The Studio Theatre is down to the last full week of rehearsals before the delightfully humorous Calendar Girls hits the stage for a three week run starting Wednesday, Jan. 25.
Calendar Girls is based on the true story about a group of Women’s Institute members who threw aside their traditional fundraising methods for a year and produced a nude calendar of themselves to raise money for Leukaemia research.
Written by Tim Firth, Calendar Girls the play, is directed for the Studio Theatre by Stacey Poirier and stars Merla Monroe as Annie; Veronica Abel as Ceila, Susan Nelson as Chris, Kelly McDonald as Cora, Tanis Daum as Elaine, Norma Weatherby as Jessie, Carl Johnson as John, Rae Perry as Lady Cravenshire/Brenda, Matt Granlund as Lawrence/Liam, Sylvia Swift as Marie, Matt Dressler as Rod and Cathie Hamm as Ruth.
In her role as Marie, Swift says she is one of the WI members who adamantly opposes the calendar idea and refuses to pose for it.
“My character is absolutely against the idea,” says Swift, adding they are having a lot of fun with this production.
“It’s a great, wonderful, big cast and Stacey is doing a wonderful job of getting everybody into character and developing characters that are true and deep,” Swift says.
“Its really about older middle-aged women, their relationships and how important they are.”
As to the nudity, Swift says people will just have to come and see how it is handled.
“There is only one nude scene and it is very modestly done.”
The Studio Theatre outline describes Calendar Girls as a beautiful portrait of love, loss, and just how far kindred souls will go in the name of friendship.
It combines cheeky comedy with heart touching realism and shows the importance of family in all forms of the word.
There is also a caution on this play for some adult content.
Calendar Girls will be on stage at the Studio Theatre Jan. 25 to 28 and Feb. 1 to 4.
It will also be performed for a dinner theatre at The Point Restaurant Feb. 8 to 11
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets for the regular run are available at The Open Book, Kit and Kaboodle and through the Studio Theatre website at www.wlstudiotheatre.com.
Tickets for the dinner theatre run with reserved seating at The Point Restaurant are available at The Open Book only.
