BROADWAY STAR TO JOIN A HORROR OF A FUNDRAISING EVENT
Evening benefits playwrights network, which helps the province’s dramatists
On Oct. 28, for one performance only, Patrick R. Brown will reprise his role as Frank N Furter, the transsexual transvestite from planet Transylvania, which he created for Stage West.
Brown will don the classic fishnet stockings and corset in aid of what has become a yearly fundraiser for Alberta Playwrights’ Network and the Evergreen Theatre. This concert-style version of the Rocky Horror Show will run in the Evergreen Community Spaces Theatre at 1709 8th Ave. N.E.
Brown was most recently seen in Calgary in the Broadway Across Canada touring production of The Lion King. He has played the villain Scar for more than a decade on tour and on Broadway and, fortunately, he has a few weeks off so he can come back home to help out this worthy cause.
According to Trevor Rueger, the current executive director of Alberta Playwrights Network, in the past 10 years alone, the organization has “chaperoned 65 plays that have gone on to be produced locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.”
He points immediately to David van Belle’s Liberation Days and Ken Cameron’s musical Deer Johnny Dear, which had major productions at Theatre Calgary and other regional theatres across Canada, as well as Karen Hines’ All the Little Animals, which was featured at The High Performance Rodeo this past January.
In addition, Stephen Massicotte’s Mary’s Wedding and Eugene Stickland’s Queen Lear are two Alberta plays that have enjoyed numerous international productions.
I know first-hand the invaluable assistance a playwright can receive from the Alberta Playwright’s Network (APN).
When Paul Stanton was artistic director of StoryBook Theatre, he asked if I would create an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. At that time, Ken Cameron was the executive director of APN and his offices were in the same building as StoryBook.
He came to all the initial readings of the early drafts of my version of Jungle Book. His advice was given so carefully and he really did help to nurture the play without attempting to take control. The finished script benefited greatly from his involvement.
These days, when I’m floundering with a play I turn to playwright and dramaturge Caroline Russell- King. She worked miracles with my thriller Murder at Rillington Place, which was commissioned by Workshop Theatre.
I could solicit help from APN except that I am not one of its 160 members, a fact for which Rueger understandably scolded me.
“There are probably twice as many playwrights in the province, but they haven’t joined us,” he noted.
It’s quite a diverse membership: from notable award winners like Sharon Pollock and Gordon Pengilly to high school, college and university students.
“We need emerging playwrights as much as we do award-winning established playwrights,” said Rueger. “If we don’t create strong local voices, we can’t be heard.”
Rueger said a fundraiser like this concert version of The Rocky Horror Show is essential to supporting the ongoing work they do with playwrights in the province.
Fortunately, the event sold out its first two years and tickets are going fast for this one, which is understandable given Brown is lending a hand.
Joining Brown are JP Thibodeau (Brad Majors), Shari Wattling (Janet Weiss), Nicole Zylstra (Magenta), Jamie Konchak (Riff Raff ), Rocky Horror (Doug Keeling), Selina Wong (Columbia), Robert Klein (Dr. Everett Scott) and Russell Bowers (the narrator).
Tickets are $40 each, available through eventbrite.ca. Search for Rocky Horror Picture Show, a staged reading.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the Time Warp countdown begins at 8 p.m.
We need emerging playwrights as much as we do award-winning established playwrights.