To quote fellow comedic road warriors the Arrogant Worms “Canada is really big” as fellow comedic road warrior Rick Mercer will attest.
 Mercer will convey his perspective on what it means to be Canadian at the Enmax Centre, April 29.

It isn’t a stand -up comedy show, but is rather a celebration of Canada which is appropriate for Canada’s 150th birthday.

“It isn’t a stand up comedy show, though I do that. I talk about what it means to be Canadian,” said Mercer, who has visited every nook and cranny of Canada talking to everybody from politicians, all the living prime ministers to farmers and oyster fishermen during 15 seasons of his CBC television series “The Rick Mercer Report” and another eight seasons of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.”

“I have a map of Canada in my office with red pins showing all the places I’ve been over the past 15 years. And I can barely see the map anymore. I’m very proud of that map,” Mercer observed, noting there are still a lot of places he still wants to visit.
“Very few people get the opportunity to do what I’ve done, but there’s still plenty of places to go,” he said.

“This is what I’ve been doing for the past 15 years, so a show like this is totally within my scope,” he said.

He noted he won’t be filming anything for the show on this tour.

“I’ve had the same crew for the past 15 years, three at first, now four. But they aren’t coming with me. It will just be me,” he said.
Rick Mercer’s rants are a highlight of the Rick Mercer Report. He never has any difficulty coming up with them.
“I usually have six or seven  things I want to talk about every week though they don’t necessarily have to be funny,” he said.
“I write all of them myself on Thursday night and they air on Friday in front of the studio audience, though we don’t do them live,” he said.

Hatrix Theatre is holding auditions for An October production of 12 Angry jurors this week.

 The Reginald Rose  penned play, inspired by a 1954 teleplay is about the trial of a young man accused of murder of his father. The jury must decide his guilt or innocence. One juror stands alone against a unanimous guilty vote.
Can he/she compel the jury to listen to more argument or will he be persuaded to "pull the switch" and send the boy to his death.

“It’s as relevant now as when it was written in the ’50s,” said director Karolyn Harker, who plans to put on the  play at the Nord Bridge Senior’s Centre the week after Thanksgiving, Oct. 11-14.

 The Chinook Regional One Act Play Festival is set to entertain you all with five excellent plays, April 8 at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre.

The evening, presented by Playgoers of Lethbridge and  ADFA (Alberta Drama Festivals Association),  begins at 6:30 p.m. to accommodate all five plays without the evening go too late.
“It also includes free refreshments at intermission,” said organizer Kate Connolly, who is always excited to see the plays presented.

“Four of the entries will be adjudicated and we have an entry from Medicine Hat who will be hosting the provincial festival, May 26-27,” Connolly said, adding Medicine Hat is part of the Cypress Region, which didn’t have enough entries for their own festival this year, however, Lethbridge welcomes them because they must participate in a regional competition to compete in the provincials.

“They’re the same group that won the festival last year and won the provincials last year,” she said.

 Awards will be given for best original script, best male actor, best female actor, best director and best play.
The best play winner goes to Medicine Hat for the provincials.

“The plays vary in length from 15 to 30 minutes and three of them are original scripts,” Connolly enthused, noting they have entries from Playgoers of Lethbridge members, the Taber Players, University of Lethbridge students and stand up comedian Connor Christmas.

“The theme this year is relationships,” Connolly observed.
U of L student Alexa Long presents “Portraits Post Drowning,” which won the Terry Whitehead competition this year.

Taber Players presents a comedy “Two Fools Who Gained a Measure of  Wisdom,” is a play based on an Anton Chekov story described as “a hilarious romp about a young husband who takes his new wife to visit his eccentric aunt.
”Connor Christmas’s play is “What Did You Do?,” described as a “collective creation piece about life changing events.”

Long time Playgoers of Lethbridge member Rita Peterson presents her original play “Clarity,” about two estranged sisters reconciling.
“It’s about two sisters who have been estranged for a number of years who return home over a family event,” said Peterson who brought it to a Playgoers of Lethbridge workshop hosted by Ron Chambers earlier this year for feedback.
“What happened to them in the past will determine their future,” she said.
“They have to learn from the past and continue,” she continued, noting “Clarity” is her first entry in the one Act Play Festival.