You reap what you sow. And in Canadian playwright Ken Cameron’s bittersweet comedy Harvest, which opens a two-week run at Sackville’s Live Bait Theatre on August 12, the crop produces some entertaining surprises.
Based on a real-life situation experienced by Cameron’s parents when they retired from a lifetime of farming, the play takes an affectionate, amusing, and at times alarming look at how decisions and choices can have unexpected consequences during periods of transition.
The play has been written for two actors, who not only play the elderly couple but every other character in the play as well: a drug dealer, an insurance broker, a group of church ladies and more. Fast pacing and rapid character shifts present actors and audience alike with an exciting exercise for the imagination.
At once funny, touching, and tough, the story is told in a series of vignettes that merge into one another with the ease of conversational storytelling.
Harvest was premiered in its present version at Ontario’s Blyth Festival in 2008 and has played to glowing reviews across western and central Canda. A highly successful run closed recently at the Lighthouse Theatre in Port Dover, Ont. Although it was workshopped at The Ship’s Company in Parrsboro, the Live Bait production will be the Maritime premiere of the play.
“This play continues our mission of introducing the best of new Canadian drama to Maritime audiences,” says director Karen Valanne, who is also artistic director of Live Bait Theatre. “I’m delighted to be working with two highly talented actors, Mauralea Austin and David Hughes, who are bringing their multiple characters to life in quite amazing ways.”
With acting roles ranging from queens, scarecrows and drunks, to teaching Shakespeare, voice and yoga, Calgary-born Mauralea Austin has previously lived in Toronto, Winnipeg, and London. She is a co-founder and co-artistic director of LunaSea Theatre in Halifax . Recent theatre credits Girl in a Goldfish Bowl, for which she won a Merritt award for Outstanding Supporting Actress.
David Hughes hails originally from Vancouver and his long list of theatrical, film and television credits attests to a wide range of acting experience. Among his recent stage roles have been parts in On Golden Pond at Ontario’s Stirling Festival, Having Hope at Home at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay, and The Game of Love and Chance and Tuesdays with Morrie, both at Neptune Theatre in Halifax.
While Harvest marks the first appearance at Live Bait for both actors, it is not their first visit to Sackville. They met here while participating in play-readings at the annual Playwrights Colony sponsored by the Playwrights’ Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) on the Mount Allison campus.
A strong backstage team, including stage manager Jennifer Shaw and designer Victoria Marston, supports the Harvest performers. Lighting design is by Paul Del Motte, costume design by Wesley Daniels, and sound design by Mark Geddes.
Harvest runs daily, except Mondays, from Aug. 12-22, with matinee performances on Saturday afternoons. Curtain is at 8 p.m., with the exception of the matinees, which start at 2 p.m. For more information, visit Live Bait’s web site at http://www.livebaittheatre.com/ourSeason_harvest.html or phone 506-536-2248
