Rosebud’s ready for 2014

Times Reporter  

 

Each year Rosebud’s Artistic Director Morris Ertman plans the new season around a theme. This year that theme is ‘believe’. The season will open on March 28 with ‘The Dairy of Anne Frank.’ 

“A year ago at this time when I was thinking about what should we revolve the season around, the idea of revolving the season around the word ‘believe’ kind of came to the front, partly because I feel we need to capture belief again,” said Ertman. 

Belief makes us do things that are noble and good, and that little word grabbed him and wouldn’t let go. When he thinks about ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ there is this marvelous thing that Anne says, which he paraphrased: ‘despite everything I believe that people are good at heart.’

“’The Diary of Anne Frank’ to me is the story of a young girl who is not unlike Anne of Green Gables, a really resilient, remarkable, filled-with-life kid who we wind up knowing and loving because of the size of her spirit,” said Ertman.

“It kicks off our season because in a way it is the most optimistic picture of life you can possibly imagine.”

The story of Anne Frank is based on the real-life girl who was alive during very dark times in Germany. It’s the story of Anne growing up, hiding away and eventually dying when she is sent to the camps. Her diary is a record of a resilient, amazing, full-of-life woman and it captures us all, said Ertman. 

“It is just really interesting to me that we know this girl so well and we would have never known her if not for the dark situations in which she lived,” said Ertman. 

Heroism shows up in the darkest of times, and he finds it interesting that in order to reach for a belief in goodness we have to actually reach into dark times to find those stories.

Next up on the 2014 roster is the return of a beloved Rosebud tale written in part by Royal Sproule. The show came out on the Rosebud stage years ago and Ertman said people have been asking about it ever since. So this year by popular demand ‘Chickens’ is making a comeback. 

“It is a musical with a lot of great tunes in it, everything from rock and roll to lovely folk ballads. It’s got a really wonderful cross section of music. The story is of a farmer and his wife and their marriage is just a little stale,” said Ertman.

Pal the farmer doesn’t seem to really see his wife, she is turning 40 soon and he, like so many middle-aged men, is anything but romantic. 

Pal is bankrupt and has one chance left to save the farm, so he brings home a prized hen and bets the farm on it. 

“What winds up happening in the course of the story is of course these chickens talk and sing and we’ve got the story of the chickens in the farm yard and what is going on with them,” said Ertman. 

“It is just kind of crazy and fun and people will be belly laughing through this show and yet it’s got this marvelous point in the story about a man and his wife and them finally seeing one another in part because of the whole scenario with the chickens.”

On the studio stage May 7 to June 21 is ‘I, Claudia.’ This show was originally performed last year, in April, as a student final project by Natalie Gauthier. It had such an impact that Ertman knew he wanted it in the regular season. 

“I actually believe that it has a shot to just travel across the country. If Natalie wanted to she could do this play in every fringe, it would start getting picked up and played in every theatre across the country, that’s how strong it was,” said Ertman. 

There have only ever been two other student projects that were added into the regular season. One was ‘The Diary of Adam and Eve’ and ‘For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again.’ 

This year there are two shows on the studio stage. The second is a fictional piece about what would happen if Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis had ever sat down for a discussion. Lewis has a Christian apologetic point of view and is a fiction writer, and Freud a secular humanist who believes you can understand yourself by looking into your past. Lewis begins to talk about how grace is the core of what drives us forward as humans.

“They get into it and it is incredibly dramatic because they both are powerful, amazing, articulate figures. There was a production of it done on the Edmonton fringe, we’re not doing that production, where apparently people on both side of the argument would come and cheer,” said Ertman. 

‘Freud’s Last Session’ will be on the studio stage July 2 to Aug. 23. 

‘Doubt’ will run Sept. 19 to Oct. 25. 

It’s a Pulitzer prize-winning play that is about a nun running a boys school and a young, charismatic priest. The nun, Sister Aloysius, is convinced the priest is paying too much attention to one of the boys, and she is determined to expose him and the truth. 

“The story really is about what it means to judge before you know. It is a powerful play,” said Ertman. 

“This play says hey guys, be careful how you accuse. It is ‘on-the-edge-of your-seat’ drama, is the way people will get to experience this play.”

To wrap up the season Rosebud Theatre will be making the Canadian premiere of the musical ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.’

“This production is probably the most ambitious thing we have ever done. It is going to live up there with fiddler on the roof and with Josephs Amazing Technicolour Dream coat,” said Ertman.

“It is going to have that kind of scale and it’s going to be filled with incredible movement and storytelling.”

The beloved tale, written by C.S. Lewis, follows four siblings as they stumble through a magic wardrobe to the land of Narnia. 

The production could fit anywhere in the season, but Ertman said they chose it as the Christmas production because it is something for the whole family to enjoy. 

“Everything about it carries the same kind of hope that Christmas carries. It is interesting because if I was to nab its themes I would go ‘well it is actually a story that takes place at Christmas and winds up at Easter, winds up in the spring’,” said Ertman.

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a story for the whole family and I think that it’s the kind of show that people can bring their kids to, and they can come their selves and I see it as being a big family event.”

Performances on the studio stage and in the opera house are not the only ones the quaint hamlet has in store for its patrons this year. 

New to Rosebud this year is the Rosebud Presents series. 

There are six acts coming as part of the new series, beginning on Feb. 15 with a concert by Lewis and Royal, a folk duo out of Rosebud. 

Panic Squad, an energetic, crazy improv team will be back for another show on Feb. 22. 

On March 8 there is a theatre show for a younger audience. 

‘Jack’s Giant Adventure’ is a modern retelling of the classic fairytale.  

Last year ‘Letters from Wingfield Farm’ came to Rosebud at the end of summer. 

“It was very successful, people just had a ball, we’re bringing back the next series, called ‘Wingfield’s Progress’ and that’s going to be kicking off in March,” said Ertman.

On Sept. 23 ‘Jake’s Gift,’ a show that has been travelling across Canada for the last five years, will be making a stop in Rosebud. 

“It is a chronicle about a World War II veteran’s journey back to Juno Beach. It is so successful that it just keeps going and going because people love it so much,” said Ertman. 

At last, but certainly not least, Juno Award singer/songwriter Steve Bell will be coming to the Rosebud stage on Oct. 16.

Things at Rosebud have been growing and expanding over the last few years. Since the completion of the new Mercantile the hamlet seems to be steadily adding on to its repertoire, giving people plenty of reasons to make the trek out to the picturesque community.