They played the evil aunties in Asparagus Community Theatre’s Christmas production of James and the Giant Peach, and now Armstrong’s Susan Gagnon and Joanne Feenstra are up to some good with Too Much.
The women are about to put on their 10th show in the Too Much series, entitled Too Much Renovations, which stages to a sold-out house at Armstrong’s Centennial Hall Saturday.
“Too Much is a fundraiser Joanne and I started in about 1996, I believe,” said Gagnon. “(Asparagus) was struggling and in the red, so we had to create something to encourage people to tear away from their TVs and go to live theatre. That was the birth of our first show called Too Much TV.”
A spoof with business support, as the Asparagus troupe performs commercials for local businesses in line with the theme of the show, the women have since produced Too Much Testosterone, Too Much Reality Shows, and Too Much CSI to name a few.
This year’s Too Much Renovations reflects the trend of reality shows about house hunting, redecorating, and of course, Mike Holmes doing it right, said Gagnon.
“We don’t do one every year, more like every other year, as it is a lot of work for one night. But if you can imagine going to Saturday Night Live in a hall, that’s basically what it is,” she said.
This year’s comedy spoof consists of 10 commercials, which local businesses have bought and paid for.
“We have a few new businesses involved this year: Okanagan Advertiser, Nelson’s Glass, Shear Kreation… I think Shamrock Books will have its work cut out for it to try and keep the Best Commercial trophy it won last time,” said Feenstra.
The second act consists of the Asparagus Community News, The Debaters ACT style, an announcement of 50/50 winners, and finally, the announcement of the winner of the coveted Best Commercial trophy.
Asparagus Community Theatre, who host this year’s Okanagan Zone Drama Festival in the spring, present Too Much Renovations starting Saturday at 8 p.m. Doors to Centennial Hall, on Pleasant Valley Boulevard, open at 7 p.m., but ticket holders are asked to line up early to ensure they can get a seat together.
