Ship's Company Theatre In Rehearsal for Atlantic Premiere Production
by Tina Smith, Ship's Company TheatrePARRSBORO - Ship's Company Theatre's second Mainstage production, MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas by Daniel Macdonald, has started rehearsal and will be ready to hit the stage for the August 8th preview with the official opening on August 10th and closing September 2nd.
The MacGregor family is desperately trying to cope. The town is dead and in deep freeze. Dad is gone. Mom is in the basement walking in circles, counting every step. Fred is out front welding a sign for the gas no one ever buys. Jack is in the attic eating butter tarts. Missy hasn't been seen in nineteen years. Dreams and reality collide as the family struggles to come to terms with the past while grappling with the present and attempting to face the future. At once dark and light, MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas is a humourous tale of love, loss, hope, and redemption.
MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas received its world premiere production last year in Saskatoon at Persephone Theatre and has since been produced to great success at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg and following the Ship's Company production will be produced at Shadow Theatre in Edmonton. The Ship's Company production will be its Atlantic Premiere.
Playwright Daniel Macdonald is a teacher, actor and director as well as a playwright. Though based now in the west his family roots are in PEI he's a Maritimer at heart. His plays have been produced across Canada and recently as far away as Austin, Texas. He is a recipient of the Regina Writer's Award and two-time winner of the SIMPIA showcase award for acting.
MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas will be directed by Artistic Director, Pamela Halstead, who since arriving in Parrsboro in 2004 has directed numerous Ship's Company productions including Trout Stanley, Shatter, The Mystery of Maddy Heisler and most recently this season's world premiere of Share. Halstead is a tremendous supporter of new work, acting as dramaturge for numerous playwrights.
"Danny is an incredibly gifted playwright who has a penchant for capturing the absurd in our lives and making it real." says Halstead. "His shows are funny and heart wrenching and I am thrilled to be able to bring his work to the Ship's Company audience."
The cast of MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas boasts four multi-talented actors, three of which are appearing onstage at Ship's Company Theatre for the first time. Playing Marlene is Gay Hauser, who is no stranger to the Ship's Company audience having been involved here in the early days of the theatre as was her husband, designer, Stephen Osler. Gay is currently the General Manager for Live Art Dance and also performs annually in The Nutcracker for Symphony Nova Scotia/Mermaid Theatre/Halifax Dance. She last appeared onstage at Ship's Company Theatre in the 1994 production of Young Triffie's Been Made Away With. In the role of Missy is Natasha MacLellan, well known for her one-woman show Deserving Treats that toured to festivals in Manitoba and Ontario. Vice President of Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre, she is also a founding member of Forerunner Playwrights Co-op, which will premiere Catherine Banks' new play, Bone Cage, in association with Ship's Company Theatre in the fall of 2007. Nathan Pilon, a Halifax based actor who most recently appeared in DaPoPo Theatre's production of R.U.R., plays Jake in MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas. Rounding out the cast as Fred is Charlie Rhindress, who is no stranger to the stage. He's the Co-Artistic Director of Live Bait Theatre in New Brunswick and he has acted in, written or director over seventy productions!
Designing lighting and sound for the production are Parrsboro favourites Bruce MacLennan and Associate Artist, Greg Simm, who between them have designed a tremendous number of Ship's Company productions. Jen Coe who was with Ship's Company last season as assistant designer will be designing the costumes for this show and co-founder Michael Fuller returns to the Ship as the set designer for MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas. "I am so thrilled with the team that we have put together for MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas. This is a fantastic play and the company that we have put together is second to none," says Halstead. MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas previews, August 8th, opens August 10th and closes September 2nd. Call 1-800- 565-SHOW or order your tickets online.
Production Sponsor for MacGregor's Hard Ice Cream and Gas is Wilson Fuels.