New West Theatre is taking a slightly different approach for their production of  Nicole  Moeller’s thriller “An Almost Perfect Thing,” which runs  Feb. 28-March 9 at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre.
“ This is not a comedy. I‘d classify it as a thriller,” said New West Theatre artistic director Jeremy Mason.
“It’s the type of play where I started reading it and I couldn’t stop turning the pages to find out what happened next,” he continued.

“It is about an 11-year-old girl who is kidnapped and  then seven years later she is released and everyone wants to know the story of where she has been and what happened. But the only person she tells is the one journalist, who has been covering her case, because she’s been following along because she has  read all of the article which come to the house,” Mason summarized.

He said it deals with a lot of different issues including the media in a 24-hour media blitzed world as well as Stockholm Syndrome where the kidnappee becomes attached to their kidnapper as well as the media’s unquenchable thirst for this type of sensational story.
 The 2011 play has already received a couple of awards since New West decided to do it.

The thriller, examining media coverage of a kidnapping and the ensuing fallout  from it, won a 2010-2011  Sterling Award for Best New play Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award and  has been chosen to be translated into German for a production in Germany.

The University of Lethbridge is doing something a little different for their main stage production, which begins Feb. 12.
 They are examining popular children’s story and book “The Neverending Story.”

 Director Andrew Legg is excited about the project.

“It’s not often done. That’s what I’ve been hearing, but I wanted to do something for younger people,” said Legg, who directed Shakespeare in the Park’s summer production of  “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and has also performed in a couple of New West Theatre’s comedy/ musical revues.

“ I had a short list of about 10 and thought Neverending Story had the most room for creativity,” Legg said adding they use a variety of mediums including masks and puppets to convey fantastical ideas like wind giants,  dragons and a five person spider.

“And it’s the one that resonated the most with me since the age of  12,” he continued. While the 1984 movie is best known, the stage version is more true to the 1979 German book, which is a fantasy tale about a story, which, well, never ends.

 The story is about Bastien, a 12-year-old boy who is bullied in school and escapes through books. It also features Atreyu, the protagonist of the fantasy books Bastien reads, who comes to life the more he gets into a book he gets at a book store, which never ends.

“ It’s about two heros and their journey,” Legg summarized, praising the creative team he has been working with to really make the creative aspect of the production really pop.

 First-year student Jordan Payne, who plays Bastien, is excited to be cast in his first main stage role.

A new theatre group is ready to bring something different to the Lethbridge stage.
 Theatre Outré has their first local show, Feb. 14, in a new space affectionately called the Bordello, on the third floor of the building which also has the Owl Acoustic Lounge and the Potemkin art gallery  (411-3rd Ave South) .
“ Theatre Outré is a new idea to bring experimental and alternative theatre to the Lethbridge area that is an alternative to what is being offered by other theatre companies,” summarized Jay Whitehead, who decided to organize the theatre after clicking creatively and personally with recent arrival Richie Wilcox and after seeing the success of events like “Pretty, Witty And Gay.”

“It’s material that is darker and more provocative,” added Wilcox noting most of the shows will definitely be adult orientated and may feature themes of sexuality and nudity.
“But not always,” Whitehead added.

 Their first show is “Love Stinks: A Valentines Day Cabaret” a drag cabaret starring several high profile Lethbridge actors like Jocelyn Haub and Kathy Zaborsky, plus Doug MacArthur, Yvonne Maendel, Rob Bechtel and  Whitehead’s “twin sister” Didi who will explore the upsides but mostly downsides of love.

“We’ll also invite people from the audience on stage to share their tales of heartbreak,” Whitehead said adding they may be asked to sing as well.

 He noted Theatre Outré will focus on using Lethbridge and Southern Alberta talent.