By Valerie Posthumus
The Haldimand Press
DUNNVILLE—After a three-year hiatus, the Dunnville Community Theatre will resume live performances at the Optimist Hall this November with A Red Pail Shirt by Canadian playwright Michael G. Wilmot.
The play is about two friends who fill the void left by retirement in different ways; Marty decides he wants to explore the open road on a Harley while Fred decides to pay more attention to his health, inventing many new ailments along the way. With a little “subtle redirection” from their wives and a creative solution to a very unusual problem (which may or may not include a homemade coffin), they find the right track … eventually.
Of the play, Director Jean Furlong said, “It’s going to be lots of laughs and lots of fun and just lighthearted entertainment.… I directed plays off and on for about 25 years and then took a hiatus and they just asked me to come back so I’m pretty excited.”
DUNNVILE—A small group practises a scene for their upcoming show. —Photo courtesy of Jordan Heron.
Producer Claire Vanden Pol is excited to be doing live performances again, following a change over in the three-person executive right before the pandemic hit.
Vanden Pol said, “Because we were afraid of losing our audience and our membership, we decided to do the video thing, so we got a grant from OTF (Ontario Trillium Fund) to do that. So, after a year and a half we were working on videos and now we have a chance to return to the stage and everybody’s excited about it. The play’s going to be really good, but it’s not like riding a bike.”
The troupe is also excited to be back in the Optimist Hall and they are getting a great response to the matinee offering. Vanden Pol added, “That’s something we have thought about doing for a long time, but we never made it happen. The reason we are doing it this time is because we couldn’t get three weekends in a row with the Optimist Hall, so we opted for two weekends and made one of them a four-day show. Ticket sales are good, so we will see how the actors like four days in a row.”
Show dates are November 18-19 and November 24-27, 2022. Saturday shows will be dinner theatre with dinner being at 6 p.m. and the show starting at 8 p.m. Sunday’s show will be a matinee starting at 2 p.m. All other shows will run from 7-9 p.m.
All shows will be performed in the main hall of the Optimist Hall at 101 Main Street, Dunnville. Maximum seating per performance is 90.
Ticket prices will be $55 per person for dinner theatre, $20 per person for standard performances, with tickets for seniors and students discounted to $18.
Tickets will be available at Art Service on 152 Queen Street, Dunnville or by email at info@dct73.com.
