Finding the magic: theatre student writes and performs graduating project

Times Contributor   

 

Chrissie Muldoon, fourth-year student at Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA), presents the play ‘Where the Magic Ends’ from June 27-29.

Muldoon is playwright, producer and actor, for this is her Final Project, the culmination of her studies at RSA. Paul Muir, resident actor of Rosebud Theatre, is the only other member of the cast.

‘Where the Magic Ends’ is about a writer who’s ‘creatively blocked,’ Muldoon explains. That block has taken a toll on his writing, his marriage, his whole life. However, he can physically see his creative genius, and he talks to the creative genius about his problem, =so together, they can figure out why he’s blocked.

Like her character, Muldoon says, she’s also faced depression and anxiety. But she’s written four previous plays, and has discovered that she’s happier when she’s writing. As she wrote ‘Where the Magic Ends’, guiding her character out of his depression, she learned new ways to overcome her own challenges.

“I was very sure to put humour and tenderness in (the play), because I feel like that’s the way we have to take the hard things in our life,” she says. “We have to take them with as much humour and heart as we can muster.”

“The actual producing of (Where the Magic Ends) has been a joy and a huge challenge,” Muldoon says. Through her studies, she feels she has developed all the skills she needed. 

Rosebud instructors “really do prepare us for a career,” she says. “All in all, this project really has been a joy.

“It’s all coming together to tell this specific story that I’ve chosen to tell, that I want to tell, and that I feel is an important story to tell.”

‘Where the Magic Ends’ will be shown in Rosebud’s Akokiniskway Gallery on June 27 at 5 p.m., June 28 at 5 p.m., and on June 29 at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. 

It includes strong language and mature content. Get tickets at 403-677-2015 or by e-mailing soapbox.office@gmail.com. $10 in advance; $12 at the door.

“I hope (everyone) comes out to see the show and I hope they like it,” Muldoon says. “Don’t be afraid to come talk to me at the end of the show.”