Lunchbox Theatre's Notes
I of the storm
Dream Vacation is a funny look at the lives of three characters
Published December 17, 2009 by Kathleen Renne in Theatre
Tequila and spicy food combine for another (un)memorable evening.
DETAILS
Dream Vacation presented by Lunchbox TheatreLunchbox Theatre
Monday, November 23 - Wednesday, December 23
Vacations to sunny destinations, like Mexico, are frequently on the minds of Calgarians, particularly when the temperature dips below the deep-freeze range. But, if you can’t make it down to warmer climates yourself this December, you can do so vicariously through Lunchbox Theatre’s world première of the musical Dream Vacation.
The play tells the story of three people — Cindy (Onalea Gilbertson), Judd (David Shelley) and Norman (Kevin Dennis) — who win a “dream vacation” to Mexico. However, their vacation soon turns into a nightmare when they are forced to share the same cheesily decorated room (cactus headboard anyone?) and, true to Mexican weather stereotypes, a hurricane hits.
Trapped together as they wait out the storm, the characters come to terms with some of the things they want in life. For Cindy, that means bedding the hunky Judd in order to get a job in the Calgary office of an advertising firm. For Judd, aside from his usual preoccupation with snagging another client, it means working on some of his issues around acceptance of homosexuals. For Norman, it means finding someone special and getting a life.
Jonathan Monro, the Toronto-based actor, playwright and composer who wrote Dream Vacation, also premièred his musical With a Twist at Lunchbox Theatre two years ago, earning four Betty Mitchell Awards. Without wanting to jinx anything, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dream Vacation follows suit.
The songs are light and catchy with wonderful rhythms and harmonies, and Mark Bellamy’s choreography is infectious (Bellamy also directs the production). Gilbertson, Shelley and Dennis are all strong vocalists and their voices contrast, and combine, well with one another.
There is plenty of humour laced throughout the show, much of it of a sexual nature, along with some laughs about homophobia and bodily functions. (Just to give you a little sampling…while Judd is “baking brownies,” Cindy excuses his “windy pops”). There is even an entire song dedicated to “Montezuma’s Revenge,” which, if the brownie reference didn’t clue you in, Judd is suffering from.
Is the show silly? Yes. Is it over-the-top? Yes. Is it fun? Absolutely.
As all three characters work in advertising, there is plenty of fun poked at the business of creating and selling ads. “We arrest peoples’ intelligence long enough to make money,” is how Cindy and Judd describe their work.
In amongst all the silliness, however, there is a touching storyline belonging to the gay Norman. He sings a plaintive little song called “Third Wheel,” and dreams of leaving the advertising business to settle down with someone, have a dog and raise kids. He adds a sweetness to the show that gives the production some depth amongst all the shtick.
My only complaint with the production is the way in which the hurricane seems to drift in and out. After the initial mention of the storm, which sees all three characters screaming for help and banging on the doors of their room, that sense of inclement weather disappears from the story altogether, until near the end when bits of wood and debris fall onto the stage. It’s a minor point, but perhaps a continual sense of a storm brewing outside would add some consistency to the show and remind viewers why the characters are stuck there in the first place.
All in all, Dream Vacation is a funny and entertaining show. The music and choreography are fantastic and, even if it’s not exactly a substitute for travel to a warm-weather destination, at least it will provide you with a lunchtime of warm laughter.
Media Release
For Immediate Release – October 30, 2009
Lunchbox’s D.J. Kelly named to
Top 40 Under 40
Calgary, AB – Lunchbox Theatre congratulations D.J. Kelly on being named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 for 2009.
D.J. came to Lunchbox Theatre as a marketing consultant near the end of the 2007/08 season to help the organization re-brand as we moved into our new home at the base of the Calgary Tower. Shortly thereafter he agreed to join Lunchbox fulltime to handle the company’s marketing and communications.
Avenue Magazine says of D.J., “D.J. Kelly is committed to the big picture — a better Calgary — through a more vibrant arts community, a more accountable political system and more transparent communication. And he is involved hands-on in making change.”
“We are very fortunate to have someone so dedicated to improving not just the local arts community, but Calgary as a whole on our staff,” says Pamela Halstead, Artistic Director of Lunchbox Theatre. “Lunchbox is a team effort. D.J. played an integral role in Lunchbox Theatre’s move and he has done amazing work for us in positioning the company well for the future. In addition, he has volunteered or worked almost everywhere and is certainly deserving of this honour for all of his efforts on behalf of artists and Calgarians.”
“Avenue magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 is our annual selection of Calgary’s brightest and most active leaders under the age of 40,” says Käthe Lemon, editor of Avenue. “Top 40s are movers and shakers, industry innovators and community builders in every realm, from business and politics to education, arts, fashion, design, sport and culture. They are committed to high personal career achievements, are dedicated to building community in the city or in their industry, and are helping to raise the profile of Calgary. This year’s Top 40s are celebrated in the November issue of Avenue magazine and on avenuecalgary.com.”
Currently playing at Lunchbox Theatre is Under the Bright Sun, a world premiere comedy by Norm Foster. Under the Bright Sun runs until November 14, Monday to Saturday at 12:10pm with ‘Happy Hour’ performances Friday at 6:10pm.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
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For more information or to request an interview:
Stephanie McNeil
Marketing Assistant
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 221
stephanie.mcneil@lunchboxt
Media Release
For Immediate Release – November 12, 2009
2009/10 BD&P Emerging Director Named
Kathryn Waters begins her apprenticeship with Lunchbox Theatre
Calgary, AB – Pamela Halstead, Artistic Director of Lunchbox Theatre is please to announce the selection of Kathryn Waters as the 2009/2010 BD&P Emerging Director.
Kathryn, who has recently been named the Artistic Director Designate for Urban Curvz Theatre, was selected from close to twenty applications from across Alberta.
Kathryn graduated from York University’s Creative Ensemble program with her BA (Theatre) in 2004, and returned to her home province of Alberta the following year. Never satisfied with only one plate spinning, she has worked as an actor, director, dramaturg, producer, writer, and administrator since returning to Calgary. Kathryn is past Festival Coordinator of the Calgary Regional One-Act Play Festival, and managed the box office and education programming at the Pumphouse Theatre from 2007-2009.
Some of Kathryn’s favourite credits include The Shakespeare Company’s When That I Was (production dramaturg); Downstage’s The Piper (actor) and Queen Lear (producer/assistant director); Essay & The Russian Play (producer) and The Venus of Basin Street (producer/director) for Urban Curvz. She is currently directing Camera, Woman for Urban Curvz Theatre.
“Kathryn impressed me very much in the interview with her intelligence and passion,” says Artistic Director, Pamela Halstead. “I came to directing myself through apprenticeships, so the BD&P Emerging Director Program is one of the things that excites me most about Lunchbox Theatre. It is a great privilege to be invited into another director’s rehearsal hall and I am thrilled to welcome Kathryn into the process here.”
The BD&P Emerging Director Program, generously sponsored by Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, gives early career directors an apprenticeship under the tutelage of established professional theatre directors. Kathryn’s apprenticeship at Lunchbox Theatre will begin in the new year when she will assist three established directors: Kevin McKendrick on Mr. Fix It, Artistic Director, Pamela Halstead on The Submarine and Glenda Stirling on This Could Be Love. The final stage of her apprenticeship will be the direction of a one-act of her choosing, a project which she is already researching. The BD&P Emerging Director Presentation will run May 20-22, 2010.
Previous graduates of the program include Scott Roberts, Aaron Coates, Simon Mallett and Val Planche.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
For more information, to request an interview, or to visit a rehearsal:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.c
Media Release
For Immediate Release – November 16, 2009
$12 for 12 hours
Tickets to the first week of Dream Vacation
Calgary, AB – With a prolonged economic slowdown, swine flu fears, and the coming holiday season, Lunchbox Theatre is pleased to give Calgary’s downtown workers a break: for 12 hours Lunchbox will make tickets to the first week of Dream Vacation available for just $12.
In an online box office only sale from 10am to 10pm on Friday, November 20 all tickets to the first week (Monday, November 23 – Saturday, November 28) of the world premiere musical Dream Vacation will be available for $12 each. This represents a 33% discount on the regular ticket price.
“We had tremendous success with this promotion last season during our last musical, Come Fly With Me when we had about 150 patrons take us up on the offer,” says artistic director Pamela Halstead. “The holiday season can be a stressful time to begin with and with the added stressors of H1N1 and the state of the economy we wanted to offer a mini-Dream Vacation to people. The business community – and downtown office workers in particular – are our audiences, our family. The $12 for 12 hours promotion is just one way we can give back to the community.”
Lunchbox Theatre offers theatre-goers and downtown office workers the opportunity to take a much deserved trip to Mexico during the holiday season as part of the world premiere of Dream Vacation, a new musical by Jonathan Monro, which runs November 23 to December 23.
In Dream Vacation, three people from the same advertising agency win dream vacations to sunny Mexico and are more than a little surprised as to how their holidays unfold when they are forced to share the same hotel room. Trying circumstances result in hilarity as the trio endure and come to grips with their expectations.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
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For more information or to request an interview:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.c
Media Release
For Immediate Release – November 16, 2009
The perfect time for a Dream Vacation
Lunchbox celebrates the Holiday Season with World Premiere musical
Calgary, AB – Lunchbox Theatre offers theatre-goers and downtown office workers the opportunity to take a much deserved trip to Mexico during the holiday season as part of the world premiere of Dream Vacation, a new musical by Jonathan Monro, which runs November 23 to December 23.
Lunchbox Theatre’s world premiere of Jonathan Monro’s previous musical, With a Twist, garnered rave reviews and received Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding Sound Design or Composition, Outstanding Choreography or Fight Direction, Outstanding Musical Direction and the elusive Outstanding Production of a Musical in 2008, proving to be the company’s most acclaimed show of all time.
In Dream Vacation, three people from the same advertising agency win dream vacations to sunny Mexico and are more than a little surprised as to how their holidays unfold when they are forced to share the same hotel room. Trying circumstances result in hilarity as the trio endure and come to grips with their expectations.
Dream Vacation was developed through Petro-Canada Stage One Festival last season.
Dream Vacation features the A-list comedic and vocal talents of Kevin Dennis, Onalea Gilbertson and David Shelley. While director and choreographer Mark Bellamy, along with musical director Brent Rock, designers Amy Patterson, Becky Solly and Rebecca Toon, and stage manager Rikki Schlosser, transport the audience to the tackiest Mexician hotel room imaginable. Dream Vacation runs November 23 to December 23, Monday to Saturday at 12:10pm with ‘Happy Hour’ performances Friday at 6:10pm.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
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For more information, to request an interview, or to visit a rehearsal:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.c
Comedy a real trip
Last Updated: 25th October 2009, 3:33am
Norm Foster is Canada’s most prolific and popular playwright.
With his new Lunchbox Theatre comedy Under the Bright Sun, Foster seems to be entering an existential phase.
Foster strands four people at a bus stop.
Jake (Len Harvey) is an eager entrepreneur who is planning to convert a neighborhood pizza parlour into an upscale eatery with his overbearing wife Joanne (Karen Johnson-Diamond).
While waiting for Joanne, Jake is joined by Ernst (Gerald Matthews) a drop-out from life who admits he repulses women.
Before Joanne arrives, Violet (Elinor Holt), a self-proclaimed whiner, joins the men at the bus stop.
Soon, it becomes clear that even though the four people have lived in the same neighborhood all their lives, they don’t know each other and are not very familiar with their surroundings.
Foster has taken a few pages from Jean Paul Sartre’s existential play No Exit, but plays the same situations for the broadest of laughs.
Though it takes a good 40 minutes for the characters to realize who they are and why they’re at the bus stop, it takes the audiences less than 10 minutes to realize they are in the company of seasoned comics.
Harvey, Matthews, Holt and Johnson-Diamond know how to milk a line, an expression and even a pause for maximum laughs.
It’s up to the foursome and director Simon Mallett to establish and maintain energy, pace and suspense because Foster’s dialogue and plot are not nearly as scintillating and witty as they have been in the past.
UNDER THE BRIGHT SUN
Rating: 3 out of 5
STARRING
Karen Johnson-Diamond, Len Harvey (pictured above)
Lunchbox Theatre Runs until Nov. 14
Sun brightens the day
Lunchbox’s latest a laugher
By Bob Clark, Calgary Herald
October 21, 2009 9:56 AM
From left, Len Harvey (Jake), Gerald Matthews (Ernst), Elinor Holt (Violet), and Karen Johnson-Diamond (Joanne) on the set for the Lunchbox Theatre production of the comedy Under the Bright Sun.
Photograph by: Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald
Review
Lunchbox Theatre presents Under the Bright Sun through Nov. 14.
- - - ½out of five
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It’s testament to Norm Foster’s consummate skill as a comic playwright that his newest show can turn a play about four characters waiting at a bus stop into a cute play that deftly (and daftly) touches on what it means to live versus what it means to exist–simply through suddenly subverting our expectation of theatrical convention.
If that sounds a little ponderous, it isn’t–at least not in Foster’s Under the Bright Sun, which premiered on Tuesday at Lunchbox.
Taking his cue from the questioning absurdity in a play like Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, for example, Foster
sets us up well–first, with straight-ahead Jake (Len Harvey), who says he’s waiting to open a cut-above-pizza type of eatery across the street; and next, with slightly daffy Ernst (Gerald Matthews), who says he lives in the big purple house on the corner and besides, just wants to wait with Jake.
Then comes the inconsolable Violet (Elinor Holt), wailing that she’s just broken up with her boyfriend (she’s now waiting for her lover); and Jake’s domineering wife Joanne (Karen Johnson-Diamond), who arrives to accompany her husband to the bank for the expected approval of their joint loan application for the aforementioned restaurant.
Turns out the only real trouble with this existentially imagined quartet is that–well, they don’t really seem to know their own . . . surroundings.
But to reveal anything about the rapid-fire building of conjecture that greets this realization would only ruin the conclusion, so. . . .
Suffice to say that, as directed by Simon Mallett, the 40-minute show unfolds in well-timed fashion in front of designer Scott Reid’s curving backdrop of painted panels depicting a leafy part of Anytown.
Aside from some of the sight-gag stuff at the beginning which could have been shortened by a bit, and the shrill histrionics of Holt’s Violet, which could been less by a lot, it all added up to a pretty funny day indeed in Mr. Foster’s neighbourhood.
bclark@theherald.canwest.c
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Media Release
For Immediate Release – October 8, 2009
Canada’s Most Produced Playwright Returns to Lunchbox
With a new comedy about how we perceive the world around us
Calgary, AB – Norm Foster, Canada’s most produced playwright with over 130 world-wide productions of his plays in 2009 alone, has once again lent his talents to Lunchbox Theatre for the world premiere of his brand new comedy, Under the Bright Sun, which runs October 19 to November 14.
Previous world premieres at Lunchbox Theatre from the always-entertaining Foster include last year’s wildly popular The Christmas Tree and 2006’s My Narrator.
Under the Bright Sun humorously explores the way many of us go through our lives often oblivious to the simple details of our surroundings while playing with theatrical conventions frequent theatre-goes may take for granted. In the play, four people at a bus stop don’t seem to know anything about their surroundings. Why are they there? Where are they going? And who can answer their questions? This is fast-paced comedy about living, loving, and taking stock.
Under the Bright Sun also provides Lunchbox Theatre the opportunity to welcome back director Simon Mallett who was the BD&P Emerging Director in 2006/07. Lunchbox Theatre artistic director Pamela Halstead says, “We have followed his continued success and it is a thrill to have him return to direct his first full production with us.”
>Under the Bright Sun features the fantastic comedic talents of Karen Johnson-Diamond, Elinor Holt, Len Harvey and Gerald Matthews. While designers Scott Reid and Shauna Breslawski bring Foster’s surreal world to life, with stage-management by Ailsa Birnie. Under the Bright Sun runs October 19 to November 14, Monday to Saturday at 12:10pm with ‘Happy Hour’ performances Friday at 6:10pm.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
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www.lunchboxtheatre.com
For more information, to request an interview, or to visit a rehearsal:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.c
Review
Lunchbox Theatre presents Power Lunch by Alan Ball through Oct. 10. Tickets: Call 403-265-4292. - - - - out of five
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In Lunchbox Theatre’s fast-paced but loud season opener, a run-of-the-mill slightly egotistical guy and a vaguely unstable woman have no sooner met than they fall into an endless round of parry-and-thrust over familiar issues of sex, gender, and relationships.
At least, that’s one way of describing Alan Ball’s comedy Power Lunch, where two upwardly mobile types (winningly portrayed by Curt McKinstry and Jamie Konchak) virtually stumble over one other in their eagerness to get off the treadmill of their loveless, superficial lives if only to score big in what amounts to an updated version of the age-old battle of the sexes.
The manoeuvring for one-upmanship in their say-what-you-mean-but-don’
As you’d expect from the author of the quirky hit TV series Six Feet Under, not to mention the Academy Award-winning screenplay for American Beauty, there’s lots of incisive punch in Power Lunch, whose bill of fodder runs an exhaustingly comprehensive gamut of everything from rampant consumerism (McKinstry’s character initially boasts a Porsche, for example, but eventually mumbles up to owning a Corolla), to homophobia, the cliches of soft porn, and the bodice-ripping female idealism that pervades the genre of cheap romances.
Under Rona Waddington’s direction, the four cast members of Power Lunch never flag in bringing out the funny best in their respective characters.
Sure, they verbally duke it out through some pretty dense territory that offers nothing new, perhaps, in the way of insight, but it’s hardly fluff, either–and besides it’s just engaging good fun to watch and try to keep up with accomplished performers having fun themselves with their characters, as they dance with and around each other across the Lunchbox stage.
Once again, as in other Lunchbox outings, the comic appeal and subtle timing of a McKinstry performance is everywhere apparent– here, as the guy who knows all the moves but then isn’t so sure why he bothered to make them. Evident too is Konchak’s remarkable ability to quickly change emotional gears without sacrificing any of the momentum built in conveying a young woman who may know where her true heart lies, but can’t seem to let herself go near enough to get in touch with it.
bclark@theherald.canwest.c
Media Release
For Immediate Release – September 9, 2009
Pamela Halstead named new ADLunchbox Theatre’s 5th Artistic Director
Calgary, AB – On the eve of the new theatre season’s launch, Lunchbox Theatre formally introduced Pamela Halstead as their new artistic director at an announcement Wednesday, September 9 at 12:10pm.
“Lunchbox is a unique theatre that has a lot to offer not only its loyal audience but the Canadian theatre community,” says Halstead. “Many plays start their journeys as shorter pieces that then get further developed for the larger stages across the country. I look forward to the challenges ahead and leading Lunchbox Theatre through the next stage of the journey.”
Ms. Halstead, who is the fifth artistic director in Lunchbox Theatre’s 34-year history, comes to Lunchbox after six years as the Artistic Producer of Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. Ship’s Company’s mandate is to develop and produce new Canadian work and in her tenure there she produced a record number of World Premiere productions. For Ship’s Company Ms. Halstead directed Ferry Tales, Ivor Johnson’s Neighbours, A Ship Portrait, Snow Dance, Share, MacGregor’s Hard Ice Cream and Gas, The Mystery of Maddy Heisler, Shatter, Trout Stanley and The Parrsboro Boxing Club.
Ms. Halstead has acted or directed for numerous theatres across Canada including: Theatre New Brunswick, Quest Theatre, Equity Showcase Theatre, Live Bait Theatre, Mulgrave Road Theatre, and DMV Theatre as well as for a number of smaller theatre collaborations or festivals. She has been a guest director and instructor at Dalhousie University in Halifax and is an International Directing Associate for The Petersfield School, UK. Beside the new play development work Ms. Halstead has helmed at Ship’s Company Theatre, she has also freelances as a dramaturg and has worked with numerous playwrights from across the country.
Ms. Halstead is no stranger to Calgarians. In the 2002/03 season she apprenticed with Mr. Bob White, former Artistic Director at Alberta Theatre Projects, working on Who Has Seen the Wind as well as the annual playRites Festival of New Canadian Plays where she assistant directed Strawberries in January, The Plum Tree, The Red Priest and Pageant. In 2005 Ms. Halstead returned to ATP to direct Daniel McIvor’s Marion Bridge. She also has worked with Quest Theatre as a director and an Artist in Residence and in 2003 created fishnet theatre, which produced a site specific production of Elisa’s Skin at Calgary’s Hop ‘n Brew Pub.
“I am thrilled to be returning to Calgary where there is such a vibrant theatre community with so many interesting companies developing and producing new Canadian theatre,” noted Ms. Halstead.
The 34th Lunchbox Theatre season begins on Monday, September 14 with Power Lunch by Alan Ball, Oscar-winning author of American Beauty, and creator of HBO’s Six Feet Under and True Blood.
The world’s longest running lunchtime theatre, Lunchbox Theatre is a professional company that caters to downtown office workers over the noon-hour by producing at least six plays per year as well as the Petro-Canada Stage One Festival and the BD&P Emerging Director Program. Lunchbox Theatre recently relocated to a new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
- # # # -
For more information or to request an interview:
DJ Kelly
Marketing and Communications
Lunchbox Theatre
403 265 4292 x 229
dj.kelly@lunchboxtheatre.c