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Actors putting whole new twist on Plaza Suite

Dewdney Players Group Theatre bringing alternate endings, sword fights, vignettes to Neil Simon play.
Dewdney Plaza Suite 1638
Dave Elder prepares to break down a door in a rehearsal for the Dewdney Players' production of Plaza Suite on Sept. 26. (BRENT CALVER/Western Wheel)

Eleven actors are up to all sorts of shenanigans inside the privacy of a hotel room the next three weekends.

Dewdney Players Group Theatre is putting the final touches on its fall production of Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite in a hilarious performance with an unusual twist. Performances are in the Rotary Performing Arts Centre Oct. 4-5, 10-12 and 17-19 at 7 p.m. with matinees Oct. 12 and 19 at 2 p.m.

Co-director Mark Huolt calls the Neil Simon original charming, sad and bittersweet, but said it’s also sprinkled with plenty of hilarity.

“I think this is the funniest piece of theatre I’ve ever seen,” he said. “When you read through the play it doesn’t come across quite as funny, but when you see how the actors are getting into their roles and evolving their characterizations it’s magic. There’s some unbelievable chemistry.”

In a unique Dewdney twist, co-directors Huolt and Dayna Coles added scenes between the three acts for the intermissions with alternate endings, a sword fight and other comedic bits to give the audience a different take on what they saw the previous act.

“The first two acts end on a little bit of an unknown note,” said Huolt. “We decided to create a possible alternate ending and a little bit of context to give people an idea of what happened next. These intermissions are hysterical.”

Huolt said they’re done as silent vignettes, prologues and epilogues.

“We’re tipping our hat a little bit to the amazing performances of silent actors of past and present who can tell a story without using words,” he said. “As a result, we’re going to offer our theatregoers a really different experience. Even people who are familiar with Plaza Suite have never seen Plaza Suite like this.”

Okotoks actress Anne-Marie Cotton plays a mother of three meeting up with a former high school boyfriend who has become a famous Hollywood producer, resulting in some shenanigans in Act 2.

“She is really sweet, but as the act goes on you start finding out that maybe she has some regrets about the decisions that she’s made in her life in terms of who she ended up marrying, whether she should have stayed with her high school boyfriend or not,” she said.

Cotton said the play is unique from others in that there are different actors in each act. This meant that during the first weeks of rehearsals the actors worked on their individual scenes and were unaware of the progress of their fellow cast mates.

“When we started running the show in the fall we start to see what everybody is doing and all the little things in between being done by the bellhop and waiters,” she said. “It hasn’t been until recently that we’ve been able to watch each act. We finally got to see what everybody has been doing.”

Also unique is that all three acts occur in the same hotel room, said Cotton.

“This poor hotel room has seen some stuff so it’s really interesting to think of what a hotel room sees,” she said. “It can see some very serious conversations, it can see some bizarre antics. It might make you think the next time you stay in a hotel room what the room has seen over the years.”

Tickets to see Plaza Suite cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door. They can be purchased at dewdneyplayers.com or by calling 403-938-3204.




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