The Vagabond Players are wrapping up their 2023/2024 season with a comedy about a “plucky community theatre” putting on a new play.
Play On!, written by Rick Abbot and directed by Miles Lavkulich, is about a “plucky community theatre” that’s about to produce a show called Murder Most Foul, a new “murder mystery play” with the same title as an Agatha Christie novel.
“The playwright has agreed to let the company perform the show with no royalty charges but keeps changing the story and script with only two days before opening night,” said a synopsis of the play. “It doesn’t help that the cast is disgruntled, and the playwright accidentally deletes the entire sound effect board. Play On! is a hilarious love letter to community theatre.”
Bev Pride, a member of Vagabond Players, said Play On! gives the audience a behind-the-scenes look at an amateur theatre company.
“The comedy is, of course, over the top but as many community theatre players can tell you, things can and do go off the rails during the process of getting ‘the show on the boards’,” she said in a statement to the Record. “Some members say it's because most community theatre buildings have resident ghosts, and yes, Bernie Legge does too. Most are the friendly type, but if the play isn't to their liking, props go missing, cues are erased from the lighting board, set doors won't open. And mysteriously, real booze is in the prop bottle that's supposed to be only tea!”
Pride goes on to say that theatre companies’ cast and crew members can be extremely superstitious, and often take steps to “break the curse that might befall the production,” including spitting and turning around on stage three times.
“Play On! shows you what happens if you don't do those things!” she said. “Because it's live theatre, the company just has to laugh if things happen, and that's what Vagabond Players hopes the audience does during this three-act romp.”
Play On! features: Sara Dunn as Aggie Manville; Nancy Ebert as Geraldine Dunbar; Richard Guenther as Henry Benish; Emma Greenhalgh as Polly Benish; Abigail Walkner as Marla Smith; Alex Ross as Saul Watson; Luca Herring as Billy Carewe; Kelsey Robertson as Violet Imbry; Mo (Ka Wing) Yan as Louise Peary and Denise Brookson as Phyllis Montague.
Tickets for Play On! are available online or by calling 604-521-0412.
With Play On! Bing the theatre company’s final production of 2023/2024, Vagabond Players are set to announce their 2024/25 season productions at the end of June.
More Vagabond news
Vagabond Players will be opening the doors to the Bernie Legge Theatre in the 2024 Heritage Homes Tour.
The Bernie Legge Theatre will be a hub for the Sunday, May 26 tour, with the Vagabond Players giving tour participants a close-up look at the set and taking them behind the scenes.
Tickets for this year’s Heritage Homes Tour are now on sale.
The following weekend, the Vagabond Players will be hosting their second annual Jazz Night at the Bernie Legge Theatre. A Night of Jazz with the Will Clements Band, featuring the William Chernoff Quintet, is on Saturday, June 1.
Will Clements and William Chernoff, who both grew up in New Westminster, were both featured at the 2023 Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Clements, a vocalist, will perform music from his 2023 album, COMPASS, which is described as exploring the themes of love through a queer lens. Clements will be joined by Nebyu Yohannes on trombone, Alvin Brendan on guitar, Jason de Couto on keyboards, William Chernoff on bass, and Todd Stewart on drums.
Having lived in Montreal, Paraguay and Vancouver, Clements brings influences from these cities into a new collection of compositions and arrangements, ranging from traditional swing music to South American-inspired sounds.
Chernoff, a bassist, plays the opening set with his jazz trio (comprised of Chernoff, Alvin Brendan on guitar and Todd Stewart on drums). He released his debut album, Aim to Stay, in 2020 and his second album, Maybe Eventually, in 2022.
Tickets for Jazz Night are $25 and available online.
