Summer's ending soon and perhaps you're looking for a last fling before fall.
Then you may want to drop by Many Hats Theatre Company in Penticton's Cannery Trade Centre. Starting Friday, Sept 5 and running every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to the end of the month, they might just have the cure for what ails you.
In "Sinners," the very first play ever released by famed Canadian playwright Norm Foster, the multiple chapeaus present a September filled with lascivious desires, naughty behavior and plot twists.
And laughs. Lots of laughs.
Sinners, says first-time Many Hats director Dawn Bassett, just fresh off a co-starring role in the company's most recent production, the summery "Love…Or Best Offer," is a lighthearted romp that revolves around "shenanigans."
"There's a lot of physical comedy," she said during a mid-August rehearsal. "Slapstick. Over the top humour. Misunderstandings. And shenanigans…marital shenanigans.
"But it's hard to tell you what's going on in the play and what the characters are doing without giving it all away."
We begged Bassett for a wee bit more, and she reciprocated. But only barely.
"I'd call it a farce," she said. "It’s very funny. It’s about flawed people behaving badly but in a very funny way."
The Many Hats crew is no stranger to Norm Foster productions. But this one, advised Bassett, is a wee bit different than the typical Foster fodder.
"It was his first play," she said, "and as I was reading about it, they said it wasn't performed as often as some of the others, maybe because it’s the oldest.
"And also, Foster usually writes likeable characters that are easy to empathize with. But this is pure farce. You’re not really meant to empathize with them. You’re just supposed to laugh."
According to Bassett, Sinners is a directorial paradise.
"It's written pretty funny," she said. "It kind of directs itself. Foster has a clear vision about what he wants his characters doing physically, and it’s all written into the script."
There's one other clear distinction in the production. The stage is split between two rooms – a living room on the left and a bedroom on the right.
"There's stuff happening in the bedroom that people in the living room aren’t supposed to know about," explained Bassett with a laugh.
Though Sinners is her first time in the Many Hats director's chair, it's just the latest development in a long line of theatrical achievements for Bassett.
"This is my third show with Many Hats," she said. "I've been here about a year. And I love it. I've been wanting to be on stage for quite awhile so now I've gotten to do that again in a couple of plays.
"But directing is my favourite thing."
Bassett, a librarian by trade, admits she's been a "theatre nerd" most of her life.
"I'm actually a theatre nerd from high school," she laughed. "Then I went to Studio 58 (a theatre training school at Vancouver's Langara College) for a bit of acting and some tech. I have a diploma in stage management.
"And then I went to SFU School of Contemporary Arts for a couple years."
And then, a two-decade break.
"I took a 20-year-hiatus to have a child and a family," she smiled, adding that it "worked out well."
Next it was a move from the lower mainland to Summerland in 2015, where Bassett quickly realized how much she missed all that acting and directing stuff.
"I'd come to see Many Hats shows but I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know how to get involved," she said.
"But then I became a member of the Summerland Singers and Players. And I directed some pretty popular murder mysteries on the Kettle Valley Steam Train for a few summers."
Bassett's comeback escalated when she grabbed the role of Dr. Scott in a post-COVID take of Rocky Horror Picture Show with Penticton's Cat's Paw Productions.
"And from that point, I really haven’t stopped," she said.
Playing the sinners in Sinners is a collection of actors ranging from veterans to Many Hats newcomers.
First on stage is Katie Welsh in her MH debut as Monica Lloyd, a married woman who enjoys the company of men other than her husband – a husband who also happens to be the local reverend.
Gasp!
Soon Monica welcomes her latest flame, Peter Kramer (Neil Ritcey), to her family home and potentially to her marital boudoir.
Peter's so nervous he can barely walk, Monica's so wrapped up in her extracurricular desires that she doesn’t care, and what's the story on the reverend (played by Jim Minshull), anyway?
The strong cast also features Kim Palmer, Diana Campano and John Erridge -- the latter in another Many Hats debut.
Sinners opens Friday, Sept 5 at the Cannery Stage, 1475 Fairview Road, Penticton and runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through to Sept 28. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 7:30 PM, and Sunday matinees start at 2.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $33 for seniors and students. For more info on show times and everything else, head to the Many Hats Theatre Co. website here.
