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Some of Canada’s top theatre reviewers have honoured the Classic Theatre Festival in Perth with a record-breaking five awards nominations in the professional theatre category for the 2017 Capital Critics Circle Awards, which will be announced at a special ceremony in Ottawa on November 13. The five nominations cover all three mainstage shows that ran during the Festival’s summer season, which once again drew thousands of tourists to Perth, many of whom also took in the highly-regarded theatrical walking plays that now run seven times a week throughout the summer. The Festival’s staging of George Bernard Shaw’s Candida, directed by Laurel Smith, picked up nods for Best Production, Best Direction, and Best Actor for William Vickers in his performance as Mr. Burgess. (The Festival’s 2016 production of Shaw’s Arms and the Man was similarly nominated in the same categories, with Lana Sugarman winning as best female actor, while Vickers was also nominated two years ago for his role in Neil Simon’s I Ought to Be in Pictures.) Sugarman picked up her second consecutive best actor nomination for this year’s beloved production of Canadian Bernard Slade’s timeless Same Time, Next Year, while Ottawa’s Roger Schultz was nominated for his set design in another Canadian playwright’s mystery thriller, Peter Colley’s I’ll Be Back Before Midnight. Upon hearing the news, Sugarman thanked her director, Laurel Smith, for  “guiding me to do my strongest work in some incredible roles,” as well as “my magical co-actor, Scott Clarkson. You can’t get a Best Actress nomination in a two-hander without the best partner up there with ya!” For Artistic Producer Laurel Smith, the critical attention being paid to the Classic Theatre Festival is “a tribute to the remarkable talent that puts these plays on every summer. We are so privileged to host some of this country’s finest talent both onstage and behind the scenes, and I really believe these award nominations speak to the team effort that is required to put on the shows, whether it is stage management, lighting design, costume design, set design, the front of house folks who do such a great job making our guests feel welcome and at home, and the young people in our theatre training program who are at the forefront of what it means to be a Perth ambassador.” Smith also extended congratulations to other award nominees, including numerous National Arts Centre productions, and said that while she looks forward to the Ottawa party, she’s also busy planning the 2018 summer season which, in addition to three golden age of Broadway and the London stage classics, will also include a brand new morning walking play, a new ghost walk, and a surprise show that will be announced in December. Advance Super Savings Flex Passes are now on sale for the 2018 summer season, with a 25% discount and the flexibility to pick dates next year. Order at ticketsplease.ca or 1-877-283-1283.     Continue reading

A performer with frequent film and television appearances on shows such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Nikita, Beauty & The Beast, and The Fourth Plague has been commanding the Classic Theatre Festival stage as a woman fighting for her very survival in the mystery thriller I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, which plays until September 10 at 54 Beckwith Street East in Perth. Born and raised in Saskatchewan – “they call it the land of living skies for good reason and believe me, it more than lives up to its name,” she says – Lauren Horejda plays the role of Jan, a woman who, recovering from a nervous breakdown, has been brought to a spooky old country farmhouse by her sometimes less than sensitive husband, Greg (Lindsay Robinson). What follows is much like a Hitchcock film, a combination of humour and horror in which the esteemed Capital Critics Circle says Horejda “delivers a fine multi-faceted characterization that balances fragility and determination.” Horejda recalls her first performance was as an angel in a Christmas pageant, and while she cannot say exactly what drew her to acting, “I can say it always felt right where I was supposed to be.” After completing an honours undergraduate degree, she studied at some of the world’s leading theatrical training academies, including the UK’s Bristol Old Vic and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Among some of her favourite roles along the way have been playing Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (Horejda is a major Ibsen fan) and Mercutio in The Deliverance of Romeo and Juliet. She’s also picked up best acting nominations two years in a row from My Entertainment World for her performances in Hamlet and The Changeling. Playing Jan in I’ll Be Back before Midnight is a demanding role, as she is onstage for almost the whole show in an experience that many audience members describe as akin to a rollercoaster ride, providing thrills followed by anticipation and constant building of tension. Horejda says the role actually requires “decompression over preparation once the lights are dark and the audience has gone home. Jan is such a vessel of love and hope within the play. She wants nothing but the best and to take care of those she cares about, but she is put through so much within the play. So, it’s mostly checking in with myself and shedding the after-effects of Jan and everything that she has to go through that needs the most attention – shaking it off.” Horejda is fond of Jan’s “unshakeable faith in those that she loves. It’s incredibly admirable, especially living in a world where people write each other off so frequently over so little.” The Toronto-based actor says she’s loved her time in Perth this summer. “It’s been a beautiful place to come and relax and work on this fabulous play with a lovely and warm cast, a brilliant production team, and a wonderfully talented, thoughtful and insightful director. It’s been such fantastic experience for me to ride this ride with… Continue reading