A cooking show featuring two rivals and many plot twists, plus surprise celebrity judges - these and more will be part of the upcoming dinner theatre production for the Weyburn Agricultural Society by Crocus 80 Theatre, a two-act comedy entitled, "Kitchen Witches".
Set for evening dinner theatre performances from Thursday, Mar. 22 to Saturday, Mar. 24, along with a dessert theatre on Sunday, Mar. 25, all at the Weyburn Legion Hall, the play features a main cast of four, and is directed by Connie Nightingale.
The two main combatants are competing TV cooks; Dolly Biddle, or "Babcha", is portrayed by Rae Keefe, while Isobel Lomax, or "Busy Izzy", is played by Sabrina Kraft.
Supporting roles are provided by Logan White as Stephen, the show producer, and William Ley as Rob the cameraman, along with surprise appearances as the studio audience and as celebrity judges.
A veteran of Ag Society plays, Keefe is looking forward to portraying "Babcha", who specializes in Ukrainian food in her TV show "Cooking with Babcha" - which gets cancelled in the first half of the play.
"This character I get to play, I get to do great accents and I have lots of fun with that. I hope it's accepted in the spirit of fun as it's intended," she said.
"Every once in a while I get a real good character, while others are just someone I portray and say lines for; this one is a real character that I can play, and she's just hilarious," said Keefe.
She began acting for Ag Society plays in 2004, the year after she retired from teaching, and has been in a play every year except one where she worked behind the scenes, and last year when the Ag Society cancelled the play as it got underway too late.
"We get a really good response from the people in Weyburn," she said of the plays. Of Crocus 80, which she recently joined as a board member, she noted they weren't active for a few years.
"We had people saying our community needs theatre. As the Ag Society, we did plays that we had fun with, but we could never tackle anything serious."
She said she was happy to see Crocus 80 revive and that they are working as partners with the Ag Society to bring back their fundraising dinner theatre event which had to be postponed last year.
"I think we need it, particularly when two organizations can work together," said Keefe.
Her co-star is Sabrina Kraft, who talked about the character she's playing.
"Isobel is definitely a challenge for me to portray, as the character is a high-class woman who has refined tastes, and has explored the world. But I am enjoying my time on stage, and exploring a different side of myself," she said, going on to note she is highly enjoying working with her co-star.
"Working with Rae is such a pleasure, it is nice to have someone fun on stage to work with, especially as she and I get into a couple of 'tiffs'. I feel comfortable pushing her around on stage during the food scenes, especially since I know she will push back. She is also the perfect Dolly, and I am glad we have someone from the Agricultural Society working with the Crocus 80 cast for their play," said Kraft.
She added that a pleasant surprise for everyone on the play is the fresh new talent in Logan White.
"Working with Logan has also been very interesting. For such a young man, he has such power in his voice that he will definitely carry himself on stage. As Stephen, he acts as the referee to Dolly and Izzy, and he is definitely projecting his voice in those moments that we need to stop fighting and look to him," she said.
Kraft added that she has had some past experience in acting, and is enjoying getting back into it again as a member of Crocus 80 Theatre.
"My acting history goes back to acting in plays for the Weyburn Comprehensive, and of course I was involved with Crocus 80's most recent play 'Happy Birthday Dear Grandpa'.
Playing Isobel is my first major character, and I am excited for the challenge. There are a lot of lines to learn, but we are off script now and working hard to give an excellent performance for all those who buy tickets."
As the relative newcomer to the stage, White noted his character Stephen is in his 30s, "and he's graying because of the stress trying to get these two ladies to cooperate."
Asked how the experience has been for him so far, White said, "I'm enjoying it. I like seeing (the two ladies) arguing, and I have to get in there and separate them."
Play director Nightingale has enjoyed the process of putting the play together and seeing the progress the actors are making in their respective roles.
"The actors cast portray their parts so well, and it has been such a pleasure working with them all," she said.
"The actors ages range from 14 to a few years older than that. The young men Logan and William, that have joined the Crocus 80 family with this production, their talent just blows me away. There are so many other things that these two young men could be doing night after night, and yet they have chosen to dedicate their time to this production. And as the audience will see, their dedication has truly complimented the play in ways that I could only begin to brag about."
Nightingale has directed plays before, but this will be her first full-length comedy, and is looking forward to the performances coming up.
"Because the cast is so great, and have been so good at taking direction, I have enjoyed every minute of my involvement with this production. With every practice the production just gets better and better, funnier and funnier. It is so fun to watch each actor come out of their shell, step out of their comfort zone and embrace the humility of the play," she said.
Tickets for "Kitchen Witches" are available from the Ag Society office, and are only available in advance; tickets will not be available at the door.
The dinner theatre evenings will start with cocktails at 6 with supper at 6:30, followed by the performance. On the Sunday date, there will be dessert theatre held, and it will start at 2 p.m.
