Performing live theater involves putting yourself out there as an actor, but the cast of Theater Kent’s production of Calendar Girls is taking it to the next level.
Based on the real story about members of a Women’s Institute in Britain deciding to make a nude calendar to raise money for cancer research, director Melissa Bristow said the theater is “definitely tagging it for a mature audience.”
But, she added, “Nobody’s going to see anything they shouldn’t. This is like vaudeville-level concealment.”
Even with the premise, it wasn’t too challenging to recruit women for the production, said actor Ruth Brown, who plays Chris, one of the main characters.
“I think anybody who auditioned knew the play and that’s why they did it,” he said.
Brown joked the character of Chris is pretty close to the person she is in real life.
“It was not difficult, she said.
The local cast found a special way to get into character by being photographed for their own version of a nude calendar.
Bristow said she believes more than a few people in the cast “got out of their comfort zones” when they shot the calendar, but the shoot provided an emotional and bonding experience.
Shooting the calendar will also enable the cast to make the live performance that much better, Brown added.
“I think it’s only appropriate. If you want to do a show and know what the characters are feeling, you actually have to do it,” she said. “So doing our own calendar gave us that sense of we can bring that realness now to the stage.”
The calendar was shot last month by local photographer Angela Speller.
“That was a lot of fun,” Brown said of the photo shoot, adding Speller was “amazing.”
The calendars, which cost $25, will be ready for sale when the play hits the Kiwanis Theater Stage on April 22 and 23.
The proceeds will be split between the oncology department at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance and the Windsor Cancer Foundation.
Brown said part of the proceeds will go towards purchasing dignity robes
“I like to say we’re taking ours off so that they can put them on.”
The play, originally scheduled to hit the stage in May 2020, is among the many events impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were about six weeks away from opening night with the original cast when all the restrictions came into place and the world changed overnight,” Bristow said.
She said it was only last December that Theater Kent’s board of directors decided to proceed with the play.
“It was the best Christmas present ever,” Bristow said jokingly.
While some of the original cast members remained for the resurrected production, a few new ones had to be found.
Auditions were held at end of January, and “we filled what roles needed to be filled and then it was all hands on deck,” Bristow said.
In fact, Brown was originally going to be the stage manager, but noted performing in Calendar Girls is a “bucket list” thing for her.
Bristow said Theater Kent doesn’t ordinarily stage matinees, but are staging one on Saturday, April 23, to reach people who may not like to drive at night or have limited availability in the evening.
Tickets for Calendar Girls are available online at www.cktickets.com or at the Chatham Cultural Center box office.
Brown said the audience can expect “the unexpected” when they settle in their seats for the show.
“Bring tissues,” she added, “but you’re going to come and laugh too, because there’s a lot of laughing but there’s a lot of emotion.”