The proverbial curtain will go up tonight for the latest production to come out of Sackville’s Marshlight Theatre: Dirty Blonde, starring Laura Thurston, Bucky Buckler, Jenny Siddall, Craig Farrish, Steve McGraw, Ryan Slashinsky and Addison Morin.
CHMA called up director Patricia Léger to ask about the play and find out why she thinks Sackvillians should make it out to the studio theatre on Fairfield Road to catch it this weekend and next.
Léger has a career in film and theatre, and says one of the things she enjoys about working in community theatre is recruiting a diverse group of actors, “some people that have already done theater, but some people that have never stepped on the stage.”
“I like to see how it makes them feel when they go up on stage and get the applause and the laughs,” says Léger.
Recruiting actors for this production of Dirty Blonde did not involve the usual casting call. “I went snooping around Sackville and watching people,” says Léger. “I went to Cranewood, and I went to different places… I even went to to Rockport, to an open mic there. I went to spy on one person in particular, but ended up sitting next to somebody that I asked to be in the play. So that’s how it works.”
Léger says that when Marshlight approached her about directing a production, she recalled Dirty Blonde, a play she’d see in Vancouver decades before that “was always at the back of my mind,” says Léger. The play centres on the life of iconic entertainer Mae West, and the lives of two of her superfans.
“It’s action-packed,” says Léger. “There’s lots going on, and it’s not a musical, but there’s some songs in it, and there’s some very touching moments and funny moments. It seems to have it all.”
Dirty Blonde opens Friday February 14 at Marshlight Theatre, and continues until February 23. Some performances are already sold out, and tickets are available at marshlight.ca
