Regina Little Theatre keeps things fresh with ‘grab-bag of shows’

Regina Little Theatre has shows for all tastes over the course two nights, and they are all short, sweet and definitely satisfying.

Spring One-Acts Cabaret will be held May 5 and 6 at the Regina Performing Arts Centre with the event including four plays called Forgetting to Remember, The Super Shoe Sale, Broken and Bake Sale. Both evenings include food and drink service.

A producer with the company, Bryce Schlamp, said the brief plays are a good way to give people who are new to the theatre a chance alongside those who are more experienced. Speaking during a phone interview, he said the oneact play style forces actors to think outside the box.

One-act plays, as the name suggests, have no scene breaks between the action. Schlamp called them “self-contained stories” that are between 10 to 30 minutes each. This year the company is hosting a three comedies and a thriller.

“It’s a grab bag of shows. You get a little bit of everything,” the producer said.

One of the plays, The Super Shoe Sale, is by local author Keith Foster, who is known for slipping in Regina references. Schlamp said the company has done a number of his shows and they are always well received and a lot of fun.

“This one is no different. It’s sort of an Abbott and Costello style piece, like Who’s on First, but set in on a shoe sales floor.”

The thriller is called Broken, directed by Sarah Grismer. It takes place in a home where a man has been found dead. His wife, mother and a mistress are called together as suspects and, as is revealed, they are also victims in their own ways.

“There’s a bit of a backstory to each of the women,” Schlamp said.

Building tension in a one-act thriller takes a lot of care by the actors and the director.

“They rely on character archetypes a lot more, since you come in during the middle of a scene,” Shlamp explained. “It cuts to the good stuff … (as an actor) you have to get into it quickly.”

Forgetting to Remember is a comedy about a man who awakens to find a strange woman in his bed; he learns he’s been married to her for 30 years. Shlamp said while the premise could be serious, Forgetting to Remember, directed by James Park, is an amnesia story and a comedy of errors.

Bake Sale, on the other hand, is a piece about four women.

“The baking stands in for their sexuality and what they give away,” Shlamp said. “It’s comedy about the archetypes of what you would find in the dating world or society at large … It’s our thinking piece for the night.” He laughed, adding audiences should expect a few baking and sex puns.

“Each show is interesting in their own way. That’s the beauty of it.”

Tickets for Regina Little Theatre’s Spring One-Acts Cabaret are available at reginalittletheatre.com or by calling 306-779-2277.