The next Naked Stage theatre production in Surrey offers a story about aging and the breakdown of communication over divisions of age and class.
Ed Milaney and Lorraine Landry read the Trying script at Newton Cultural Centre during a run of three shows Friday through Sunday (June 7-9).
George Stone directs Joanna McClelland Glass’ two-character play, based on the author’s experience in the late-1960s when she worked for Francis Biddle at his home in Washington, D.C.
“Judge Biddle had been Attorney General of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt,” explains a post at samuelfrench.com. “After the war, President Truman named him Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The play is about a young Canadian girl (Sarah Schoor) and an old, Philadelphia aristocrat ‘trying’ to understand each other in what Biddle knows is the final year of his life.”
As with all Naked Stage shows, only scripts and chairs are required for the actors – no costumes or sets, only a lit “naked” stage.
Stone, a White Rock resident who has acted in several of the company’s productions since its launch in 2016, said Trying marks the first time he’s directed a play since he worked on a one-act festival in Alberta many years ago.
“I’ve been with Naked Stage since the very beginning – the very first play, actually,” Stone said. “I really enjoy the format they use.… I’ve been in four or five of the plays – Alabama Story, Jacques Plante and the Parkdale Knitting League and three before that. But directing, this is a new experience for me.”
Milaney and Landry are also frequent Naked Stage players.
“Usually it’s a 10-week rehearsal schedule for our shows,” Stone noted, “but because both of these actors are very experienced, that was cut back to about a six-week schedule, so since the beginning of May.”
Trying show times at Newton Cultural Centre (13530 72nd Ave., Surrey) are 7:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 at the door and also at brownpapertickets.com.
CLICK HERE to view the event page on Facebook.
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