The Moose Jaw Community Players have a plan to return to their pre-pandemic production schedule of two plays a year and are starting with an original work depicting the pivotal events of Moose Jaw’s history.
Director Debbie Burgher said that what the Community Players really need going into the new year are some fresh faces with interest in theatre.
“We’re always, always looking for people to be involved in all aspects,” she said. “And this is a large play! I would like to see, you know, 25 to 30 people involved in this show. It would be wonderful if we could have a large cast.”
The Moose Jaw Community Players (MJCP) want to hold the play at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre (MJCC), on the Mae Wilson stage.
They are having an open house at the MJCC on Saturday, Dec. 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. Any community member with questions should stop by to chat.
“We need an infusion of enthusiastic, community-minded people who want to help us do something fun and creative and awesome,” said Crystal Milburn, MJCP president. “We’re going to have some stations set up with our members who have taken the lead on doing certain roles, like directing and stage managing and the technical stuff, sound and lights.
“People will be able to wander around and see what it takes to put together a show.”
The open house is a great opportunity for the curious. For those who are interested but can’t make it to the open house, the best place for MJCP info is their Facebook page.
Notoriously Moose Jaw will come to the stage after several years of development. Burgher was pleased to report that the script itself is nearly complete.
“I would say the skeleton is done, and most of the meat is on the bones,” she laughed. “Not quite all the way there, but close.”
Burgher noted that the play has been written collaboratively. MCJP member Tara Gish, who died in 2021, was part of the original writing group, and Joan Stumborg is also heavily involved.
“I’m not working on this alone, that’s for sure. Joan Stumborg is quite the catalyst and quite the talented writer. She’s written a goodly portion of this play.”
In addition, a Theatre Saskatchewan program enabled the MJCP to bring in dramaturge Gordon Portman to provide feedback.
“Through Theatre Saskatchewan, they had a program that allowed playwrights to access (Portman). And he read our play, and then we met via Zoom. … And then the last time, Theatre Saskatchewan arranged to have some readers, and we did an around-the-table read so we could hear it out loud, which makes a huge difference.”
Notoriously Moose Jaw is a series of vignettes covering events such as the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic, the 1954 deaths of 37 people resulting from the collision of two planes in the skies above Moose Jaw, and the disastrous flood of 1974.
“We’ve presented them in all different styles of theatre,” Burgher said. “You have your regular scenes, with dialogue. Then we have musical numbers, we have story theatre, we have reader’s theatre in there, just different ways of storytelling.”
While it is impossible to stick to the facts with complete faithfulness — nobody was jotting down every word on a napkin during the events, Burgher pointed out — the play will preserve the historical details.
Milburn said that if everything works out as planned, Notoriously Moose Jaw will have two showings at the Mae Wilson in the first week of May.
“We’re excited to get back out there and make art again.”
