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Riverbend Theatre brings Central Albertan perspectives to the stage

By Lana Michelin

There’s a new name in theatre in Red Deer.

The Riverbend Theatre Company has sprung from what was formerly Red Deer Players. The re-named company has new goals and a new mission to go along with a new moniker.

Local storytelling will be taken to the next level when Riverbend Theatre launches full stage productions of original scripts, says artistic director Lacey Oleson-Rinehart

Red Deer Players, which formed in 2014, has been workshopping new plays and holding staged readings. While Riverbend Theatre will continue doing this under its Breaking Cover series, it will also take scripts a step further and give original new plays the full treatment, with costumes, sets, lighting and theatrical runs in front of live audiences.

In other words, there will be world premieres — such as with last month’s dual production of The Kiss by Fleur Jacobs and Conversations with Cows by Blaine Newton. As well, Oleson-Rinehart says there will be second runs of original plays that may have only had limited premieres previously.

Volunteers with Riverbend Theatre felt the Red Deer area already has theatre companies that stage published plays. These include Central Alberta Theatre and Prime Stock Theatre in Red Deer and Cow Patti Theatre in Lacombe. Sylvan Lake Theatre stages shorter works with its Theatre Trail, as does Tree House Youth Theatre, while Bull Skit Comedy does improvisation.

Members felt a gap could be filled if Riverbend Theatre brought longer original plays to the stage, says Oleson-Rinehart, who has worked in and taught theatre and film in the U.S., China and Canada.

“We already have the storytellers, so we thought why not give them a voice and support them to express themselves fully?”

A main goal is to bring local perspectives to the stage, she adds. “If we only used published works that are (many) decades old, they may not be an accurate reflection of what is going on in our quickly changing world.”

Topical issues were raised in playwright Blaine Newton’s recent premiere of Conversations with Cows. The plot tackled sexual assault and thorny relations between men and women.