The ECHO Players are about ready for their 2017/18 season. —File

The ECHO Players are about ready for their 2017/18 season. —File

ECHO Players season coming up in Qualicum Beach

First performance is Hilda's Yard Oct. 12

As the ECHO Players theatre group enters its 43rd year in the community, it has planned a season of must-see theatre.

In pursuit of the ECHO Players’ mission to bring the best theatre to the Village Theatre stage, the season will feature four plays: Hilda’s Yard by Norm Foster, directed by Kelly Barnum; The Christmas Express by Pat Cook, directed by Mari-Lyn Kelly: Hay Fever by Noel Coward, directed by Michael Armstrong; and My Old Lady by Israel Horovitz, directed by Lynne Carrow and Sue Murguly.

As the ECHO Players group opens its season, enjoy time in Hilda’s Yard Oct. 12-29.

The children have flown the coop and it’s time for the adults to play. Hilda and Sam Fluck are beside themselves with joy. They even purchase a TV. But plans for a peaceful, relaxing life fall apart when their two adult children boomerang back into the nest to stay.

Celebrate the holiday season with The Christmas Express, a touching holiday comedy that is sure to fill the holidays with the true wonder of Christmas. It takes place Dec. 14-31 and is a comedy full of puns, one-liners, funny situations and nutty characters, set in the town of Holly, which is sorely in need of some Christmas spirit.

For 2018, the ECHO Players bring Noel Coward’s classic, Hay Fever. Written in 1924, the play centres on the eccentric Blisses.

Unconventional, risqué, and often downright rude, the Blisses are everything an upper-crust English family should not be. Filled with wit, extreme characters, and ridiculous situations, Hay Fever runs Feb. 15-March 4.

The final play of the season, Israel Horovitz’s My Old Lady, is the playwright’s “love letter to Paris.” Down-on-his-luck American, Mathias Gold, inherits a luxurious apartment in Paris that comes with a most unexpected feature — 92-year-old resident Mathilde Girard and Mathilde’s incredibly protective daughter, Chloe.

Funny, fresh, and original, My Old Lady will be staged April 19-May 6.

To purchase season tickets, contact the ECHO Players at 250-752-3522 or email info@echoplayers.ca.

In addition, the ECHO Players will present the Vancouver Island Juried One Act Play Festival from Nov. 1-15, and Spam & Maple Syrup (Part Deux) May 10 – 13.

For more information visit echoplayers.ca.

— ECHO Players submission

Parksville Qualicum Beach News