Theatre New Brunswick and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre help kickoff Fredericton’s 2019 Pride Week celebrations with a special performance of The Princess Show, an original production by Halifax-based theatre collective, Heist.
Photo by Jaime Vedres
Just days after the NotaBle Act Theatre Festival wraps up and Fredericton’s official Pride Week celebrations begin, Theatre New Brunswick and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in association with Fredericton Pride will present a fitting combination that lands somewhere in the middle of both these pillar community events with The Princess Show.
Best described as a live-action-queer-anime-drag-adventure, The Princess Show stars a pair of Halifax-based multidisciplinary artists and performers: Aaron Collier as Princess Edward and Richie Wilcox as Abel T. Suckizone.
“I wanted to make a joyful expression of self-love and self-acceptance. It turned out to be more like a party and a drag show with a story rather than your typical play,” said Collier.
The Princess Show is more than a theatre show and more than performance art. It’s an experience and a full-on celebration of self-identity and queer culture delivered with lights, music, projection and lots of attitude.
“There are so many queer theatre artists and companies in this country who are making exceptional theatre– theatre that pushes social, aesthetic and artistic boundaries. So many shows that I believe folks in Fredericton will love,” said TNB Artistic Director Natasha MacLellan. “The Princess Show is a visually stunning and wildly imaginative celebration performance, created by two of Atlantic Canada’s most talented performance artists. It is my hope that we can continue to bring some of the best queer theatre in the country to Fredericton for years to come.”
The event will take place on August 8 at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre beginning with a cocktail hour at 7 p.m. featuring music by DJ Douvet prior to the performance.
Guests will follow the bearded, sequined wonder Princess Edward on a quest to save her beloved Abel T. Suckizone from the mysterious villain. Featuring local drag performers within the performance, The Princess Show offers up a campy and visually stunning fantasy world for the audience where they can cheer Princess on as she tackles real problems.
From concept to realization, The Princess Show continues to grow with each new performance and has become a platform for free collaboration and open expression.
“The Princess Show took a team of people [to create] because we kept adding fun elements like projections, dance, claymation and more,” said Wilcox. “In this iteration we have added a DJ and guest performers, so it just keeps getting bigger.”
Join Theatre New Brunswick for this special performance August 8 at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. Tickets are $20 (or $10 for students/unwaged – in person only) and available at the TNB offices, the Charlotte Street Arts Centre or online at tnb.nb.ca
Audience:14+
cash bar.
