Vigil By Morris Panych

“A hysterically dark comedy.”

October 22 – November 1, 2015 | TNB Studio Theatre | 55 Whiting Road, Fredericton

(Fredericton) Theatre New Brunswick continues its new season with the hysterically dark Canadian comedy, Vigil. The production will include 11 performance over two weeks at the company’s brand new studio theatre at 55 Whiting Road in Fredericton.

Vigil is a brilliantly story about an unexpected extended visit between the character of Kemp (Paul Dunn) and his bedridden elderly aunt (Linda Goranson) with a twist you’ll have to see to believe! The outrageous dialogue is both comically offensive yet somehow endearing as these two characters struggle to reach some common ground within the most awkward of situations.

“In Canada’s history of plays and playwrights, Vigil could easily be called a classic,” said TNB Artistic Director Thomas Morgan Jones, “and has been produced countless times across the country. Its popularity is the wit, wisdom, and achingly beautiful humour of Morris Panych’s writing and story. It is easily one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen, and has also stayed with me over the years because of how deeply it moved me. Vigil is the perfect opportunity for Fredericton to laugh until they cry…and maybe even cry until they laugh!”

For this production, TNB are proud to welcome Toronto-based Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Award-winning director, Soheil Parsa.

“For me, Soheil Parsa is among the greatest directors in the world,” said Jones. “As a young theatre artist, I admired and was hugely inspired by his productions. Not only is Soheil one of the most talented directors today, but he is also one of the finest and kindest men. It is one of the greatest honours and joys of my career to welcome him to TNB.”

This production will mark the company’s first two-week production run in over a decade and the second production held in “the newest theatre in Canada”.

October 22 – November 2, 2015 | TNB Studio Theatre | 55 Whiting Road, Fredericton | 7:30pm with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm| Regular Tickets $30 – McCain Student Tickets $15

Cast

Paul Dunn: Kemp

Linda Goranson: Grace

Creative Team

Directed by Soheil Parsa
Set and Lighting Design: Kaitlin Hickey
Costume Design: Sherry Kinnear
Sound Design: Michael Doherty
Stage Manager: Judy Joe Scheffler

Bios

Soheil Parsa

Soheil Parsa is an award-winning director, writer, actor, dramaturg, choreographer and teacher, whose professional theatre career spans thirty-two years and two continents. In his native Iran, Soheil completed studies in Theatre Performance at the University of Tehran and began a promising career as an actor and director. Arriving in Canada with his family in 1984, Soheil completed a second Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies at York University and then went on to establish Modern Times Stage Company, one of the most innovating theatre companies in Canada. Soheil’s own work at Modern Times has been recognized with five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a Chalmers Fellowship in 2002, a senior artist creation grant from the Canada Council, as well as a number of international prizes and master class requests. In 2007 and 2010 he was short-listed for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Celebrating Directors, the highest honour in Canadian theatre. Most recently, Soheil has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contribution as a theatre artist to Canadian society.

Paul Dunn

Paul was a featured company member of the Stratford Festival for seven seasons, and has performed in theatres across the country, including Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, and Young People’s Theatre (Toronto), The Grand (London), The Citadel (Edmonton), the Thousand Islands Playhouse, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, and the National Arts Centre. His television credits include Murdoch Mysteries, Rogue, Reign and Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. He is also an award-winning and Dora-nominated playwright, and has been a guest acting instructor/director at the National Theatre School, and Fanshawe College. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School and Grant MacEwan Theatre Arts. He’s delighted to be returning (after 16 years!) to TNB.

Linda Goranson

Linda has worked in theatres across the country. Her favourite plays include Over the River and Through the Woods, Tough Case, Calendar Girls, On Golden Pond, The Little Years, Steel Magnolias, A Nice Family Gathering, and every play she has ever done. Film and TV credits include Hemlock Grove, Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Rowdyman, and Gridlocked. She has won a Canadian Film Award for Best Actress, and starred in The Painted Door which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short.

Kaitlin Hickey

Kaitlin Hickey is a production designer based in Toronto, ON. Recent theatre credits include: Lighting Design: Counting Sheep, (Lemon Bucket Orchestra & SummerWorks Performance Festival), Assistant Projection Design: You Never Can Tell and Sweet Charity (Shaw Festival), Associate Projection Design: R-E-B-E-C-C-A (Theatre Passe Muraille), Production Designer: Chapel Arm (Mindless Theatrics), Associate Projection Designer & Video Technician: A Moveable Beast (Volcano Theatre), Production Manager & Lighting Designer: The Book of Judith (Selfconscious Theatre), Associate Video Designer: Beatrice and Virgil (Factory Theatre), Production Manager: Weather the Weather (Theatre Columbus). She is an artistic associate for Mindless Theatrics (St. John’s Newfoundland), a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, and holds a B.Sc. from St. Francis Xavier University.

Sherry Kinnear

Sherry is the costume designer for the TNB Young Company and TNB Theatre School as well as the Head of Wardrobe for all branches of the company. Sherry most recently designed costumes for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Eighth Fire, and The Net, as well as Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz, Les Miserables; and has created costumes for A Christmas Carol, Frankenstein, Miracle on 34^th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, Little Shop of Horrors, Gifts of the Magi, The Dollar Woman, Treasure Island, and many other TNB productions over the past eight years.

Michael Doherty

Michael is an Atlantic Canadian-based composer, sound designer, producer and musical director. He is a multiple Merritt award nominee and 2007 recipient. He also received the ECMA Musician’s Achievement Award and is the 2014 recipient of The Playhouse Honours. Michael is currently the resident composer & sound designer for Theatre New Brunswick. Recent credits include; You Play Beautifully, Frankenstein, The Man Who Became God, Somme Letters Home, A Christmas Carol, Red, The Net, Miracle on 34^th Street and Private Lives. Other selected credits include; The Lion in Winter, The Rainmaker; Watermark Theatre; Full Dark, Theatre Sheridan; As Ever, Mulgrave Rd; Homage, 2B Theatre; The Mystery of Maddy Heisler, Centaur.

Performance Dates