Auditions for last play
coming up soon!

Kanata Theatre’s veteran director Jim Holmes, who recently directed the blockbuster production The War Show, is holding auditions for Staff Room, the final play this
season. Auditions will take place in the Rehearsal Room of the Ron Maslin Playhouse (enter by stage door at rear) beginning at 7.30 pm on Monday February 13 and
Tuesday February 14.

Performance dates will be Tuesday to Saturday May 23 to June 3. Rehearsals will generally follow the pattern 7.30 to 10 pm Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday until May when Wednesday rehearsals will be added. Because of the structure of the play, full casts will seldom be needed until late April. The early emphasis will be on scene work.

This will be only the second-ever production of Staff Room. The one previous production, directed by the playwright Joan Burrows, was named Best Production at the 2004 Theatre Ontario Festival. Only twice before has Kanata Theatre produced a play that had had just one previous performance. The first, in 1974, was Robertson Davies’s Hunting Stuart directed by Dewi and Eufron Williams, which inexplicably had never been produced after its opening in Toronto’s Crest Theatre in the 1950’s. The more recent was The Inheritance by Gayle Greenslade-Lalonde directed by Tom Kobolak in 2003.

Staff Room consists of 15 very loosely connected vignettes, most of them comic, whose common threads are vocation and location. The play is set in an unidentified secondary school staff room that could be anywhere in Ontario, even Kanata. The characters are teachers, parents, students and others who are the life of this mythical school. The action unfolds over roughly one term.

Each of the adult actors will play many roles. The 55 characters vary in age from mid-teens to sixties. In Kanata Theatre’s production they will be played by:

• Four teenagers, two of each sex, and
• Eight adults, four of each sex, who should seem to be in their mid twenties to mid sixties.

The Monday audition will be devoted to the adult roles. Tuesday night will deal with the teen roles. If you wish to audition for a teen role do not come on Monday. If you are auditioning for an adult role do not come on Tuesday. Callbacks will be on Wednesday February 15. On Thursday February 16 there will be a full cast reading of the play.

Auditions are open to all people who reside, work or go to school in the areas of Kanata, West Carleton and Goulbourn.

Should you require further information call: 592-1079 or check out the web site at www.kanatatheatre.com

This page generated on 2006-02-05

Last show of the season
getting ready to hit
the Ron Maslin Playhouse

by Clare Flockton
(note: this appears in local newspapers about May 5, 2006)

Have you ever given any thought as to what really goes on behind the closed door of the teachers' staff room?

Kanata Theatre's final production of its 37th season, Staff Room written by Joan Burrows, will give you a little insight to the goings on of the teachers sacred hiding space - their high school staff room. If the walls of the staff room could talk they would have many an interesting story to tell.

The setting for this comical yet emotionally charged play could be any high school staff room across the province. The play itself is broken into 14 individual vignettes spanning the school year, starting with the first day of school and finishing with graduation. Each vignette sheds a little light onto how the staff room is more than a room with a coffee maker; it is a room with a heart. It is a room where secrets are told and egos are burst. It is a room where lovers reunite and affairs are hidden. It is a room of laughter and a room of tears. It is a room with a life.

The director who will bring this vision to centre stage is Jim Holmes who has been part of the Kanata Theatre family for over 30 years. Conversely, six out of the 13 dynamic cast members are new to the Ron Maslin stage. They bring with them a great deal of enthusiasm and energy; coupled with Holmes' extensive expertise they make this endearing play come to life.

Staff Room opens on May 23 and runs until May 27 and then again from May 30 until June 3. The Box Office at the Ron Maslin Playhouse will be selling tickets starting May 9.
The box office hours will be Monday to Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. Please check out the website at www.kanatatheatre.com for more details.

Reserved tickets are selling very quickly, so if you want to make sure you don't miss out on this production call the box office today at 831-4435. It is a great way to close off Kanata Theatre's 37th season..
 

BRAND NEW PLAY POKES FUN AT HIGH SCHOOL

(note: this appears in local newspapers about May 12, 2006)

Kanata Theatre will be serving up something new and different in its next show.
Staff Room is really 15 little plays in one, but they share a common connection with that wonderful institution, the high school.

It could be any high school anywhere in Ontario. The staff room where all the action takes place may be a mythical composite of all such rooms, but the stories that come out of it have the ring of truth. From the opening predicament of a new teacher, through the ordeal of a parent interview, the supervision of a school dance, the organization of a fundraising car wash, the pain of a difficult reunion, to a hilarious graduation gone seriously awry, Staff Room explores the whole range of high school experience from the point of view of both staff and students.

In Kanata Theatre’s production thirteen actors play the 55 roles in the 15 vignettes. Bob Lackey, Brett Geddes, Brittany Adams, Chris Story, Clare P. Flockton, Craig Edwardson, Gwendy Tolley, Halia Osadca, Johan DeSilva, Katie Ryerson, Sandra Ironmonger-Wickham, Shannan Collins-Vig, and Shelley Jean Harrison each play several characters, in some cases as many as eight. Seven of the actors have immediate experience of the roles they play because four are students and three are secondary school teachers. And of course all have been to high school. Although several familiar faces are in the cast, no fewer than eight are making their first appearance in a Kanata Theatre mainstage show. Staff Room is directed by Jim Holmes who also confesses to having attended a high school.

Only twice before in Kanata Theatre’s 38 year history has the company done the second-ever production of a play. The most recent was The Inheritance three years ago. The first was Robertson Davies’s Hunting Stuart more than 30 years ago. That puts Staff Room in excellent company. Kanata Theatre is delighted to be giving Staff Room the exposure to a wider audience it so richly deserves.

Staff Room is the work of Joan Burrows who has laced it with humour and insight gained during a 30 year career as a teacher of English and Dramatic Arts. It was first performed by The Curtain Club, Richmond Hill in a production directed by the playwright. It was named Best Production at the 2004 Theatre Ontario Festival.

Staff Room by Joan Burrows plays in the Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Way, just off Terry Fox Drive at Walter Baker Place, Tuesday to Saturday, May 23 to May 27 and May 30 to June 3. Curtain is at 8 pm sharp. The box office number is  (613) 831-4435. Tickets are $15. Box office hours are 5 pm to 7 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am to 12 noon on Saturdays. You can visit the Kanata Theatre Website at www.kanatatheatre.com.

-30-
 

SECRETS OF THE STAFF ROOM SOON TO BE REVEALED

(note: this is to appear in local newspapers about May 19, 2006)

Kanata Theatre’s last show of its 37th Season opening next week offers a revealing look inside the sacred walls of the secondary school staff room.

Staff Room is the work of Joan Burrows. who spent 30 years as a teacher of English and Dramatic Arts. This play was first performed by The Curtain Club, Richmond Hill in a production directed by the playwright and was named Best Production at the 2004 Theatre Ontario Festival.

Previous generations remember the staff room as a place where teachers went to smoke. Those days are over, but the staff room carries on as a place where lives are changed, friendships are nurtured, and, yes, tensions develop. Staff Room, the play, tells some of these stories in 15 short dramatic episodes.

In Kanata Theatre’s production thirteen actors play 55 roles in 15 separate vignettes. Bob Lackey, Brett Geddes, Brittany Adams, Chris Story, Clare P. Flockton, Craig Edwardson, Gwendy Tolley, Halia Osadca, Johan DeSilva, Katie Ryerson, Sandra Ironmonger-Wickham, Shannan Collins-Vig, and Shelley Jean Harrison each play several characters, in some cases as many as eight.

These actors have to be costumed, made up, lit, and supplied with a set, sound effects, and properties. A small army is attending to these backstage needs under the general guidance of production manager, Rebecca Shields. Jim Holmes directs the play and Anne-Marie Davies is stage manager.


Staff Room by Joan Burrows plays in the Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Way, just off Terry Fox Drive at Walter Baker Place, Tuesday to Saturday, May 23 to May 27 and May 30 to June 3. Curtain is at 8 pm sharp. The box office number is 613-831-4435. Tickets are $15. Box office hours are 5 pm to 7 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am 12 noon on Saturdays. For more information visit the Kanata Theatre Website at www.kanatatheatre.com.

Four Kanata Theatre actors and a Moose rehearse in readiness for opening
night on May 23rd for the season finale, Staff Room by Joan Burrows. 

Photo credit: Ann Williams
 

Staff Room Already Selling Out

by Clare Flockton
(note: this appeared in local newspapers about May 26, 2006)

Tickets are selling fast for Staff Room, the final show of Kanata Theatre’s 37th season. Tickets for the Tuesday May 30th performance are still available through the Ron Maslin Playhouse box office.

The hard-working cast and crew have been performing to sold out audiences for the last week. This play has struck a chord with so many west end residents. We all have such vivid memories of our high school days and people are coming to see if Joan Burrows (author of Staff Room) captured the heartbeat of the high school staff room.

Staff Room is a play that takes place over the course of one entire school year. There are fifteen true to life vignettes within the play that show a snippet of life within a high school staff room. This play shows that teachers are real people with everyday grievances and excitements and sometimes all they want is a cup of coffee.

While you are enjoying the show, remember to purchase your seasons tickets for Kanata Theatre's 38th upcoming season, which promises to entertain and delight. You can visit the box office or call them directly for more information at 831-4435.

Tickets can be purchased from the Ron Maslin Playhouse box office. The box office hours will be Monday to Friday from 5pm – 7pm and 10am until noon on Saturdays. Please check out the website at www.kanatatheatre.com for more details. It is a great way to close off Kanata Theatre’s 37th season.

 
..
Assisting the teacher:

Shelley Jean Harrison, Johan DeSilva and Brett Geddes perform in Kanata
Theatre's end-of-season smash hit, Staff Room, which runs through June 3rd