Renovations for Six is the latest stage reading to be presented at Theatre NorthWest on Sept. 10 at 7 p.m.
The light-hearted Norm Foster play sees three couples at a cocktail party getting to know each other when Shayna and Grant Perkins move to a new town.
Each couple is going through the process of house renovations and during the party it looks like their relationships could use a little makeover as well. Emotions run high at the party in this fast-paced comedy as secrets are revealed and cultures clash.
Presented by Sandra Clermont, the play features local actors who portray the guests including Billie and Wing Falterman who abandoned their song-and-dance act and show biz to raise their daughter. Billie is played by Katherine Trepanier while Wing is played by Willie Kuklis.
Rounding out the party are haughty psychiatrist Veronica Dunn-Dudet played by Clermont and her husband Maurice Dudet, an engineer who has left his high-paying job to write a novel, played by Frank Caffrey. Krista Dunlop and David Leach also take on roles in the show.
Many of the actors have worked with each other before and so when it came time to decide who was going to play what character they got together to do a reading.
“We just kept changing parts,” Clermont said. “Any of the people in this play could’ve played any part. What really makes this play special is that each role features a really well-developed character.”
Ultimately the guys decided who the girls would play and the girls decided who the guys would play.
“When we were looking for the play we wanted it to be Canadian – and of course that’s Norm Foster – and when you’re doing a stage reading the dialogue has to be snappy – you can’t rely on anything else because it’s all dialogue and we stumbled upon Renovations for Six and when we saw it was for three couples everything started to fall into place,” Clermont explained. “The best part is rehearsing. Everyone is so talented and they’re all just wonderful people so coming together was so much fun. The first time we read it together we couldn’t believe how funny it was – you can read it in your own mind but once you hear it the way it is meant to be delivered with all the different characters it was just so funny and we were laughing so much and it’s tender and fun and it’s a really great choice for a stage reading, for sure.”
Clermont reminds the audience that this is a stage reading where the focus in on to the dialogue and the costumes and set is stripped down, which lends itself nicely to this play that is geared to the ongoing conversation that reveals the story so well.
For tickets visit Theatre NorthWest tickets.
