for premieres this week
MACLEOD GAZETTE EDITOR
The premieres of the Empress Theatre’s two new summer theatre productions take place this week to kick off the 2008 season. “Midnight,” a play written by Jeremy Mason based on the Fort Macleod bronc, will be performed most Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through July and August.
The second production is “Ghost Light,” a play written by Robert Clinton specifically for the Empress Theatre, will be performed Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m.
Lindsey Zess-Funk directs “Midnight” and is excited to bring a story about the legendary bronc from Fort Macleod to the stage in his home town. “Midnight was the crown bucking horse in all of Canada,” said Zess-Funk, who is in her second season with the Empress Theatre summer collective. Foaled on the Cottonwood Ranch near Fort Macleod in 1914, Midnight grew to 15 1/2 hands and 1,300 pounds and became a rodeo legend. Mason based “Midnight” on several of the legends that surround the horse, which died in 1936.
“It’s quite an emotional story, a really vibrant story,” said Zess-Funk, whose directorial credits include “Never the Sinner” and “Woman by a Window” for the University of Lethbridge TheatreXtra seasons. The writer, director and cast worked hard to put together a play that will earn the respect of Fort Macleod residents.
“We were sensitive to how the legend is special to people in the area,” Zess-Funk said. “It’s special to us, too.”
The story starts with the lead character Jim arriving home at the Cottonwood Ranch from the war to find out things have changed. For one thing, the woman he loves has a new boyfriend.
“His horse becomes his new confidant,” Zess-Funk said.The story follows the relationship between man and horse, and the impact Midnight’s growing fame has on the two.
Although a horse once performed on the stage of the Empress Theatre during the days of Vaudeville, the cast had no interest in trying to involve a real horse in “Midnight.”
“The biggest challenge was trying to find a way to represent Midnight,” Zess-Funk said. “We’ve come up with some interesting ways to show Midnight.” Ghost Light “Ghost Light” was written by Robert Clinton for Great West Theatre when it was staging summer theatre in the 1990s at the Empress.
The plays tells the story of two ghost hunters who attempt to determine whether the Empress Theatre is really haunted.
“It really is distinct for this theatre, and the kind of magic that is the Empress Theatre,” director Jeremy Mason said.Set in the present and in 1938, the action takes place on the theatre’s stage, as well as the lobby and in the balcony.
“The cool thing about it was it had a lot of interesting challenges,” Mason said. “It uses the whole Empress as the stage.” One of the ghost hunters takes a very analytical approach to the hunt, while the other brings passion to the quest.“ There is a little bit of love tension between them,” Mason said. Mason said “Ghost Light” will have strong appeal for both visitors and Fort Macleod residents.
“There is this sense of romance and magic that the theatre has that I think people forget,” Mason said. Mason said the story is based on the writer’s own perception of ghosts and spirits.
“It brings us full circle,” Mason explained. “It doesn’t say that ghosts are really haunting the theatre. It does say that the spirit of people still live in the theatre.”
That’s a philosophy which Mason can embrace.“ There is so much passion put out in the building,” Mason said of the energy both performers and the audience brings to shows at the Empress. “It’s hard not to believe something is sticking around.”
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