Two Chilliwack theatre companies are bringing their productions to the Fraser Valley Zone Festival next week.
Chilliwack School of Performing Arts (CSOPA) and Offtopic Theatre Society are two of the six companies that will be featured in Theatre BC’s 2019 Fraser Valley Zone Festival of Plays which runs May 12 to 18 in Coquitlam.
This year’s festival is hosted by Stage 43 at Evergreen Cultural Centre (1205 Pinetree Way, Coquitlam).
The event brings together local theatre groups from around the Fraser Valley to entertain audiences and to enhance their own skills through professional adjudication.
CSOPA will be presenting The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time on Thursday, May 16, and Offtopic Theatre Society will bring Chickens the Musical to the stage on Friday, May 17. Shows are at 8 p.m.
The Fraser Valley Zone Festival leads up to one of the longest-running theatre traditions in Canada, Theatre BC’s Mainstage event. The annual festival sees winning plays from each of the province’s zone festivals come together for friendly competition at the provincial level. The play chosen as “Best Production” at the Fraser Valley Zone Festival will go to Mainstage, which is taking place in Port Alberni from July 5 to 13.
Tickets for Fraser Valley Zone Festival shows: $24/adult, $19/student and senior, and available at the Evergreen Cultural Centre’s box office at 604-927-6555. For more info on the Fraser Valley Zone Festival, including info on all six plays, go to stage43.org/fvz-festival.
Synopses:
CSOPA’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time • Thursday, May 16: Fifteen-year-old Christopher has an extraordinary brain: he is exceptional at mathematics but ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched, and he distrusts strangers. Now it is seven minutes after midnight, and Christopher stands beside his neighbour’s dead dog, Wellington, who has been speared with a garden fork. Finding himself under suspicion, Christopher is determined to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington, and he carefully records each act of the crime. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a thrilling journey that upturns his world.
Offtopic Theatre Society’s Chickens the Musical • Friday, May 17: Pal escapes from his woes of bankruptcy and immerses himself in the world of raising exotic chickens while his wife, Liza, tries to keep the family farm afloat. Meanwhile, in the chicken coop, two roosters and two hens parallel the couple’s life and get down and dirty with the pressures of egg fertilization, the country poultry fair and the question of flying.
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