Mira Players heat up spring with ‘Hotbed Hotel’
The Mira Players opened their latest production last weekend (and unfortunately other commitments prevented me from seeing it) but everything I have heard about it says it was a rousing success. And no wonder, the Players have been entertaining audiences for three laugh-filled decades.
“Hotbed Hotel” by Michael Parker is the kind of risqué farce comedy that is somewhat new for the Mira Players. Under the assured direction of Kelly Lynn Kirk, the Players’ artistic director for the last few years, I’m sure it will be a great evening of laughs and a nice, if a tiny bit naughty, Mother’s Day weekend outing.
The two final performances are Friday and Saturday at the Marion Bridge Recreation Community Centre with doors open at 5 p.m. and the performance starting around 6 p.m. The $25 ticket price includes a full course meal (including dessert). Tickets are available at Mullin’s Rite Stop, and by calling Beth at 902-7272325 for more information.
Another Mother’s Day theatre offering (with finger sandwiches and sweets) is “Conspicuousness Conspicuousness” written and directed by Andrew Gouthro and starring Alison Crosby and Lesley MacLean on Sunday in the banquet room of the Martin Arms Hotel, Kings Road, in Sydney. Tickets are $25 (plus tax) and can be purchased by calling 902-567-3311.
Playwright Gouthro didn’t want to give any spoilers about his play, but with the talent associated with this piece it should be highly entertaining.
Crosby and MacLean have been mainstays of a lot of recent Highland Arts Theatre productions, both on stage and off, and Gouthro was recently nominated for a Merrit Theatre Award for his work as a moody Goth with an unpronounceable name in the HAT’s “Sucker.”
And speaking of the Highland Arts Theatre, the concluding production of its 2017 Spring Season opens Wednesday, May 17, and runs for a week.
“Next to Normal”, music by Tom Kitt, lyrics and book by Brian Yorkey, is a Broadway musical phenom about an ordinary suburban family struggling with mental illness. The HAT describes it as “raw and uncompromised, full of love, sympathy and heart.”
Returning to direct his third HAT production ais East Bay’s own, Ron Jenkins. Jenkins, who directs innovative plays all across North America to critical and audience acclaim, previously directed “Extinction Song” (which he also wrote) and “Sucker.”
Theatre Baddeck returns for its third summer of professional theatre with three productions at the lovely Masonic Hall on Queen Street.
Their season brings back two audience favorites, “The Young Ladies of Baddeck Club” by Christy MacRae-Ziss and Hannah Ziss, and “Harvest” by Ken Cameron, and adds a third new production, “Murder at the Inverary Inn” by Sam Bobrick and Ron Clark.
Along with their entertaining lineup of summer theatre, the company wants to attract more audience members with a promotion to sell 70 for $70 season subscription passes before May 31.
This package offers tickets for all productions at almost 20 per cent off and if you can’t make all of the shows, you can gift them to visiting family and friends. For more information on this promotion and performance dates and times, visit www.theatrebaddeck.com/
Just a reminder, that the Jane’s Walk along Sydney’s Harbour scheduled for May 6, postponed because of last weekend’s rain, has been rescheduled for this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Anyone wishing to take this informative walk led by Cape Breton Post columnist, Paul MacDougall, should meet by 1 p.m. at the Membertou Monument at 336 Kings Road in front of the Medical Arts Building.
The walk proceeds towards downtown Sydney, then along the boardwalk with stops to chat about the harbour’s history,
identify shore birds along the way, and other living things like lichen, and maybe hear a poem or two about Sydney. The walk will finish by the Merchant Marine monument near the Big Fiddle.
This walk is free and open everyone and is family-friendly. It’s part of a worldwide program to celebrate, explore, and discuss our city environment inspired by the work of writer and thinker, Jane Jacobs.