Click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter

Battlefords Community Players gearing up to show Sam Shepard play ‘True West’

Mar 28, 2019 | 3:51 PM

Area theatre lovers should be in for some moving entertainment for those taking in the Battlefords Community Players latest production True West by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard.

Director Lloyd Deshaye said he anticipates the production will both “challenge and entertain” attendees.

Deshaye said producer Donna Challis had a copy of the play and thought it would be a strong production for the local cast to take on.

Deshaye added this play is also being produced in New York City right now, so it seemed timely to cover the production locally.

“It’s a play that has been staged many times in many locations,” he said.

True West was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 after it first came out.

“I liked it because it had a lot of range for characterization,” Deshaye said. “It’s a very interesting play and it’s fast moving. It’s a story about a clash between two brothers.

“It develops very well. For me it’s a pretty exciting adventure to follow the story of these two guys,” he added.

Deshaye described True West as a good play for people interested in theatre.

“There is strong language in the play and some violence but it doesn’t overshadow the play. I think the public will find it to be quite a good production,” he added.

Producer Challis said there are some comic elements to the play as well that make it interesting to take in. She added there is also an epiphany for the central characters in the story that is quite moving.

“Mainly, it’s about two brothers who are a heck of a lot more alike than they thought they were,” she said, adding the cast is comprised of all local actors.

Challis is also excited that the local cast’s production will also be performing the same show at the Regina Performing Arts Centre on May 3, as part of the Saskatchewan TheatreFest 2019 long-play competition, now in its 85th year.

The True West production in the Battlefords includes dinner-theatre shows as well as one show-only night, at the Battlefords Community Players Clubhouse at 102 26th Street in the town of Battleford.

The show-only performance will be Tuesday, April 2. Tickets will be available at the door, with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. and the show at 8 p.m. Dinner-theatre shows run April 4, 5, 6, 12 and 13. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the supper at 7 p.m. and show to follow. Tickets must be booked at least 24 hours in advance for dinner-theatre shows. The caterer for the dinner is Second2None.

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW