Afterwords, Blake Drezet’s comedy about the afterlife, will be on stage at Evergreen Theatre this weekend.
It’s a co-production between Theatre Now and Raven’s Call Theatre, two Powell River theatre groups, and features a cast of local actors, including Blake, Kevin Cook, Brian Liddle, Ingerlise Burns, Brian Drezet, Noemi Mazurek, Louise Gloslee, Autumn Skye Morrison and Imtiaz Taj.
“It’s an exciting part of homegrown theatre,” said Paul Wiltse of Theatre Now. “You can get great local talent doing interesting theatre.”
Wiltse said that when he read Blake’s script he thought it would be a good fit for not only the theatre company, but also the actors and the community.
“There are a lot of challenges for actors in the play,” he explained. “A lot of it works on characterization.”
Afterwords revolves around two characters dressed in business suits who wake up in total confusion and in a state of amnesia. From that point they try to figure out what is going on and along the way they meet a series of characters who reveal secrets about who they are and how they got there.
“The whole thing is basically a stream of confusion and clues until at the end of the play it is revealed what [they’ve] been experiencing and what it all means,” said playwright Blake, who is also playing one of the lead roles.
Blake came from Vancouver where he had been doing spectacle theatre, which he describes as “camp stuff based on horror and science fiction movies.” But when he moved to Powell River two years ago he decided to shift his focus to write and produce theatre that was “a little more progressive and thought-inducing,” he said.
The show was first performed in Theatre BC’s Zone Festival competition at the Bailey Studio in Nanaimo on Friday, May 17. The production was adjudicated and actors and crew were given judges’ critiques. Afterwords won four awards, one for lights, one for directing and two for acting.
The opening night for the show in Powell River is Friday, May 24 with three other evening performances planned for Saturday, May 25, Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1. Curtain rises at 7:30 pm. An afternoon matinee performance is planned for 1:30 pm on Sunday, May 26.
Tickets for the show can be purchased at Breakwater Books and Coffee, River City Coffee, Armitage Mens Wear, at the complex and at the door. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors.
