Some familiar faces, some new
Returning actors and new arrivals part of Watermark’s 10th season
Watermark Theatre has announced the casting for the upcoming 2017 summer season, the 10th in the company’s history.
A few familiar faces and several actors new to the Island will perform in the company’s productions of “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon and “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” by George Bernard Shaw.
They will also take part in the 2017 Play Reading Series. Joining previously announced actress Leah Pritchard, who tackles both lead roles this summer, will be Gracie Finley, Jordan Campbell, Ian Deakin, Jerry Getty and P.E.I.’s Paul Whelan.
Returning for her fifth season, Finley will play the oddly hilarious Ethel Banks in “Barefoot in the Park” and the commanding Kitty Warren in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”.
Raised in Charlottetown with summers spent in Alberton, she is well known to P.E.I. audiences, having played Anne Shirley in “Anne of Green Gables -The Musical” at the Charlottetown Festival from 1968 to 1974 and again in 1984 and 1985. At Watermark, Finley has performed in “Blithe Spirit”, “The Glass Menagerie”, “The Shore Field”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Lion in Winter”, “Romeo and Juliet” and “An Ideal Husband”.
A veteran of Canadian theatre, Deakin has worked from coast to coast and spent 13 seasons at the Stratford Festival. He takes on the roles of the oddball Victor Velasco in “Barefoot in the Park” and the nasty Sir George Crofts in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”.
In addition to his many years at Stratford, he appeared on Broadway at the Lincoln Centre and Off Broadway. Most recent credits include work at Theatre Calgary, Theatre By The Bay, Drayton Festival Theatre, Globe Theatre, and the Rose Theatre.
Audiences will remember Campbell from the 2015 season when he played Benvolio in Duncan McIntosh’s production of “Romeo & Juliet”. This summer he tackles the role of the uptight Paul Bratter in “Barefoot in the Park” and the lovable cad Frank Gardner in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”. He is a graduate of the Ryerson University acting program and since graduating in 2013 has performed with Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay, Globus Theatre in Bobcaygeon and Alehouse Theatre in Toronto.
Getty has appeared in theatres across the country, including The Grand Theatre, The Stratford Festival, Persephone Theatre and Magnus Theatre. This summer he plays Telephone Man in “Barefoot in the Park” and Mr. Praed in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”.
Whelan has a long and distinguished career in theatre on the Island having worked with Theatre P.E.I., Kings Playhouse, The Guild, ACT, and the Confederation Centre.
A producer, production stage
manager, director and actor, he directed ACT’s 25th anniversary production of “Our Town” and this past year a successful production of “The Laramie Project”. As an actor, he has numerous credits, including Matthew, in “Anne of Green Gables-The Musical”. He will play Rev. Samuel Gardner in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” and will make a cameo appearance in “Barefoot in the Park”.
Entering her fourth season with the company, Pritchard will play both lead roles this summer - the perky Corie Bratter in “Barefoot in the Park” and the complicated Vivie Warren in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”. Last summer, she portrayed Laura in “The Glass Menagerie” and the dual roles of Edith and Mrs. Bradman in “Blithe Spirit”.