Whats on

• The St. Albert International Children’s Festival returns for another year, running May 30 – June 4.
• The Citadel Theatre’s Young Playwrighting Company is hosting staged readings of their work at the Citadel May 30 – 31. The plays presented will be:
  • RECKONING STORM by Chris Kaumeyer
  • THE BOY IN THE SPACE PAJAMAS WHO WISHED TO GO TO THE MOON by Edanya Look
  • GUN-SHY by M.S. Miller
  • BERRY BLOOD by Isabella Derilo
• The official kick-off to summer for me is always NextFest! This year the festival runs June 1 – 11.
• The Sprouts New Play Festival for Kids is celebrating its 16th year, running June 3 and 4 at The Westbury Theatre.
• This week’s Script Salon will feature Darrin Hagen’s 10 Funerals, running at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church June 4 at 7:30.
• Firefly Theatre & Circus’ annual fundraiser Let There Be Height hits the silks June 7 and 8.

Development

• Walterdale Theatre is hosting a workshop on lighting with Kevin Humphrey (who spent over a decade touring the world with Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes as his designer and Director of Lighting) on June 3. The cost is $25 or free for Walterdale members.
• Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre is putting on a playwrights bootcamp with Vern Thiessen July 21 – 23.

Submissions & Auditions

• Alberta Opera is looking for submissions to its New Musicals Program by May 31.
• The Citadel Theatre is holding auditions for Mama Mia! which will run Feb. 17 – March 18, 2018.

Plays, future and past

• Tickets for the Freewill Shakespeare Festival & all the fun special events they hold every year in conjunction with the festival are on sale now.
• I had the chance to check out Nicole Moeller’s new play, produced by Azimuth Theatre, The Preacher, The Princess and A Crow. I thought the play was a well-crafted, poetic and purposefully overwhelming look at cycles of abuse and the health system. Liz and Mel have more in-depth reviews:
  • Liz @ 12thnight.ca
  • Mel @ melpriestley.com

News

• David Mamet & his reps are in the news for refusing to allow a post-show talkback following his play Oleanna.
• The 2017 Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival’s theme is A Midsummer Night’s Fringe!
• A Theatre Alberta membership now includes access to the Playwrights Canada Press and Stage on Screen electronic databases.
• This American Life rebroadcasted an episode from 2002 a few weeks ago called “Act V”, about a group of inmates performing Hamlet. It was at once heartbreaking and eye-opening and reminded me of why I fell in love with theatre.

That’s all! (For now)

To give myself more time this summer, Edmonton downstage is going to take an intermission. I’ll be back in the fall, starting up the regular weekly feature at that time. In the meantime, you can catch me at all the festivals (they’re already marked in my calendar) – it’s shaping up to be a wonderful summer!

For all the deets on this summer’s festivals, Mack Male has got you covered with his annual summer festivals guide, this year published through Taproot.