Medicine Hat local playwright is eager to take the stage for "A Seat at the Table". (Adrian St.Onge/CHAT News)

By Adrian St.Onge

Medicine Hat theatre troupe is eager to take the stage

May 21, 2024 | 12:06 PM

Another light-hearted play is taking stage towards the end of this month. “A Seat at the Table” is a play highlighting the differences, but also the similarities between a troubled teen and an widow well into her golden years.

Tracey Avery plays Winifred, a widow known to be a curmudgeon and short-tempered. Avery said that she’s acting in only her fourth play and that she started acting when she turned forty. Her advice for aspiring actors and actresses: just start.

“Just do it because there is so many different people involved in the whole the different acting productions whether it’s behind the scenes, acting on stage, producing, directing whatever it is,” Avery said.

“Anybody can do this regardless of your skill level because every type of person is needed in these type of productions,” she said.

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The play is the 23rd effort of local playwright Debi Stodolka.

Stodolka, who’s been writing and directing plays since 1991, said she’s not surprised by the talent level Medicine Hat.

“It doesn’t shock me at all. I’ve worked, in my opinion, with some of the best. I have a club of about 25 [actors and actresses] to choose from and it’s just getting added to all the time.” Stodolka said.

“Honestly, I am rarely surprised by the talent and how it comes out because I think there’s a little bit of dramatic in everybody and I think, as a director, that’s the joy of being a director is to bring something out of someone that they didn’t even know they had,” she said.

Donna Serr plays the ditzy but kind Flora. Serr echoes the sentiment.

“We really are blessed to have so much local talent and local theater. To be a part of that is just, when you have a love for certain things, and I love theater and I love to be part of it, it’s really fun. It’s just fun,” Serr said.

Avery believes the community needs to embrace the arts with open arms.

“You know, we have to be a community and if you aren’t part of the community, what are you,” Avery said.

“That includes acting, it includes music that comes out, the different bands, all the different arts that are out there, the art at the Esplanade, Medalta, everything. We all have to be part of it and support each other,” she said.

Stodolka said that remaining proceeds from ticket sales will be going to Eagles Nest Ranch, a children’s Christian camp inside the Cypress Hills. A donation to the Mustard Seed is also planned for letting the troupe use the space to rehearse.