The Classic Theatre announces Casting for 2011 Summer Season

May 1, 2011, PERTH – The Classic Theatre Festival, Ottawa Valley’s professional summer theatre, has announced casting for its 2011 summer season of classic hits from Broadway and the London Stage, at its new venue, the wheelchair-accessible and air conditioned Mason Theatre at 13 Victoria Street in Perth.

As with its inaugural season last summer, this year’s season is full of powerhouse talent that has graced the top stages in Canada. It will also feature a number of returning actors, designers and stage managers from the 2010 season who have put down some strong roots with their billet hosts and town residents.

Season opener “Bell, Book and Candle,” a romantic comedy that inspired the television series “Bewitched,” opens July 8, featuring Erica Wood as the mysterious Gillian Holroyd, a beautiful witch who must choose between love and her otherworldly powers. Wood, who trained classically at the UK’s London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, has performed on stages across the province with such companies as Gryphon Theatre, The Stage Co., and Magnus Theatre. She also won renown co-writing and performing in “Girls in Love Be Harlots” (based on the life of legendary Canadian poet Elizabeth Smart, who wrote “By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.”) A frequent performer on radio and television, Wood also teaches drama and studies screenwriting.

Her onstage love interest, publisher Shepherd Henderson, will be played by Scott Maudsley, a veteran of professional stages across Canada. Local residents who ventured south last year may have seen him in the 4th Line Theatre production of “Eldorado Town: The Port Hope Play.” Maudsley has also recently appeared at Magnus Theatre, and the Red Barn while keeping busy with television shows and commercials. A leading man with a strong sense of humour and comic timing, he is particularly proud of “Straight to Video,” a spoof on the Oscars which he directed and produced, as well as his own one-man show, “Brothers.”

Returning this season will be Catherine Bruce (who played Mrs. Bradman in the 2010 production of “Blithe Spirit”) in the role of Aunt Queenie. Bruce, a veteran of Canadian stage for over three decades, including The Citadel, The Grand, Port Hope Festival, and Magnus. Bruce is originally from Ottawa and used to spend family vacations at Crosby Lake. She has appeared in numerous television shows and commercials and has toured Canada twice in the GM auto show as the hilarious Pat Womansbridge.

The role of the frequently inebriated Sidney Redlitch, a researcher of the occult, will be handled by Allan Price, who, in addition to numerous television and film roles, has played stages across the country, from Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre to Fredericton’s Theatre New Brunswick. Price acted, directed, and wrote two productions of U.C. Follies at University of Toronto’s Hart House during the late 1960s, one of which featured current Liberal politician Bob Rae.

Rounding out the cast is an Ottawa performer of many talents, Zachary Counsil, a Rideau-Award nominated performer, director, and technician fresh from working at the NAC’s Prairie Scenes series this season. Frequently seen in Ottawa productions by Third Wall, Company of Fools, and Odyssey Theatre, Counsil plays Nicky, Gillian’s mischievous warlock brother.

Behind the scenes is an equally talented crew of theatre veterans. In addition to director Laurel Smith, Artistic Producer of the Festival who helmed last season’s production of “Blithe Spirit,” the set design will be created by Ottawa’s Margaret Coderre-Williams, whose work has graced stages across the province, including the Shaw Festival, and who is currently the resident set designer at the University of Ottawa’s Theatre Department. She has frequently been nominated for and won Capital Critics Circle Awards. Joining them will be costume designer Sarah Waghorn, a Rideau Awards nominee who designed costumes for both 2010 Classic Theatre Festival productions. Sarah’s recent work in Ottawa includes The Ottawa Shakeaspeare Company’s production of “Hamlet,” as well as many productions with the acclaimed Ottawa School of Speech and Drama.

Lighting will be designed by David Magladry, who has spent almost two decades working in theatre, television, museum exhibitions and special events. Resident Lighting Designer and Technical Director for The Gladstone Theatre’s 2009/2010 season, he has also worked for the CBC, BBC, and Canadian War Museum.

Also returning to stage manage another Classic Theatre Festival production will be Natalie Gisele, who worked on last year’s “The Voice of the Turtle” and is a familiar face to both the Ottawa and Toronto theatre scenes.

The second show of the season is the Tony Award-winning “The Fourposter,” playwright and novelist Jan de Hartog’s comedic chronicle of a marriage. It will also feature a returning performer from the Festival’s inaugural season, Lindsay Kyte, who played a hysterically funny turn as Edith in last season’s “Blithe Spirit.” Kyte, a multi-talented performer and playwright, is currently working on her play “Tompkinsville” (featured in a recent CBC Radio documentary), and was the author of a series of well-read dispatches about life in Perth last year. She also appeared last summer on the A Channel in a feature on Perth and the Classic Theatre Festival.

Playing Kyte’s adorable but oftentimes exasperating husband is Scott Clarkson, always a busy performer on stage and screen, with appearances in the movies “Road Rage,” “Dr. Jekyll”, and the upcoming Mexican feature “Sin Retorno.” An actor who has played both Shakespeare and Shaw, he is also an author of a one-man show, “The Floorboy”, which recently played in Montreal.

“The Fourposter,” again directed by Artistic Producer Smith, will feature the work of costume designer Waghorn and lighting designer Magladry. The set design will be provided by John Doucet from Ottawa. In addition to being a talented designer, John is also an accomplished performer, most recently as part of the NAC’s English Theatre Resident Company. He is preparing to take up a role as resident designer at Ottawa’s Third Wall Theatre this fall.

Keeping the show running smoothly will be Ottawa stage manager, Chantal Hayman, who has worked at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Magnetic North, and the National Arts Centre, among many others.

The Festival will also be working with a growing group of talented locals including Robert Forbes (production manager), Madesta Buffam (crew), Alexis Scott (crew), Sean Jacklin (technical assistant), and Patrice-Ann Tremblay (design assistant). Up-and-coming theatre professional Jocelyn MacDowell will be Assistant Director on “Bell, Book and Candle.” As well, several co-op students from Perth & District Collegiate will be working front of house this summer, alongside many local volunteers.

As part of this season’s activities, the Festival is planning a series of theme days, such as the CARP Day at the July 20 matinee, presented in association with the Canadian Association of Retired People. As well, the festival aims once again raise thousands of dollars in funds for local and regional community organizations. Community partners for those nights will be the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, Lanark County Interval House, Sexual Assault Centre Kingston, and the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre, the Children’s Aid Society, and Mississippi Valley Textile Museum and Dignity House Hospice.

There will also be a special August 20 matinee of “The Fourposter” featuring a special appearance with the playwright’s widow, Marjorie de Hartog, who will make the long trek from her home in Pennsylvania to address a post-show audience on the life, work, and legacy of her husband, whose many works of fiction and nonfiction had a great impact, from producing the thoroughly-documented novelized history of the Quakers to producing works that inspired major social reforms in the US.

The Festival’s new Save-a-Seat program is also off to a very good start. With help from local donors as well as the Perth & District Community Foundation, the Festival will provide complimentary tickets to those who otherwise would be unable to attend the theatre.

“We’re really looking forward to another successful season here in Perth,” says Artistic Producer Laurel Smith. “With the new accessible venue, as well as a growing enthusiasm based on last season, we think our summer guests will have a great experience here and anticipate that they will make a trip to Perth and the Classic Theatre Festival their newest summer tradition.”

Tickets can be ordered online at www.classictheatre.ca by calling 1-877-283-1283 or by visiting the Tickets Please outlet, located in Jo’s Clothes, 39 Foster Street in Perth. Given strong advance sales, it is best to book early for best available seats and dates.

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This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural
Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the
Ministry of Tourism and Culture, administered by the Ontario Cultural
Attractions Fund Corporation.