Rosebud Theatre’s 2024 season highlights plays that celebrate courage, inspiration and adventure.
“Theatre should carry us into adventure, into courageous living, into inspiration,” said Morris Ertman, Rosebud Theatre’s Artistic Director. He hopes this season’s shows will give all of those gifts to patrons.
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire opens Rosebud Theatre’s season, April 5 to May 25. It’s the true story of Olympic runner Eric Liddell, who, 100 years ago in 1924, ran for the glory of God, refusing to compromise his Christian beliefs. His chief competitor Harold Abrahams ran in the face of antisemitism.
The play is written by Mike Bartlett. Morris Ertman will direct.
Ertman plans to create a show that’s emotionally soaring, a play that “will really lift the roof off the theatre.”
Little Women
Little Women, a musical, is Rosebud Theatre’s summer show, playing June 7 to August 31. The classic story is about four young sisters – Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth – growing up during the American Civil War.
Morris Ertman will direct. Bill Hamm is directing music.
“It’s celebrating the bond between sisters,” Ertman said. “And it’s a celebration of family. … And talk about courage. Jo’s fantasies, her stories, are all about that. She’s … a woman stepping out and carving her own voice in the world.”
The Fever
The Fever, by Wallace Shawn, will run July 5 to August 31 on Rosebud’s Studio Stage. Bronwyn Steinberg will direct.
“(The Fever) is about a story about a woman (a New York actor) who has an epiphany,” Ertman said. “She’s in the midst of a transition in her life. … in which she is struggling with who she is, and knowing she has to become someone different. She finds herself in a third-world hotel room with a fever. And in that fever, she has a vision of what her life would be if she gave up everything she had done before to embrace the poor.”
For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again
For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, running September 13 to October 26, is playwright Michel Tremblay’s celebration of his mother.
“This is (Tremblay) putting (his mom) on stage and crediting her as his inspiration,” Ertman said. “She is the nuttiest, yet most romantic mom you’ll ever meet. I love it because it is a theatre person paying tribute to a large part of his muse, and a large part of his muse is his mom.”
The play will be performed by mother and son, Karen Johnson-Diamond and Griffin Cork.
“It’s going to bring a glorious light to the stage,” Ertman said. “The fact that there’s a real bond between these two (actors). It’s the real thing. They’re tight. That’s going to bring light to this show that’s going to translate it into something wonderful.”
Christmas on the Air
Christmas on the Air, by Lucia Frangione, plays November 8 to December 22. Ian Farthing will direct. Bill Hamm will direct music.
“It’s the story of a 1940s Christmas Eve radio show,” Ertman said, “that’s being transmitted from the Opera House in front of a live studio audience. It’s filled with carols, Christmas songs, sung live, along with a cooking segment with Sylvia, the piano player.”
It’s also a Christmas love story.
“There’s this young woman who’s just joined the team,” Ertman said. “She has a baby, born out of wedlock. … What do you do when you discover that the girl you’ve fallen in love with is the mother of a baby and how do you sort that out live on air? … It winds up paralleling the Christmas story in the most amazing way.”
Special Productions
The season will also host guest productions and Artists-in-Training shows.
A return performance of Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life will run March 20-23. Keith Alessi wrote and performs his own story of how banjo-playing nurtured his recovery from cancer.
Dream, a new musical by Terry Bachynski, will play on the Studio Stage, May 10-11. It’s the story of Bachynski’s parents, his father an orphaned immigrant, and his mother, a feisty small-town girl. This production is a staged reading, developed with support from Rosebud Theatre.
The Voice of the Prairie, by John Olive and performed by Rosebud School of the Arts’ Artists-in-Training, will appear on the Studio Stage, April 12-27. It’s the story of storyteller-cum-radio jockey Davey Quinn, telling of his adventures with a girl named Frankie.
“We (in Rosebud) deliver emotional experiences like no one else,” Ertman said. “We believe the stories that we tell. We believe in offering them up as a gift to the audience. … Our stories are about human beings and common shared experience and they’re also about … spiritual connection between human beings.”
For tickets and more information about Rosebud Theatre’s season, go to www.rosebudtheatre.com or 1-800-267-7553.
Laureen F. Guenther is a freelance writer and Elementary school teacher based in the Greater Calgary metropolitan area
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