The talented folks at the Cow Patti Theatre Company are gearing up for more onstage hilarity with the western Canadian premiere of Norm Foster’s hit Doris and Ivy in the Home.
Performances, which include evening dinner theatres and matinee brunches, run from March 9 through to April 2 at the Tin Roof Event Centre.
Retired prison guard Doris Mooney has just moved into Paradise Village retirement home in Canmore.
She quickly befriends Ivy Hofbauer, a former champion skier whose taken aback by Doris’s cheerful brashness. Rounding out the trio is dapper Arthur Beech who has designs on Ivy.
Love, gossip, and shenanigans behind the compost heap result in Foster at his hilarious best, according to a synopsis.
”I think what sticks out to me more than anything about this show is that Norm has written a play about Alberta,” explained Artistic Director AnnaMarie Lea.
“He’s taken three characters and placed their lives here - Doris who has lived her whole life in Alberta and has recently retired after a career as a prison guard in Drumheller.
“And then you’ve got a very educated man who spent his career as a professor at the University of Calgary. And then you have Ivy, who as many have, has come to this beautiful province but was born in Austria. She needed a new beginning and decided to move to Canada, and wanted to live near the mountains because they reminded her of home,” she said.
And so on this particular day, these three characters meet each other in a retirement home.
“I think what is beautiful about this piece, is that this becomes a home for all of them,” said Lea. “So it’s a story of how these three people come together and though they have retired from their jobs, they are still very much people who want to be excited about their future, and they want to take chances,” she explained. “Through meeting each other, they definitely encourage each other to move forward.”
As the plot unfolds, there are loads of hilarious moments, but there is also conflict and moments of poignancy woven in as well.
“Norm is brilliant at taking ‘real’ people and putting them in ‘real’ situations and being really honest. And within that honesty, it allows for some really off-the-wall humor, and some relatable humour,” she said, adding that Foster’s knack for creating accessible and relatable stories in outstanding.
“Whether people are 30 or 60, they can look at this show and these people and see a bit of themselves. And even for the younger generation, they reflect on what life will be like when they are older, too - so it’s definitely a show for all ages,” she said.
“It’s a show that questions, what am I willing to do or to risk just to continue to feel alive. I think the characters are drawn to this place because they want to be in a space where they are around other people. Where they can feel at home. It kind of all comes together in this lovely, little story.”
Ultimately, Lea wants folks to leave each performance with a skip in their step.
“We are here to entertain. But within that entertaining, it’s okay to have thought-provoking moments,” she said, adding that the cast features Wally McKinnon, Deb Collins, and Terri Cheriack with stage management duties being covered by Eric Finlayson,
For more about the season or to purchase tickets, visit www.cowpatti.com.