Vagabond Theater Presents "A Sting in the Tale"

Vagabond Theater proudly presents their latest production, "A Sting in the Tale", a thrilling comedy written by Brain Clemens and Dennis Spooner, and directed by Katie Burke. "A Sting in the Tale" is co-produced by Dan Youmelle and Laurie McRae Bingley and features local actors Bruce Baker, Michael DeWolfe, Cathy Doyle-Parent, Bob Blackadder and Nikaiataa Skidders.

The play is about two playwrights who have lost the shine of their former hits under a growing mound of debts and struggle to create another. "Max" and "Nigel" are sure they are writing their next blockbuster until they realize they might be fulfilling their full potential by plotting the perfect murder – and end up murdering the wrong person. Written, wrapped and making direct references to plot strands from "Dial M for Murder," "Deathtrap" and a host of other well known murder mystery hits, this play is sure to please everyone. It has plot twists, lots of dry humor spiced with suspense and local actor, Nikaiataa Skidders, to keep you entertained.

Cast in February, it takes months to metamorphose a group of people, random pieces of furniture, a raised platform, lights, words written on a page and turn them into actors, a stage set, stage lighting, and finally, breathe life into the lines of the play. It takes dedication and commitment, not to mention love of the theater to make a play successful. While every member of the Vagabond Theater plays a vital and collaborative role in making this play, much of the weight lies upon the director to make the play successful. Directing over eight plays doesn't make directing another play any easier. Director Katie Burke stated, "Each play presents its own challenges and these challenges are rarely the same. Actors not only need to know their lines but to hear each line of their fellow actors. An actor can hear a word three speeches back and he or she needs to deliver their exact words so all of the information can be delivered."

Vagabond Theater is a community based theater and many of the actors come with a good amount of stage experience knowing stage turns, angles, upstaging, body placement and of course body language. "The author provides so many words turning the actor into the character. There are many factors in casting a character such as who can best play this role. There are actors who enter with both stage theory and experience and those who walk in only with theory. Sometimes there are actors who have the rare combination of having never acted on a stage but have an innate sense of theory."

Vagabond Theater produces two plays a year and their big interest lies within the community. They look for Canadian written plays but at the same time try not to get locked into one type of play. Vagabond Theater, like many community theater groups have a unique challenge that larger theater companies don't face; the actors do not have an understudy. Every performance must go on with originally cast actors.

"A Sting in the Tale," opens on Friday, May 23 at 8pm, with additional performances on Sunday, May 24 and Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 8pm. This production closes with a matinee performance on Sunday, June 1, 2014 at 2pm. All performances are at Dream Builders Studios located on 2107 Second Street West, Cornwall, ON. Doors open 30 minutes prior to show times and tickets are available at Scotiabank (960 Brookdale Ave) and Cornwall and Seaway Valley Tourism (11 Water St West).