It was a night of laughter and fundraising with the Wawota Acting Company performing on Sunday, April 24. The 10th anniversary of the Wawota Acting Company was well attended and for a good cause, as the silver collection at the door is a fundraiser for World Vision.
The evening began with a short skit titled, “New Look Beauty Salon,” which sees the salon owners played by Taylene Bourgon and Briana DeRoo were quite funny especially when realizing things weren’t going as planned with the old lady’s hair. The old lady was played by Hannah Pilloud who was very convincing in her part, happy to have a new hairdo even though she left the salon not knowing what she looked like with the salon owners “accidentally” stepping on her glasses to avoid the old lady realizing they turned her hair green!
A teen, played by Madison Wilson, then walks into the shop looking to have her bangs trimmed to get them out of her eyes… although the only thing the salon owners seem to see are the teen’s very bushy eyebrows.
The next performance titled, “Miss Louisa and the Outlaws” brought a lot of laughs to the audience who enjoyed a strict school teacher keeping two outlaws in line after bursting into her classroom.
Miss Louisa was played by Lauren Wilson, who graduates this year, but has been involved with the Wawota Acting Company for the past seven years. She was joined on-stage by Briana DeRoo who played Oliver, Madison Wilson who played William, Sierra Murray as Annabelle, Makaila Mansfield as Clara, Kye-lynn VanMeer as Regina, Hannah Pilloud as Margaret, Kelton Ford as Benny, Zennon Rohatyn as Dead-Eye Dan, and Faith Heinrichs as the Sheriff.
As Miss Louisa teaches her pupils about being brave and courageous through a lesson on Paul Revere two boisterous outlaws burst into the schoolhouse planning to wait for a train which they would stowaway on inside the school. They weren’t ready for Miss Louisa, however, who soon as them wiping their muddy feet at the door, participating in a spelling bee, and missing their train as the Sheriff appears. Outsmarting the outlaws Miss Louisa signalled the Sheriff by removing the school flag, saying it was because there were cumulus clouds forming in the west which would bring rain, but unless it’s raining the flag never comes down.
The laughter continued as the Wawota Acting Company performed “Channel Changers.” The play has the channel changer (Faith Heinrichs) unable to settle on a specific channel, which creates a funny radio transitions as she clicks through channels with the story lady (Taylene Bourgon) reading her favourite story “Little Red Riding Hood,” a boy scout “Kelton Ford” talking about the Boy Scouts of America, a football announcer (Zennon Rohatyn) in announcing live, a story teller (Reed VanDresar) spinning a tale about gangsters, and a recipe guru (Lauren Wilson) explaining a variety of recipes to listeners.
The final performance of the evening was titled “Dental Dilemma,” which involved six of the original cast from five years ago when it was first performed. The audience laughed through the performance and again when the video from five years ago, when the performers were mostly in grade six was shown.
Reed VanDresar performed the part of Dr. Paine, the dentist. Melanie Mason, his administrative assistant, was performed by Skylar DeRoo. Mr. Frost was played by Parker Weatherald, while the elderly Miss Amos was performed by Marissa Charles who hilariously entered. As she walked she forced her walker out as far as she could reach, then slowly shuffled back into a standing position before continuing the process. Mrs. Worth who had a dental emergency was played by Taylene Bourgon, Miss Childs who hates going to the dentist was played by Lauren Wilson, Horace a plumber was played by Taylor Pilloud, and Hetty a plumbing apprentice was performed by Makaila Mansfield.
Each performance brought laughter and enjoyment to the crowd, who especially enjoyed watching the two “Dental Dilemma” performances.
Last year the group raised $1,620 for World Vision and they are hoping to have done as well or better this year.
