Even at the height of the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s, finding sympathetic portrayals of single mothers on stage and screen was a rare commodity, especially in a profession where the majority of playwrights and directors were men. But Neil Simon’s comedy I Ought to Be in Pictures, opening June 24 in Perth at the Classic Theatre Festival, was one of the plays that helped break the male-focused mold. I Ought to Be in Pictures is the story of a father and daughter reconnecting after years of separation, and will feature Festival favourites William Vickers as the writer’s block-plagued Herb, and Alison Smyth as his daughter Libby. In between the two is Steffy, a 40-something single mom who works as a makeup artist in Hollywood and who’s been in a relationship with Herb for two years. It’s played by Festival newcomer Barb Scheffler, a Toronto-based singer, playwright, and performer who has trod the boards at Ontario summer theatres from Drayton and the Huron Country Playhouse to the Thousand Islands Playhouse, all the while raising three kids with her performer husband Michael and appearing frequently in the popular Toronto Mysteriously Yours dinner theatre. Scheffler was a very shy child and never intended to pursue a life in the theatre. It was only by happenstance that she was forced to take a theatre course in grade 9 when one of her electives fell through. “It was the best thing that could have happened,” she recalls, noting that once on stage, “it was like magic,” as she was able to overcome her timidity by inhabiting another character. She spent her high school years as a self-confessed “theatre nerd,” going on to earn an Arts Administration masters degree at York University before graduating from the Sheridan College Musical Theatre program. She particularly enjoys writing and performing in the murder mysteries, with audience interaction that requires actors to be fast on their improvisational feet. Scheffler has played characters ranging from Joan Rivers and Brittany Spears to Vampirella, Queen of the Universe. She’s also handled roles in a wide variety of shows from the ancient Greek satire Lysistrata to the legendary 1930s musical, The Cradle Will Rock. This summer, while she performs in Perth, one of her daughters will be making her professional debut in a children’s show Scheffler wrote for the Toronto Fringe Festival, called Pirates Don’t Babysit. “The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree,” Scheffler notes, as her kids have grown up in a house where performers are constantly coming and going, sewing costumes and building props. This summer marks the first time Scheffler has appeared in a Neil Simon show, and while she loves the humour, as a writer herself, she also appreciates Simon’s craft. She points to how Simon’s characters interact and reveal things without telling that audience directly what is happening: instead, those viewing the scenes learn about the plot and themes organically. After appearing at the Classic Theatre Festival, she heads back to Toronto to continue her… Continue reading

The Classic Theatre Festival has announced its 2016 summer season cast, a stellar lineup of some of Canada’s top performing talent who will be spending the summer in Perth as part of the company’s expanded 7th season, running June 22 to September 11. The mainstage season officially opens with the Neil Simon comedy I Ought to Be in Pictures, a tale of father-daughter reconciliation that will star William Vickers (returning after his comic turn last year as the outrageous Victor Velasco in Barefoot in the Park), Alison Smyth (who won a Capital Critics Circle Best Actress nomination for her role as the blind hostage Susy Hendrix in last summer’s Wait Until Dark), and Barb Scheffler, a veteran of the Ontario summer theatre circuit including Thousand Islands Playhouse and Drayton Festival. The Simon play is followed by a show George Orwell considered the wittiest work to be penned by the inimitable George Bernard Shaw, Arms and the Man. The tale of a naïve, patriotic young woman who falls in love with a soldier who just happens to fight for the “other side,” it stars a series of Festival veterans: Rachel Fischer and Catherine Bruce (both from last year’s Barefoot in the Park), Alastair Love (his third CTF season following a star turn in Wait Until Dark), Alan Lee and Lindsay Robinson (both of whom have appeared in prior seasons in comedic roles) and 6-season veteran Scott Clarkson, who first appeared in 2011 as the husband in The Fourposter. Newcomer Lana Sugarman makes her debut at the Festival this summer after her recent five-star appearance at the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival as Desdemona in Othello. The main stage season closes out with the fascinating, gripping mystery An Inspector Calls, J. B. Priestley’s remarkable story: a body winds up at the morgue and everyone becoming a suspect. It features Festival favourites William Vickers, Greg Campbell (who has delighted in playing the less than savoury characters in Dial M for Murder and Wait Until Dark), and Sean Jacklin (whose comic turn as a stair-challenged telephone repairman in Barefoot in the Park marked his first appearance on the Festival stage). The show also welcomes veteran thespians who are newcomers to the Festival stage, including Elana Post, an award-winning performer and filmmaker, playwright and actor Fraser Elsdon, and Anna Burkholder, making her Canadian debut after a decade working in the UK, most memorably at the National Theatre in a production of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens. With Artistic Producer Laurel Smith directing the three mainstage shows, Costume Designer Renate Seiler returns once again to apply her close attention to colour as a means of underscoring plot and character development. Also returning to contribute to the Festival’s highly-regarded visual presentation is Lighting Designer Wesley McKenzie (who won critical praise for his debut season at the Festival last year). The Festival is very privileged to welcome Set Designer Lois Richardson whose sets graced the stage at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope for many years. Stage Managers Jennifer Stobart… Continue reading