GLT branches out with The Ginkgo Tree
Most theatre directors will tell you comedies are more difficult to pull off than dramas. Double the difficulty if it’s your first show.
Linda Gorham goes one better: It’s not just her first show as director with Garrison Little Theatre, it’s a play she hadn’t even read before. For her debut, Lee MacDougall’s The Ginkgo Tree, she was diving in to the deep end.
“Usually when people say they want to direct a show, it’s because they read it and something has spoken to them,” she says. “Because it was a comedy, I figured ‘Okay, well that will be fun.’
“It has been, but it has been nightmarish in the sense that you wake up at three in the morning and go ‘Oh my God! I’ve got to do something else!’
“If you ask my husband, I’m a bossy person, so I figured ‘Yeah, I’d be able to direct, I don’t mind telling people what to do.’ But there’s just so much more.”
GLT’s final show of the 2016/17 season may be keep Gorham up at night, but the laughs will be worth it opening night April 21. McDougall’s 2011 play follows the rigours of a family-owned plant store in a small town, struggling to stay in business as two elderly customers anxiously await the delivery of a ginkgo tree and a bag of ladybugs.
As stage manager for previous shows, Gorham has worked with much of the cast. And they’ve made the difference.
“I thank God for them every rehearsal, because they’re giving me so much great advice. And Rick Nigh, my producer. That’s one thing about the GLT group - people are so willing to give of themselves, to help somebody else.”
The eight-member cast consists of Zdenka Cole, Bruce Davenport, Dan Bennett, Trent Matthews, Reynaldo Baecher, Carole Ferriday, Deana White and Alexis Davidge.
“There’s so many things that come together to make (a play), and I’m finding that out big time,” says Gorham. “I’m worried if I’m doing enough, or pushing people too much.”