A story of “spirits and fun” will be staged in Surrey and New Westminster this month.
Royal Canadian Theatre Company’s new “Ghost of a Chance,” billed as a “hilarious and sweet theatrical experience of love and redemption,” will play Surrey Arts Centre’s Main Stage on Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15, with four show times at the Bear Creek Park venue, before the production moves to Anvil Centre in New West.
The company’s season-opener is fresh with new talent, both on stage and behind the scenes.
New concepts brought to “Ghost of a Chance” include a set “built to be as ghostly as the main character, Chance,” with see-through walls and missing parts.
The play, written by Disney veterans Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus, is directed locally by Patricia Johnson-Brooke.
The six-actor cast includes Anthony Lively (as Floyd), Kerri Norris (Verna), Fernando Aloise (Chance), Ivy Padmos (Bethany), Amanda Haggett (Crystal) and Nigel Brooke (Adam Lucas).
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
The story follows Bethany, a strong-willed but insecure widow heading to her cottage in the woods with her fiancé Floyd and his mother, Verna.
She’s determined to put the hunting-accident death of her first husband, Chance, behind her, sell the cottage and move on with life. Little does she realize, Chance, or rather his spirit, is still around and has no plans to leave or give up his wife to another man. Can Bethany move forward in her life without her late husband haunting her every decision?
Suitable for older kids, the play comes with a warning of some suggestive language.
More show details are posted to Royal Canadian’s website, rctheatreco.com.
At Surrey Arts Centre, daily performances are at 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14-15. On the website tickets.surrey.ca, show tickets are priced at $34.99, or $29.99 for those aged 60 and older or 12 and under. A “family pack” of four tickets is $130, and group seats are also available. For details, phone 604-501-5566.
• RELATED: Surrey theatre companies line up comedies, musicals, monologues this fall/winter.
Later this month, “Ghost of a Chance” will play Anvil Theatre from Oct. 22-29, with a “relaxed performance” planned Oct. 26 in partnership with Massey Theatre Society. “RCTC is the only theatre company outside of Vancouver to present theatre specifically designed for those with intellectual, behavioural or other challenges,” the company notes. Visit Ticketsnw.ca or call 604-521-5050 for info about the New West dates.
Other crew members who bring “Ghost of a Chance” to the stage are assistant director Nicole Deslauriers, stage manager Lucas Morehouse, technical director/sound designer Stephanie Bruce, lighting designer Nigel Brooke, costume designer Mikayla Scramstad, prop designer Glynis Knowlden, front-of-house manager Jean ‘Mac’ Blackburn, set designers Stephanie Bruce and Kerri Norris, production manager/marketing co-ordinator Crystal Weltzin, marketing assistant Devon Furtado and program designer Leah McCullough.
Looking ahead to December, Royal Canadian will stage a panto called “The Snow Queen: A Frozen Adventure” at Surrey Arts Centre and Massey Theatre in New West.
• RELATED: Surrey’s Royal Canadian Theatre Company moves forward without King as managing artistic director.
In July, Ellie King officially retired from the job of leading Royal Canadian Theatre Company, with the reins now in the hands of production manager Crystal Weltzin and artistic director Kerri Norris.
The Whalley-based company will be taken to “the next level” by Norris and Weltzin, King promised, with the help of a board of directors led by president Linda McCrossin. “Together this strong team will not only carry on our work, but build it into an even more to-be-reckoned-with entity,” King posted over the summer.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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