St. Marys Community Players is set to make its live-theatre comeback after a two-year pandemic pause with its production of Canadian playwright Joanna McClelland Glass’ play, Trying.
For two years, the St. Marys Community Players have been anxiously waiting for the opportunity to safely stage a play that has been in the works since the fall of 2019.
Now, after pandemic restrictions have been relaxed and indoor live theater has resumed, actors Natalie Hleba and John Butcher will make their St. Marys debut as Sarah Schorr and Judge Francis Biddle in Canadian playwright Joanna McClelland Glass’ two-character play, trying.
“We were preparing to go on stage in April 2020, we had the set built, we had costumes mostly done, we had almost the entire blocking of the play done, we had all of the posters ready, all of the tickets and programs were printed, and then we closed down,” said Gretchen Rozek, the production’s stage manager. “I’m telling you, it has been a ‘Trying’ experience.”
With the play ready to go, Rozek said the cast, crew and director Harold Arbuckle spent the past two years in a state of near-constant readiness as they waited for a chance to put their hard work in front of an audience. And while there were glimmers of hope and everyone involved remained committed, the continuous fluctuation of pandemic gathering restrictions kept the production from hitting the stage at the St. Marys Town Hall Theatre.
And though the crew and audience will be required to wear masks and the theater auditorium will only be filled to 75 per cent capacity, the play will finally see the limelight for an eight-show run beginning on April 21 and ending on May 1.
“After nearly two-and-a-quarter years since auditions for this play were held, we will finally lace the skates and hit the ice and stay the course and bring this wonderful play to you,” Arbuckle said in a press release.
trying is based on the playwright’s experience as an assistant to famous US Attorney General and chief judge at the Nuremberg Trials, Francis Biddle, during the final year of his life. In 1967, Glass moved with her new husband from Saskatchewan to Washington, where she accepted a position as Biddle’s secretary at a time when he was retired from the bench and writing his memoirs.
In the play, the character of Sarah Schorr is a young woman trying to break through a metaphorical wall the cantankerous yet charismatic Judge Biddle spent a lifetime building.
“When she finally succeeds, the result is an intimate glimpse of two people who should have nothing in common and yet come to share some very special moments together,” Arbuckle said in the release.
“It’s interesting to watch the growth of their friendship through the play,” Rozek added. “They start out absolutely at loggerheads, and they then gradually warm up to each other and find they have a lot more in common than they thought they did. It’s just interesting to see the change of roles — that Sarah becomes the stronger person of the pair because she’s, at the end, helping Biddle. It’s interesting to see that growth and change in the relationship between the two characters.”
While Hleba and Butcher are making their debuts in St. Marys, both are experienced actors. Hleba has performed in several roles with London Community Players and New Stage Theater Company, while Butcher has performed in numerous roles with Perth County Players, Thistle Theater and Ingersoll Theater of the Performing Arts.
Though Arbuckle will be making his directorial debut in St. Marys, he has worked backstage with St. Marys Community Players before. He is also a founding member of Thistle Theater in Embro, has acted onstage in various roles, and most recently directed productions of In the Time of Old Age at Ingersoll, Queen Millie of Galt and trying at Embro and Willow Quartet for Theater Woodstock.
The St. Marys production of trying previews on April 21 and officially opens the following evening. At $20 for the preview show and for audience members under 30, and $25 for general admission, tickets can be purchased by visiting stmaryscommunityplayers.caor through the St. Marys Community Players box office located at Sun Rayz on Queen Street East in downtown St. Marys.
Though tickets will not be sold at the door, they will be available online at the St. Marys Community Players website up until the start of each show.