Last year's production of the Battlefords Community Players, Hamlette. (Submitted photo/Tanya Hudyma Montoya)

By Angela Brown

Art for Art's sake

Battlefords Community Players getting ready for new season

Jul 14, 2021 | 3:49 PM

The Battlefords Community Players will be reducing some of their COVID-19 restrictions for people attending its productions for the upcoming season.

Executive producer Donna Challis says the theatre company is pleased to see the province lift restrictions.

“Thanks to everybody for supporting us. It was a long, hard season, but we are glad we are still able to present live theatre,” she said.

The organization plans to hold two shows running August 14 to 22, with one of the pieces, held outside the Clubhouse Theatre in Battleford, a comedy called Cut!, while the other will take place inside, a drama entitled Desdemona in the After Life. Admission is by donation.

“We did manage to operate most of last year, but with very limited audiences and very controlled conditions,” Challis said. “So we are quite excited about that being lifted. Although, we are still going to be very, very cautious as we move forward. Our first priority continues to be the safety of our actors and our audience.”

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She said during the last part of the year, the actors had to wear face masks while performing. It will be easier for them to not have to keep their masks on for the upcoming shows.

Challis mentioned if restrictions do ramp up again, the actors will be able to wear their clear plexiglass masks again as needed.

“We take care to keep our actors away from our audience,” she added.

“Like everyone, we will be watching the statistics, being careful,” Challis said.

The Battlefords Community Players productions in the fall feature two one-act plays written by North Battleford writers. One play called The Foyer is written by Barb O’Neal, while the other called Cowboys and Actors is written by the late Eric Anderson.

Challis said the theatre company is just happy to have weathered the storm during the pandemic situation to be able to move on.

“We struggled through last year,” she said. “Financially, it was a tough year for us. We managed to make it through and are quite excited. The patrons stuck with us through the whole mess.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow