2018-2019 the 45th Season
Photo Collage by Phil Ireland
The Long Road
by Shelagh Stephenson
directed by Joe Szekeres
Nov. 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 2018 8 pm
“It’s a long road…No one tells you how to do these things.”
Is redemption only possible through forgiveness? Shattered by the impulsive street crime of a young offender, the Pritchard family’s unsteady, conflicting steps through the stages of grief threaten to drive them apart. In this gripping drama, each person follows a long and difficult road from denial to acceptance where no character treads the same path. But the search for meaning and accountability is absolutely necessary and there’s hope that the paths will converge. Real life doesn’t provide easy answers.
Featuring: Raissa Chernushenko, Katie Lunman, Kevin Shaver, Carey Risman, Patti Wilson
Photo Collage by Phil Ireland
Love and Anger
by George F. Walker
directed by Carolyn Wilson
Jan. 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 2019 8 pm
“The official charge is: Being … Consciously … Evil.”
Durham Shoestring Performers brings a powerful comedy about social politics to the intimate Arts Resource Centre stage with a new production of Love and Anger by George F. Walker directed by Carolyn Wilson.
As a corporate lawyer, Peter Maxwell helped rich, greedy and often corrupt winners maintain their privileged status atop the downtown towers, but after a major life shake-up, he’s had enough of enabling the 1%. Now as “Petie”, Maxwell reorients his career to a low-rent basement office from which he is determined to undermine the power disparities that ruin life for his new clients. In Walker’s comedy, marginalized women lead the rally for renewal and challenge the insanity of the status quo with riotously funny, absurdly logical tactics that always question who controls the future at the most important level – managing the anxieties of daily life.
Ross Libbey of Courtice plays Petie, whose crusade depends on the loyalty of his legal secretary Eleanor (Nancy Gleed, Ashburn) and the powerful thinking of her sister Sarah (Margo Rodgers, Whitby). They combine forces to help Gail (Laka Ford-Williams) overturn a wrongful imprisonment verdict against her husband, who was coerced by newspaper baron Babe Conner (David Drennan, Whitby) to commit a corporate break-in. Desperate to avoid bad press, Conner hires Petie’s former partner, Sean Harris (Greg White, Brooklin) to represent him.
Love and Anger plays Jan. 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 at 8 pm. The play is recommended for teenagers and adults; there is strong language. Tickets are $15 and can be ordered through dsp@durhamshoestring.org or 905-725-9256.
Drawing by Anna-Maria Maleshev
⇒ the North American premiere of
Tomcat
by James Rushbrooke
directed by John Lunman
March 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30 2019 8 pm
“Are you one of those people who watch me through the mirror?”
A futuristic drama set not too far from now in a society optimistic that people can be the best version of ourselves. Mandatory screening has eliminated most genetic disorders, but one particularly troubling case remains: Jessie, the 12 year old daughter of a long-dead murderous psychopathic parent. She has been under close clinical observation for years. Is she dangerous? Is she evil? And what do you do with the material when the study ends? DSP is proud to present the North American premiere of an important story.
Featuring: Bill Baker, Emma Church, Judith Edmondson, David Mouti and Meredith Roberts