The Studio Theatre’s production of Proof will be first up for the Central Interior Zone Drama Festival taking place at the Studio Theatre this weekend.
Proof by David Auburn will be on stage Friday, May 29 starting at 8 p.m. sharp with doors opening at 7:30 p.m.
The play concerns Catherine, the daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius in his fifties and professor at the University of Chicago, and her struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness. Catherine had cared for her father through a lengthy mental illness. Upon Robert’s death, his ex-graduate student Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert’s office. The title refers both to that proof and to the play’s central question: Can Catherine prove the proof’s authorship?
Saturday afternoon, May 30 the 100 Mile Performing Arts Society will stage its play Love Letters by A. R. Gurney with doors opening at 12:30 p.m. and the play starting at 1 p.m. sharp.
The play centres on two characters, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III. They sit side by side at tables and read the notes, letters and cards — in which over nearly 50 years, they discuss their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, victories and defeats — that have passed between them throughout their separated lives. While Andrew becomes a U.S. senator, Melissa fails as an artist. While apart, their lives remain connected.
The Studio Theatre’s production of Still Stands the House will be last up Saturday evening at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. Gwen Pharis Ringwood.
Still Stands the House will also be on stage tonight starting at 8 p.m. with its new cost (by donation).
Still Stands the House takes place during a winter blizzard in Alberta in 1938, during the Depression and the Dust Bowl years. Bruce finally agrees to give up his house and farm for his wife Ruth’s sake when a city man makes him an offer, although it means admitting defeat. But his sister refuses to move from the house with its hallowed memories.
The festival adjudicator will be Amy Baskin from Kamloops. Baskin is a freelance director and drama facilitator who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in England and is involved in various aspects of arts with Theatre BC and in the Kamloops community.
The cast and crew of each play meets in a coffee critique with the adjudicator for two hours after their play wraps up or the next morning.
The public is welcome to attend these coffee critiques and learn what the adjudicator saw that worked well or could be improved about how to make the play better.
The coffee critiques for the Friday evening and Saturday matinee shows will be held in the Central Cariboo Arts Centre (old firehall) on Saturday, May 30 from 9 to 11 a.m. for Proof and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for Love Letters.
The critique for the Saturday evening play will be on Sunday, May 31 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Studio Theatre.
The public is also invited to the barbecue and awards night starting at 9 p.m. after the Saturday evening, May 30 play.
Tickets for the barbecue and awards event are $5. Festival play tickets are $12 for seniors and students and $15 for adults available at About Face Photography, The Open Book, and The Realm of Toys. Theatre BC is divided into 10 Regional Zones.
The best play from each zone is invited to compete at the Destination Mainstage provincial festival in Kamloops July 5 to 11.