Island actress nabs lead
Brielle Ansems plays Josie Hogan in Eugene O’Neill play
Watermark Theatre has announced that P.E.I. actress, Brielle Ansems, has won the lead role as Josie Hogan in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” after a national audition search.
Raised in Montague, and currently living in Charlottetown, Ansems is a student in the Holland College School of Performing Arts theatre program. She is also immersed in a burgeoning career as a singer-songwriter here on the Island.
Her theatre experience includes, “The Island’s Super Duper Fantabulous Holiday Smorgasbord of Joy” at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, “The Princess and the Pea” with The Cat’s Pajamas Theatre Company and Theatre St. Thomas’ “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”. She has also performed in shows with White Rose Entertainment’s Feast Dinner Theatres.
Ansems said she is “thrilled” to be making her full-season debut at the Watermark, particularly in a role with as much to offer as Josie Hogan.
“Josie’s resilience and vulnerability are so real and compelling, and it’s an honour to be able to bring her to life this summer,” she says in a recent news release.
Auditions were held in Charlottetown, Halifax and Toronto, with videotaped auditions submitted from across the country, says Watermark artistic director Robert Tsonos.
“Brielle had stiff competition from many very talented actresses from across the country, but she did a superb audition and we are thrilled to have her join us this summer.”
“A Moon for the Misbegotten” was written by Eugene O’Neill and is a blend of comedy, tragedy, autobiography and imagination while telling of a love story set in 1923 between a Broadway actor, Jim Tyrone, and a Connecticut farm girl named Josie Hogan.
Hogan and her hard-drinking Irish father, Phil, scheme to hold on to the farm they’ve worked for 20 years. When their neighbour, an oil magnate, stakes a claim on their property they do all they can to stop the sale. Under the light of one night’s magical moon, “A Moon for The Misbegotten”, plumbs the depth of the human spirit with tremendous redemptive power.
Ansems can’t wait to start rehearsals and spend the summer in North Rustico.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be cast in this production. O’Neill’s writing is an actor’s dream, and this show is no exception.”
A Moon for the Misbegotten runs from July 6 to Aug. 31.