If you’ll pardon the easy pun, putting on the musical version of the Peter Stone penned / Maury Yeston composed Tony Award Winning musical of the Titanic, is a “Titanic” undertaking.
 The LSCO fundraising presentation happens at the newly renovated Yates Centre, Oct. 18-20.

Including crew, there are over 120 people involved in the production from all walks of life and of varying theatrical experience from people who are brand new to the stage to people to whom the stage is like a second home.

There are familiar faces from Hatrix, Shakespeare in the Park, Playgoers of Lethbridge LMT and the U of L and even New West Theatre veterans, plus people who have never on stage before and people who haven’t been on stage for a while.
“Ken Rogers and I won’t put on any musical that isn’t outside the box,” said director Fran Rude who is directing a cast of 39 plus working with Rogers to organize an orchestra of 21 and  a chorus of 42.

“Go big or go home,” she said.
“It isn’t anything like the movie, emphasized Rude, who is excited to piece the entire show together during “Hell Week.”

 Instead it is based on the book “ A Night to Remember,” by Walter Lord and Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck.

“That‘s important because it is based on interviews with the survivors and their descendants,” Rude said.

 She is excited to welcome James Robinson back to the stage as E.J Captain Smith.
“As soon as I decided to do this, I had James in mind for the captain. We haven’t been on the stage together for 30 years when we were in South Pacific together,” she said.
“I wanted to be involved because wanted to work with Fran,” said Robinson.

 Playgoers of Lethbridge is excited to bring the farce “ Til Beth Do us Part to Country Kitchen, Oct. 23-27.
While they have done several plays penned by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, who among other things , have written for the Golden Girls, for this production Playgoers welcomes aboard new director Lori Garner, who has  a long history working with the Raymond Playhouse.

 “The first show I did with Raymond was Anne of Green Gables about 35 years ago and I played Anne, so that shows how far I go back,” Garner chuckled, adding she is excited to work with Playgoers of Lethbridge for the first time.
“I always wanted to work with Playgoers, so I offered my services as a director to the board so myself, Linda Johnson and Rita Peterson read some scripts. I’ve seen many of their shows, so I knew what to expect. I know they like to do something lighter for their dinner theatres,” she said.

’Til Beth Does Us Part is the tale of career-driven Suzannah Hayden who needs a lot more help on the home front than she's getting from her husband, Gibby.

“Lately, nurturing his marriage of 27 years hasn't been the highest priority for Gibby, but pretty soon he'll wish it had been. Enter Beth Bailey, Suzannah's newly-hired assistant, a gregarious, highly-motivated daughter of the South. To Suzannah's delight, Beth explodes into the Hayden household and whips it into an organized, well-run machine. This couldn't have happened at a better time for Suzannah, since her boss, Celia Carmichael, the C.E.O. of Carmichael's Chocolates, is flying in soon for an important make-or-break business dinner. Gibby grows increasingly wary as Beth insinuates herself into more and more aspects of their lives. In no time, she exceeds her duties as a household assistant and interjects herself into Suzannah's career. As Suzannah's dependence on Beth grows and Gibby's dislike of the woman deepens, Suzannah gives Beth carte blanche to change anything in the household that ‘will make it run more efficiently.’ And the change Beth makes is convincing Suzannah that Gibby must go. When he realizes it's Suzannah's career Beth is really after, a newly-determined Gibby sets out to save his marriage aided by Suzannah's best friend, Margo, a wisecracking and self-deprecating divorcee and her ex-husband, Hank, who is in the midst of his own mid-life crisis. Their effort to stop Beth at any cost sets up the wildly funny climax in which things go uproariously awry just as Suzannah's boss arrives for that all-important dinner,” according to the official synopsis.
“He needs to help out more around the house. So basically Suzannah hires Beth to help out and she helps Gibby right out of the house,” Garner chuckled.

“ It’s only after he’s living in a broken down apartment with his best friend, that he realizes how important it is for him to work on his marriage and help his wife,” she continued.

“It’s been a blast. The cast are a lot of fun and it’s always exciting to work with new people,” she said.

“ It’s a little scary not having an actual theatre and only being able to get in two days before. In Raymond, we have a theatre and we can build the sets in advance. But we’ve got cast here who have done this before,” she said.

 The cast includes some familiar faces who have performed with Playgoers of Lethbridge and Hatrix Theatre including Marci Stork playing Celia Carmichael, owner of Carmichael’s chocolates and Suzannah’s boss, Shelly David playing Beth, Kirk Boehmer as Hank and Jocelyn Steinborn as Suzannah. It also includes new faces including Jack Ford as weatherman  Gibby and Christina Peterson as Celia.
 John Ford is excited to make his Playgoers of Lethbridge debut as Gibby, who wasn’t expecting  to get the lead role.

The University of Lethbridge is having a “happening” for their first theatrical production of the season.
“inVISIBLE (too)” happens at the David Spinks Theatre, Oct. 9-13.
 The intimate show is a collaborative effort between The University of Lethbridge and Handsome Alice Theatre in Calgary welcomes the audience in to a dorm built into the David Spinks Theatre to listen to stories and songs from the cast including  Kathryn Smith, Alex Watz, Makambe K Simamba, Jaymie Brennan, Sheadene Morrison and Hannah Stobbe, who draw from their personal experiences as they share stories with each other and the audience.

Facilitated by Handsome Alice Theatre’s creative team, which includes artistic director, Meg Farhall and Faculty of Fine Arts alumni, Makambe Simamba (BFA ’14) and Kathryn Smith (BFA ’12), inVISIBLE (too) is the second iteration of this devised project.

“We sit around and tell stories and sing songs for 90 minutes,” described Kathryn Smith, who tells a story about helping several friends undergoing mental breakdowns.

“ But sometimes, we’ll tell stories, or play an instrument or dance,” she added.

“We spent the past three-four months telling stories to each other for this show. They’re all true. The stories range from being about being with family to mental health,” she said, adding there is no script for this interactive production. The actors will tell stories or play music.