Two Plays, Two Cities, Two Openings, Two Nights... too much? Not for the NAC English Theatre!
Last week, the NAC English Theatre kicked off 2013 with two shows opening back to back, in two different cities.
Thursday, January 31st saw the opening night of Beverley Cooper’s Innocence Lost: A Play About Steven Truscott at the Centaur Theatre Company in Montreal. The very next evening, Friday, February 1st, Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses (Based on the Myths of Ovid), directed by NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley, opened to an excited house in the NAC Theatre. It’s not often that two anticipated productions such as these can open back to back, in different cities, but that is part of the charm of NAC English Theatre.
The opening of Innocence Lost saw a packed theatre take in a powerful story about the Steven Truscott case, and how a rural town was rocked and changed forever by the tragedy. Following the play, the audience came together as Centaur Theatre Artistic and Executive Director, and director of the play, Roy Surette, spoke about the hard work the Company, the creative team and crew did in putting this production together, and highlighted how thrilled he was that the Centaur was co-producing this production with NAC English Theatre.
Playwright Beverley Cooper then spoke about bringing the play to light, working with this company and seeing the play on stage in Montreal. She finished with a touching story of the evening that Mr. Truscott came to see a performance when the original production ran at the Blyth Festival. It was quite a night for all.
The next evening a big crowd was on hand for Metamorphoses, Jillian Keiley’s debut production as NAC English Theatre Artistic Director. Along with Set and Costume Designer Bretta Gerecke, Lighting Designer Leigh Ann Vardy, Composer and Music Director Jonathan Monro, and the NAC English Theatre Company, Jillian created an ambitious and innovative production that transformed the NAC Theatre stage into a watery landscape, which has been the talk of the town.
After the performance, the audience crowded into the Salon, where Jillian and Managing Director Nancy Webster spoke about how much effort everyone, especially the amazing NAC production crew, did on putting this show together and bringing it to the stage. It was quite the crowd that evening, including some surprise guests and friends of Jillian's.
It was quite an exciting pair of evenings for Theatre at the NAC! Metamorphoses continues in the NAC Theatre until February 16, Innocence Lost runs in the Theatre February 27 – March 16.
