Nanaimo Theatre Group’s upcoming play will joke around, take on important topics, and set the tone for the group’s 65th season.
The theatre company will be staging Perfect Arrangement starting Sunday, Oct. 6, and running until Oct. 26 at the Bailey Studio.
The play, written by Topher Payne, is inspired by the early days of the gay rights movement in the United States in the 1950s.
“This is going to be one of the best shows I’ve ever been involved in,” said Michael Armstrong, the director. “Every director says that, but I have a spectacular cast, they really are the cream of the crop … [and] the script itself is just a gift.”
He said the play is set against a backdrop of McCarthyism and follows two closeted U.S. State Department employees, a man and a woman, who have married each other’s same-sex partner to fit in, at a time when their department’s mandate is expanding from targeting communists to also going after ‘sexual deviants.’
“So they’re basically put in charge of outing themselves, and the rest of the show is them coming to terms with the consequences of their predicament,” Armstrong said.
He said the play starts as a sort of sitcom reminiscent of an I Love Lucy episode, and gets more serious from there, while never losing touch with the comedy of the situations.
He praised his cast’s comic timing, which he said is “hugely important, because the comedy is really the vehicle through which the message is delivered.”
Armstrong said the play’s message is a timely one considering some of discrimination LGBTQ people are facing, particularly in the United States, and said that directing the play has expanded his understanding of the strength and struggles of gay and lesbian friends and acquaintances over the years.
“I’ve been an ally of the LGBTQ movements for 50 years and this is a story that somehow feels like it’s something I’ve wanted to tell for much of that time,” he said.
The show stars Dean Chadwick, Jocelyn Dickson, Jim Maher and Carolyn Kuhn, along with Amanda Wagner, Bobbie Williams and Armstrong.
The director said last week at rehearsals, there was a read-through of the holiday panto going on in another part of the building, making for a busy atmosphere at the Bailey.
“There is a sense of excitement as a season’s getting underway … a real buzz in the air,” he said.
WHAT’S ON … Perfect Arrangement runs Oct. 6-26 with 7:30 p.m. showtime and three 2 p.m. matinees. For tickets and more information, visit http://nanaimotheatregroup.ca or call 250-758-7224.
