‘Coming out’ story Mambo Italiano to be staged in Medicine Hat

Mambo Italiano’s director, Travis Boser, has strong emotional ties to it.

“I first watched this movie, I think I was about 11 or 12 in the middle of the night in my parents basement with the volume turned on very low so no one would know I was watching it,” Boser said.

“Growing up queer in the prairies myself [I didn’t have] a lot of role models or a lot of visibility in TV and movies and things like that.”

Neither of the two actors playing the leads are queer, so they leaned heavily on Boser while trying to understand their characters better.

“It’s pretty heavy and it gets really deep and like a lot of emotions come out,” said Bretton Labash, who plays Nino.

“It’s tough not to like start tearing up on stage even.”

Deborah Deans plays Nino’s mother, who strongly opposes her son coming out.

As a mother in real life, playing this character has been difficult for Deans, having different morals.

However, Deans believes it’s important to show people how that experience can affect a person.

“I think it’s really a show that I think can open people’s eyes to accepting people for who they are and loving people for who they are,” explained Deans.

Boser believes the play will reach a wide variety of audiences, but also hopes that it resonates with the queer community, like it did when he was a kid.

“I hope that queer folks themselves can come to the show and see some of that representation and some of that comfort and validity in their own story,” Boser said.

Mambo Italiano runs from May 2 to May 11.

Tickets for the show can be found on the Medicine Hat Musical Theatre website.

by Lisa Parent

‘Coming out’ story Mambo Italiano to be staged in Medicine Hat

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