Theatre Season takes off with
Here on the Flight Path

The funniest scenes played on adjoining balconies since Noel Coward’s Private Lives open Kanata Theatre’s 38^th season on September 19^th at the Ron Maslin Playhouse.

In Here on the Flight Path the familiar Norm Foster ingredients of wit, sex, romance, and surprise combine with Foster’s unfailing instinct for comedy to produce an evening guaranteed to entertain.

It seems that John Cummings lives on the fourth and top floor of the Aurora Terrace Apartments, just under the flight path. His balcony adjoins that of an apartment occupied at different times by three women of various stations in life. Fay is in the business of “raising men’s morale”, as she likes to describe it, with the emphasis on “business”. Angel is an aspiring singer. And Gwen is seeking refuge from a failed marriage in the songs of Leonard Cohen. One by one these women become part of John’s life in unanticipated ways.

Foster himself played John in the first production of the play at North Hatley’s Piggery in 1997 and has since performed  the role for The Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque.

Canadian theatre owes a large debt to Norm Foster, unquestionably Canada’s most widely produced playwright. His extraordinary output of more than 30 plays in a space of just over 20 years is only part of the story. These plays have clearly struck a chord with Canadian audiences. They have become an indispensable ingredient in the programs of professional and community theatres across the country.

What makes the plays work so well? To begin with there is Foster’s keen ear for the way real people speak. The conversation always seems new-minted and fresh. Nothing seems contrived. He has a genius for tapping into ordinary human experience. You can recognize yourself up there on the stage, or at least you can recognize your neighbour. There are no villains in a Foster play, but there are no heroes either.

Norm Foster is also Kanata Theatre’s most produced playwright. Here on the Flight Path joins last year’s Drinking Alone, as well as previous seasons’ mountings of Ethan Claymore, Sinners, The Affections of May and Foster’s classic The Melville Boys.

Here on the Flight Path runs in the Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Way, Kanata, Tuesday to Saturday September 19 to 30, with no performances on Sundays or Mondays. Curtain is at 8 pm sharp. Tickets are $15. Subscriptions for the full season of five plays are $60. The box office number is 613 831 4435. For more information visit www.kanatatheatre.com


This page generated on 2006-08-17

Here on the Flight Path Cast
Ready for Take-off

A crack cast of players stands ready to bring the familiar Norm Foster ingredients of sex, romance, and comedy to the Ron Maslin Playhouse stage on September 19.

That’s when Here On the Flight Path opens Kanata Theatre’s 38^th season.

Susan Monaghan directs the play. Since discovering her love of theatre as an undergraduate she has acted and directed on many stages including Ottawa Little Theatre, Tara Players, Nepean Little Theatre and the Lakeside Players. She was introduced to Kanata audiences in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women and has since appeared in Over the River and Through the Woods, Caught in the Net, and last season’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane. This is her fourth time directing for Kanata Theatre.

In this production Alain Chamsi is John Cummings, the role originally played by Norm Foster himself. At Kanata Theatre Alain appeared in Rumors, The Uninvited, The Snow Ball, and most recently in the guest role of Bruce Jamieson in last season’s Staff Room. For Lakeside he acted in The Melville Boys and Drinking Alone and earlier this year directed Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii

Katie Betts who plays Fay was Clare in Proof in 2004. For Kanata she also played Stella in The Uninvited, Alice in You Can’t Take it With You, Mina in The Death of Dracula and Faith in Kindertransport. Last year she played Queen Hortense in the Christmas production The Dragonslayers.

Barbara Kobolak (Gwen) first appeared for Kanata Theatre as Kristine Linde in A Doll’s House in 1989. Other Kanata roles include Bella in Lost in Yonkers, Lenny in Crimes of the Heart, Barbara in The Snow Ball and Lily Belle in The Curious Savage, also directed by Susan Monaghan. She has also performed with Ottawa Little Theatre, Tara Players, and Lakeside Players. This is her second Norm Foster play, the first being Phoenix Players’ production of Opening Nights.

Sarah Lavrisa who plays Angel received the Kanata Theatre Award on her graduation from Holy Trinity High School. She is majoring in theatre at Ottawa University. Previous roles include Antonia in Much Ado About Nothing, Mina in Dracula, The Musical, Angela in The Castle Spectre, as well as a role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, all at Holy Trinity.

Here on the Flight Path runs in the Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Way, Kanata, Tuesday to Saturday September 19 to 30, with no performances on Sundays or Mondays. Curtain is at 8 pm sharp. Tickets are $15. Subscriptions for the full season of five plays are $60. The box office number is 613 831 4435. For more information visit www.kanatatheatre.com


This page generated on 2006-08-28

Kanata Theatre’s 38^th Season
Set To Open With a Bang

by Clare Flockton

On September 19^th, Kanata Theatre will be kicking off its 38^th season with a witty and sexy comedy called Here On The Flight Path, written by Canada’s most widely produced playwright Norm Foster.

This touching romantic comedy centers around a newspaper columnist, John Cummings played by Alain Chamsi, who spends a great deal of his time assessing his own life as he sits on his fourth story balcony near the runway of a local airport. As Cummings gathers thoughts and experiences for his unwritten novel, he has three incredibly different relationships with the female occupants of the next-door unit. Hilarity and amusement ensue as this newly divorced regular guy tries to chat up and befriend these eccentric women.

As all three women take occupancy in the flat next door, Cummings goes through a sense of self awareness and personal growth as he develops from seeing women as sexual objects to learning that fulfillment can be attained from a platonic friendship. Fay, played by Katie Betts, Angel, played by Sarah Lavrisa and Gwen played by Barbara Kobolak take Cummings on a journey from immaturity to understanding a little better the complexities of women.

Tickets for Here On The Flight Path are being sold for $15.00 each at the Ron Maslin Playhouse, 1 Ron Maslin Way in Kanata, starting September 5th. The show runs from September 19th until September 30th with blackout nights on Sunday and Monday. Curtain is 8pm sharp. For more information visit Kanata theatre’s website at www.kanatatheatre.com.

There is still time for you to pick up a subscription for the entire 38^th theatre season, which is made up of 5 wonderful plays. Subscriptions are only $60.00 and are well worth the expense. Call the box office today for your tickets (613) 831-4435.

This page generated on 2006-09-03