Elsie Schultz – SAMANTHA WOOLSEY
Brian Davidson – BERKLEY ABBOTT

Ghosts: BRITTANY HINSE, DYLAN BRENNEIS, MIKAYLEE BOUTIN, VIKTORIA BRADLEY, STUART OLD, SYDNEY JINJOE

Shatter by Trina Davies
December 6, 2017 – December 16, 2017
Director: Josh Languedoc

Anna MacLean’s eye has been turned by all the handsome soldiers roaming about the streets of her hometown of Halifax. She feels the promise of something great is lingering on the horizon for her. Those feelings are as fleeting as a dream. With Anna’s mother, her best friend, Elsie Schultz are thrown into chaos when their world explodes around them. Based around the events of the Halifax Explosion of 1917, Davies’ intense and thought-provoking work paints a haunting portrait of the aftermath of tragedy.