Cape Breton Post

Highland Arts Theatre opens summer season this weekend

- BY CHRIS SHANNON

The Highland Arts Theatre’s summer season began Thursday evening with the second run of the musical comedy, “Heart of Steel” by Wesley J. Colford, the artistic director of the theatre.

The musical originally ran through March to sold-out audiences. The production can be seen each Thursday during the month.

It’s about the men and women who worked at the Sydney steel plant during the Second World War.

“It was a great crowd, great response, great show as always. It was a very exciting way to start the summer,” Colford said Friday.

He said about 200 tickets sold for the first show in its second run. Colford expects the audience will grow throughout July.

The Highland Arts Theatre is also offering three brand-new production­s that will run concurrent­ly through the month.

Each play will run for five consecutiv­e weeks through July and the first weekend in August, each with a designated night of the week. All shows begin at 8 p.m.

EVERY FRIDAY: The Cape Breton premiere of Colford’s nationally acclaimed play, “Mature Young Adults.”

A love story about two teenaged would-be-lovers, estranged by an age-old conflict ( he’s from Sydney, she’s from New Waterford).

This look at contempora­ry first love has been performed to rave reviews in Toronto, Halifax, and most recently was turned into a short film by Kit Media and Bravo Facts. Anna Spencer and featured performers Jonathan Lewis and Bhreagh MacNeil will direct this new production.

EVERY SATURDAY: Alistair MacLeod’s classic Cape Breton novel, “No Great Mischief,” is transforme­d in this adaptation by David S. Young, directed by Todd Hiscock, the director of Cape Breton University’s Boardmore Playhouse. “No Great Mischief ” is one of the most beloved Canadian novels of the past generation and has been staged to great acclaim in theatres across Canada, most notably at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre where it premiered and was revived four times in the past decade. The production is heavily influenced by the music of Gaelic-speaking Scottish descendant­s and features an eight-person cast of actor/musicians, including local favourites Sam White, Tony Hajjar, Ken Chisholm, Josie Sobol and Bruce Cathcart.

EVERY SUNDAY: The world premiere of a new comedy from local playwright James F.W. Thompson is called “The True Meaning of Cape Breton.”

Drawing equal inspiratio­n from Monty Python, Cape Breton sketch comedy and classic Christmas specials, it follows one young man’s pursuit to answer that age-old question: Do I stay or do I go?

Featuring an ensemble of Highland Arts Theatre favourites ( Jenna Lahey, Jonathan Lewis, Danny MacNeil, Duane Nardocchio and Hilary Scott), the production is directed by Colford.

Tickets for each of these three production­s will be $25, however audiences can purchase a summer season ticket package and receive tickets for all three shows for only $39.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada