life with more cowbell

Theatre trifecta for me this weekend, chickens.

The adventures started on Friday night, with opening night of Sylvia at Alumnae Theatre; joining me for this sold out studio performance were pals Heather Allin, Kerri MacDonald and Tina McCulloch.

A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia, directed for Alum by Maria Popoff and produced by Ramona Baillie, is a hilarious and quirky tale about a pair of empty nesters (Andrew Batten & Dinah Watts) – just moved to Manhattan to start the next stage of their lives – who have their world turned upside down by the introduction of stray dog Sylvia (Lea Russell) into their home. Greg is smitten by Sylvia – a raucous, curious and energetic canine of unidentified breed and origin (the only clue to her identity is the name tag on her collar) – while Kate is most decidedly not. Joining this trio of actors are Douglas Tindal (as Greg’s dog park pal Tom), Kay Montgomery (as Kate’s friend Phyllis) and Mary Joseph (as their therapist). Nice, comic work all around – I haven’t laughed so hard in a while.

The smart, clean minimalist set (Samantha Brown) and lighting (Paul Court) provided just the right setting for the newly cosmopolitan couple – and the sound (Rick Jones) and costume (Lindsay Code) struck the right notes.

This play is big, big fun – the audience laughed a lot – Russell captures the dog energy perfectly, and the conversations Sylvia has with both Greg and Kate are totally believable and ring so true. And there’s a lovely moment of poignancy when the three of them sing Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye. At the heart of Sylvia is a story of unconditional love – no matter what your species.

Sylvia runs in the Alumnae Theatre Studio until November 26: http://www.alumnaetheatre.com/1112sylvia.html

Saturday afternoon was more work on the Willow Quartet set at Mike’s (with Mike and Ed). Once again, the weather gods were good to us and we had a mild, sunny day to work in the garage and out on the driveway. And, I’ll say it again: I love painting outdoors! All of us feeling pretty drag-ass when we started and Mike was battling a mother of a migraine all afternoon, but being out in the sunshine, working together, we all seemed to rally. We got lots done and finished the afternoon very happy with our progress.

No time to go home after working on the set, so I changed clothes at Mike’s and headed down to Berkeley and Adelaide, with time to have dinner at Skal and go for coffee at Balzac’s in the Distillery. Martha Spence joined me for the Toronto Irish Players’ production of Conor McPherson’s Shining City on the Alumnae Theatre main stage

Directed by Cliona Kenny and produced by freshman producer Sharon Taylor, Shining City gives us a glimpse into the lives of Ian (a therapist, played by Diarmuid Collins) and John (his patient, Stephen Flett), two men whose lives are both shifting as each experiences his own life-changing moments. The drama of everyday life is shadowed by the unexplained, the supernatural. The script, slices of life moments showing us scenes from lives in which each has the opportunity to narrate his own story, raises questions: How much are we actually navigating our own lives – or are we being moved by the unseen forces of desire, memory and duty, even as global shifts in things like the economy and the balance of power affect us locally? Fine, very real, performances all around. Rounding out the excellent cast are Katharine O’Brien (as Ian’s fiancée Neasa) and Matt Jensen (as Laurence, a young man who comes into Ian’s life).

Nice work from the design team: Paul Stoesser (set/lights), Bernie Hunt (costumes), James Taylor and Stephen Lee (sound) and Patrick Hodgson (cinematography). The office walk-up (with its malfunctioning entry buzzer system) added a comic element, and I’m not going to spoil the spooky moment – you’ll have to come see that for yourself.

Shining City runs on the Alumnae Theatre main stage until November 19: www.torontoirishplayers.com