What happens when two former lovers, separated by a span of decades, suddenly finds themselves brought together?
That’s the question delved into in the latest offering from Many Hat’s Theatre Co., a production of Steven Dietz’ Shooting Star, opening at The Cannery Stage this week.
“We have a couple of former college lovers who are snowed in a middle America airport,” explains director Jeanne Wnuk, who calls the play a romantic comedy. “There are comic elements in it, there are dramatic elements in it. It’s kind of a bittersweet romantic comedy.”
Reed (played by Eric Hanston) and Elena (Jane Pilkey) have not seen each other since amicably ending their relationship over twenty five years earlier.
Elena, still a quirky post-hippie macrame lover, is unattached because, as she says, “I got too interesting. A woman needs to marry before she grows interesting.”
Reed, on the other hand, traded in the macrame and the secondhand sofa for a blue business suit, an unfulfilling job and a marriage teetering on the edge of breaking down.
“Each of the characters has little spotlights where they explain things that have gone on in their past,” said Wnuk. “So we understand what has gone in the past that has gotten them to where they are now.”
Wnuk, who is making her Many Hats directorial debut with Shooting Stars, said the challenge of getting the nuances of the comedy, drama and bittersweet lost love across to the audience has been eased by the quality of actors she is working with.
“It’s been very easy for me because I have two very seasoned actors. It’s been really more of a team effort more than just me dictating where they should go and where they should stand,” she said.
“They are not just puppets whose strings I am pulling. They have thoughts and ideas about their character. It’s just been a joy to direct both of these people.”
Both actors are Many Hats veterans. Pilkey last seen in Boeing Boeing last season and Hanston last appeared in Caught in the Net. Shooting Star is the second show of the Many Hats 2015 season, and company’s 37th production in eight years.
The play runs from April 9 to May 2, with shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees starting at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22 at the Penticton and Wine Country Visitor’s Centre or reserve by phone at 250-276-2170 or toll-free at 1-800-663-5052.
