and i masturbate in it.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7 to July 23, 2005
MEDIA CONTACT: G. SPELLISCY (780) 989-5585
“Do you get satisfaction from seeing people suffer? Knowing that you have played a part in their suffocation?” -- Harvey, THE ORCHARD DRIVE
The Kelowna Premiere of
THE ORCHARD DRIVE
Written and Directed by Christopher Grignard
SIX SHOWS ONLY in Kelowna (July 19th - 23rd, 2005)
On June 20th, 2002 Christopher Grignard returned to Kelowna - his hometown - from Montreal to stage a dramatic reading of his controversial first full-length play, THE ORCHARD DRIVE, a work set in Kelowna, for the Okanagan Lesbian and Gay Week events. “The audience laughed often and loudly, suggesting Grignard’s observations about the difficulties of being gay in the Okanagan were right on the mark, sometimes painfully so,” writes Ron Seymour for The Okanagan Sunday (June 23rd A4), who was part of the large crowd that came out to support the event.
Three years later, Grignard-now a 4th Year University of Alberta PhD candidate-returns home once again. This time he brings with him a full-production of his play.
Joining him is another who calls Kelowna his hometown, Garett Spelliscy. Spelliscy, a recent graduate of Kelowna Secondary School, is a current student at the U of A. He was recently accepted into the U of A’s BFA Conservatory Theatre Program. Spelliscy, who plays Harvey, joins three other young U of A actors to present the play to two different cities over two weeks: Nick Green (Bernard), William Mitchell (Boucherie), and Scott Shpeley (Gordon). Grignard’s creative team immediately transports the play from its Edmonton’s World Premiere to Kelowna for a SIX SHOW run in Kelowna Community Theatre’s Rehearsal Hall Space.
The play is historically rooted in real 1997 events, when Kelowna City Mayor Walter Gray refused to pass the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride proclamation. Soon after, court action was taken. Gray became BC’s first mayor to be found guilty of discrimination in connection with a pride proclamation by the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
Identities intersect and crash with one another in a play that dramatizes how these young lives have been affected by community, family, landscape, friendship, theatre, and sexuality (to name a few).
Kelowna production is co-produced by KSS Night Owl Theatre.
Tickets: $10 / Absolutely no latecomers! A pay-what-you-can Saturday (23rd) matinee
WARNING: Strong Sexual Content - For Mature Audiences Only.
THE ORCHARD DRIVE was a recipient of a $5000 Leslie Nielsen Dramatic Arts Scholarship and a finalist in Theatre BC’s 2002 (14th Annual) National Playwriting Competition
MEDIA CONTACT: G. SPELLISCY (780) 989-5585
“Do you get satisfaction from seeing people suffer? Knowing that you have played a part in their suffocation?” -- Harvey, THE ORCHARD DRIVE
The Kelowna Premiere of
THE ORCHARD DRIVE
Written and Directed by Christopher Grignard
SIX SHOWS ONLY in Kelowna (July 19th - 23rd, 2005)
On June 20th, 2002 Christopher Grignard returned to Kelowna - his hometown - from Montreal to stage a dramatic reading of his controversial first full-length play, THE ORCHARD DRIVE, a work set in Kelowna, for the Okanagan Lesbian and Gay Week events. “The audience laughed often and loudly, suggesting Grignard’s observations about the difficulties of being gay in the Okanagan were right on the mark, sometimes painfully so,” writes Ron Seymour for The Okanagan Sunday (June 23rd A4), who was part of the large crowd that came out to support the event.
Three years later, Grignard-now a 4th Year University of Alberta PhD candidate-returns home once again. This time he brings with him a full-production of his play.
Joining him is another who calls Kelowna his hometown, Garett Spelliscy. Spelliscy, a recent graduate of Kelowna Secondary School, is a current student at the U of A. He was recently accepted into the U of A’s BFA Conservatory Theatre Program. Spelliscy, who plays Harvey, joins three other young U of A actors to present the play to two different cities over two weeks: Nick Green (Bernard), William Mitchell (Boucherie), and Scott Shpeley (Gordon). Grignard’s creative team immediately transports the play from its Edmonton’s World Premiere to Kelowna for a SIX SHOW run in Kelowna Community Theatre’s Rehearsal Hall Space.
The play is historically rooted in real 1997 events, when Kelowna City Mayor Walter Gray refused to pass the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride proclamation. Soon after, court action was taken. Gray became BC’s first mayor to be found guilty of discrimination in connection with a pride proclamation by the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
Identities intersect and crash with one another in a play that dramatizes how these young lives have been affected by community, family, landscape, friendship, theatre, and sexuality (to name a few).
Kelowna production is co-produced by KSS Night Owl Theatre.
Tickets: $10 / Absolutely no latecomers! A pay-what-you-can Saturday (23rd) matinee
WARNING: Strong Sexual Content - For Mature Audiences Only.
THE ORCHARD DRIVE was a recipient of a $5000 Leslie Nielsen Dramatic Arts Scholarship and a finalist in Theatre BC’s 2002 (14th Annual) National Playwriting Competition