Caledon Town Hall Players present The Tuesday Morning Star

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

It is the perfect moment for the Caledon Town Hall Players to be performing this play. With the crazy world of news informing and mis-informing consumers of news, The Tuesday Morning War, the World Premier, opens May 2 and runs on the weekends to May 11. 

Here is the brief: the border guard of a two lane road crossing between the United Sates and Canada, gets it wrong when he understands from the news, that Canadians have blown up the White House and that the two countries are at war. He decides he is going to defend that border.

Director, Stephanie Giugovaz, told the Citizen in a telephone interview, a bit about the process of putting the play together: “They are a good group of actors,” said she. “It was a rough start with the weather. We started blocking the play in December. They really, really are a well mix of people who have worked together. They're all on stage pretty well all the time.

“It is a cast of seven, with lots of coming and going and sheds and trees. The border guard believes Canada and the US are at war. He misreads a headline on Facebook that Canada attacked Washington.

“This is a very timely and very Canadian show,” she went on to say. “We get to poke fun at our neighbours but this not a farce; it's a comedy which is a very different style of comedy and it's a lot of fun.”

Given the winter we had this year, rehearsals took place when they could: “Rehearsing couldn't really start until the end of January. We lost our first month. Mother Nature must have had a copy of my schedule because, every time there was rehearsal, there was weather and we were a month behind.”

The actors were devastated to be so constrained but they made up for it by acquainting themselves thoroughly with the script.

“They had spent a month reading their scripts and they were that connected to their parts,” Ms Giugovaz was happy to tell us. “Coming from Mono, Brampton and Erin, when we had to cancel, everyone was so up set because they just wanted to start – so, they knew their lines when they came at last in February.”

Loving her involvement with the group, Ms Giugovaz remarked, “This is my fourth show directing but my seventh involvement but I am also the president, so, I'm always around.”

She said, “That's the fun of community theatre; everybody gets involved and helps. They do whatever needs to be done. We have a membership of about 40. It's a really good group. Some members want to usher; some only want to act. We do a have a really well-rounded group. For community theatre, we do need a group of people with different interests and talents.

“This is the last show of the season,” she reminded us. “It's a nice cap because it is something a little different, still comedy. What I will let the audience know is to watch the whole stage. The jokes are not always necessarily what's being said. A lot else is going on that people will watch. My husband was chuckling because he saw something else on the stage and he's seen several rehearsals.”

The tradition with the CHTP theatre is the roast beef dinner on the first of their two Saturday evening performances. They are always sold out. 

However, this year, as she mentioned, “Dinner theatre is sold out. Next year, we're doing two matinees and two dinners. Our dinner theatre was sold out in August for all three shows this year.”

As to who is on the stage this time around. Ms Giugovaz said, “Actors that we've seen before. The three male border guards are with CTHP. The long-standing audience will recognize her, Maegan is back. For a lot of people, just finding the right role is essential. She is the host of a historian television documentary. The action sort-of fills in what she is saying.”

Ms. Giugovaz's style of directing is tending to the “staying out of the way” philosophy. She told us, “My way of directing is to say, ‘Read the scripts and come up with what your background tells you.' I give them the bare bones and then I let them play, explore and keep the things that are working and pull things that aren't.”

This way, “The actors get a lot of freedom; there's a lot of silliness. The playwright [ T. Gregory Argail] has been coming to the rehearsals. He helps with the music. It's fun to work with him because he thinks it's my show.

“He loves to watch his creation come to life in ways he never thought of. Later, the audience can meet him and ask him questions.” 

Encouraging audiences to an evening that will keep them laughing, her comments, “It's a very relevant comedy. A lot of comedies are written in the ‘60's or earlier. So, a lot of people with cutting humour will really enjoy this. There's a lot of different, sarcastic humour. It just becomes really funny.”

Having heard that the dinner shows are sold out, we called the Dolce Rustic Italian Eatery in the little mall next to the theatre. They assured us that the restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00 am to 9:00 pm. So, theatre patrons could enjoy a meal there if they wish. Probably, reservations would advisable at 519-927-1919.