On December 15th we took our final bow with our production of The Great Kooshog Lake Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby by Norm Foster.
It was our most attended show in our 24-year history and had the longest run - 40 Shows in 5 weeks.
Again, we were astounded by the amount of new people out to Cow Patti from every corner of Alberta and was thrilled at the response we received from them. We saw over 150 Christmas Party Gatherings and our Senior Brunch Matinees tripled in audience, not to mention the continued support of our long time regular patrons, many who have been attending Cow Patti shows since 1997.
Our Benefit Performance Program, as well, was a huge success. Over 800 patrons came out to support our Benefit Shows which included: Make a Move with Jagger Foundation, Kasota East Camp, Bentley Library, The Lending Cupboard, Friends of Eckville Library, The Sawyer Kiist Passion for Life Bursary and Rocky Pioneer Center.
Combining, Plop Drop Revenue, Silent Auctions and money donated back off tickets – we raised over$25,000.00 for these well deserving non-profit groups. It truly is an honor and a privilege to use the tool of Professional Theatre to enhance the lives of many through our Benefit Program.
So, what’s next? Opening March 12 and running through till April 5, 2020 A new Norm Foster play called Lunenburg.
Lunenburg is one of Norm Foster’s newest plays and made its debut in 2017 at the Foster Festival in St. Catherine’s, ON. Like many of his shows, Lunenburg continues the Foster tradition of taking stories that are recognizable as our own, but turning them on their head to expose a different angle of the familiar.
Foster is noted for the naturalness of his dialogue, and his ability to write as real people actually think and talk. That is part of the comic charm of a Foster play. And, like all good playwrights, Foster has things to say about life. He uses his wonderful sense of humor to do this. The kind of laughs you get with one of his plays are stronger because there is always something deeper there. In every scene, Norm’s great sense of humor comes through, and his great sense of storytelling keeps an audience hanging on every word and are truly fascinated.
Lunenburg has a little love, a little mystery and a whole lot of Maritime humor.
American widow, Iris Oulette and her good friend Natalie travel up to the coastal village of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to a house she’s inherited from her recently deceased husband. The only problem is Iris didn’t know anything about her Canadian abode. As next-door neighbor, handy man Charlie brings the gals up to speed, be prepared to laugh and gasp at the twists and turns in this newest Maritime Comedy. A fall down, funny romantic adventure that will envelope you in its warmth.
Lunenburg will be directed by Donnie Bowes who also directed The Great Kooshog Lake Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby for Cow Patti this season and will star Artistic Producing Director of Cow Patti, AnnaMarie Lea. She was last seen in Norm Foster play as Rhonda in The Great Kooshog Lake Hollis McCauley Fishing Derby and Janine in last season’s Foster hit - Halfway There. In Seasons past, AnnaMarie also was in Norm’s: The Ladies Foursome and The Long Weekend.
Lunenburg will also star Debra Hale who has been at Cow Patti many times, with Norms shows she has been in The Ladies Foursome and Here on the Flight Path. Rounding out the cast is Jamie Williams who recently was in The World Premiere of Norms latest work, The Writer and this will be his first Foster on the Cow Patti stage.
Lunenburg has 30 shows to choose from which includes; Senior Brunches, Wing Wednesdays, Taco Thursdays, Weekend Prime Rib, Sunday Brunches and St. Paddy’s Fare. Also our 5 Benefit Shows for some very worthy nonprofit groups: Thursday March 12: Aspire Special Needs, Saturday March 21: Kasota East Camp, Saturday March 21 : Lacombe Performing Arts Centre, Saturday March 28: Grama Link Africa and Saturday April 4: St. Lukes Anglican Church.
-Submitted by the Cow Patti Theatre Company