Aspen Crossing Theatre presents sixth season of railroad drama

Times Contributor   

 

Aspen Crossing Theatre presents their sixth season of railroad-themed plays, opening with The Last Spike, Oct. 4 – 25. Waiting at the Station plays Nov. 6 – 9, and Snowed in at Christmas runs Nov. 28 to Dec. 20.

Each three-act play is performed in a refurbished 1887 Pullman car, and guests are served one course of their dinner after each act. The car seats only 28 people, so Gail Whiteford, artistic director says, “we call ourselves the most exclusive dinner theatre in Alberta.”

The Last Spike, this season’s opener, is a comedy murder mystery, a “reinterpretation” of the driving of the last railroad spike at Craigellachie, B.C. in 1885. At the end of the show, Whiteford says, “the audience is given a ballot where they have to write down their best guess as to what happened. Who did what to whom? Who is the murderer? Why did they do it?” Prizes will be awarded.

Waiting at the Station recognizes the 100th anniversary of World War I. 

“It’s about what happened on the home front, the women who were waiting for their men to come back,” says Whiteford. “The different attitudes about the war, from the school teacher who believes this is a glorious battle and all his boys should go, to a woman who’s got three sons over there and is worried sick about them … to a couple of young women who are volunteering themselves to go over.” There’ll be audience participation here too. “One of the women is going to be getting all of the women on the train to roll bandages,” she says, “and the schoolteacher is going to be trying to sign young men up with recruitment forms.”

Snowed in at Christmas is about a group of train passengers riding from Calgary through the mountains — until they’re stopped by an avalanche. 

“This stranger who has amnesia staggers onto the train,” Whiteford says, and the rest of the story is “wrapped around this mysterious man.” The play asks, “What really is Christmas?” she says. “Is Christmas the presents and the dinner you’re going to miss? Is it a complete waste of time and it’s just Dear God I don’t have time for this?” Or, she asks, “Is Christmas regret of what other Christmases were?”

Whiteford, who’s writing and directing each show this season, says each show includes Canadian and Albertan history, “modern history or back in the 1800s,” letting us learn history, “by having it unfold before your eyes and having a good laugh.”

But more than that, she wants audiences to enjoy it. She’d like us to say, “Let’s do this wonderful beautiful drive in Alberta’s countryside …. then let’s have a wonderful dinner and a good show, and a laugh.”

People who’ve been to Aspen Crossing Theatre keep coming back because “we give them a little bit of a challenge,” she says, but “all my shows (also) end up with hope.” People know “they’re going to get a good family show that they can bring the whole family to and they’re not going to be offended.”

See aspencrossing.com for more information about Aspen Crossing Theatre, and the greenhouse, gift shop and campground. Call 1-866-440-3500 for reservations.