Celebrity by Peter Quilter
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“Celebrity” spins around a showbusiness family and their thirst for fame. The father, Alan Coogan, is a faded game show presenter. His wife Helen, a retired folk singer. His son, Jamie, a rising young movie star. And the latest addition to the household is George, a documentary film maker, always present in the house to record every incident of their lives for television.
But the family will soon discover that George has dark secrets and he is not at all what he seems to be...
Directed by Mary Vuorela
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Cast members – in order of appearance
Andrew Johnston - George
Shayne Devouges - Jaime
Don Anderson - Alan
Jennifer Morehouse - Helen
Jay Thomas - Dusty
Mary Vuorela - Director
Mary was there on the first day that Village Theatre began in this old train station and worked as assistant to the artistic director for several years, then moved on to become Production Manager for Hudson Productions. Previous directing credits include “Campbell’s Sutra” by Rick Blue, “Queen Milli of Galt” by Gary Kirkham, “A Few Grimm Tales” with 3 Blind Mice, “The Graduate” by Terry Johnson and too many Christmas Pantomimes, but she couldn’t do any of it without the endless love and support from Marc.
Andrew Johnston - George
Andrew is not only a very seasoned and talented actor he is also in his seventh season as Artistic Director of Hudson Village Theatre. He has appeared on this stage in Sexy Laundry, Apple, Looking, Four Strong Winds, Having Hope at Home and Old Love. He has performed over 300 roles for film and television, most recently in the series Durham County and the soon to be released feature film Upside Down. Andrew is very pleased to be working on this side of the stage in Celebrity especially with such a talented cast and crew.
Shayne Devouges - Jaime
Shayne graduated from Dawson's Dome Theatre in 2008. Upon graduating, Shayne was cast to play Luke in the off Broadway musical, Canadian bilingual premiere “The Altar Boyz/Les Enfants Choeur”. Over the last 2 years he has performed in over a dozen shows in and around Montreal. Celebrity is Shayne's first show for Hudson Village Theatre and is very excited to be performing with a wonderful cast and crew. Many thanks go out to Mary for the opportunity, friends and family for endless support and Sarah... just for being her. Enjoy the Show!!!
Don Anderson - Alan
Don has been acting on stage and screen for the past twenty years. Don learned movement, voice, scene study and acting technique through private instruction and workshops since the age of 14. Throughout his career, Don has developed and maintained his joy of performing and especially the experience that live theatre provides. Having last performed at The Hudson Village Theatre earlier this year in “The Graduate”, Don is thrilled to be working again with Mary Vuorela and the amazing cast and crew assembled for “Celebrity”. Don won the Montreal English Language Critics Circle Award fro best actor in 2006 and was a significant collaborator and principal actor with Gravy Bath Productions for 5 years. Recently Don has been focusing on various other forms of creative expression including video, writing and photography. Live theatre is an art form that needs you, the audience, to bring it to life. Thank you
Jennifer Morehouse - Helen
Jennifer is very pleased to have been invited to play (and sing!) with the Village Theatre community this summer. She has worked extensively in theatres in Montreal and across Canada, including The Centaur Theatre, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Projet Porte Parole, The National Arts Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, Théâtre Omnibus, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, The Stratford Festival of Canada, and Theatre Calgary. She has garnered seven best performance nominations, including The Goat and Plan B (Alberta Theatre Projects -- Calgary), Shakespeare Unplugged (Repercussion Theatre - Montreal), and Easy Lenny Lasmon and the Great Western Ascension (Go Chicken Go, aka Crow’s Theatre – Toronto). Jennifer also works extensively in television, film, and radio, most recently in the TV series Durham County, and she is currently collaborating with Amir Rizk and Ali Hassan on a pilot production for CBC Radio One. In her free time she is doing a Master’s degree at McGill University in Library and Archival Studies. This one goes to her parents, for the wonderful things they’ve handed down.
Jay Thomas - Dusty
Jay is very excited to be working at Hudson Village Theatre for the first time as this will be Jay’s first foray into professional theatre in Quebec after moving from London, England 2 years ago. Jay graduated in 2002 and has since worked in various British T.V. shows, most notably Hollyoaks. After securing a place with a traveling theatre company Forkbeard Fantasy, Jay performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as part of their Complete Works Festival. After the summer Jay is looking forward to playing Scrooge in a Jeunesses Musicales du Canada production of Le Conte de Noel.
Stage Manager: Evan Harkai
Lighting: Peter Vatsis
Set design: Peter Vatsis
Costume design: Melanie Michaud
Video Creator: Jeremy Thibedeau
Audio Recordings: Chris Gobeil
Set Construction: TBA
Length of production: 2 Hours
Intermission: 1 Fifteen Minute
Special Thanks to Christine McCaffrey, Dave Fisher, Steve Eastman and especially Marc Roy
From the Author:
To Andrew, Mary, Don, Shayne, Jennifer, Jay
and the creative team and crew of CELEBRITY
This is a short message from the writer Peter Quilter
to send you all of my best wishes for the opening performances of "Celebrity".
This is the North American Premiere of this play and so your show means a great deal to me.
I am thrilled that such a talented cast and crew has been put together for this production
and I hope that you will all greatly enjoy the experience.
Thank you for your hard work and energy -
and remember that as future productions of the show pop up around Canada and the USA,
you will always be able to say "ah yes - but we did it first!"
Have a great show
all my best wishes
Peter Quilter
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What the critics had to say about CELEBRITY
“ it deserves better than the mangling it’s getting in Hudson ”
Pat Donnelly – Montreal Gazette
“The best performance I’ve ever seen”
Mrs. Johnston – Andrew’s Mom
“Superb… in every detail!”
Bob Johnston – Andrew’s Brother
“By far your best performance”
Uncle Steve from BC – Andrew’s Uncle
Three out of four critics agree,
Celebrity is a hit!
