There’s no doubt that for many people the holiday season can be a lonely one, especially as people age and the busyness of work lives and family obligations makes friendships wane and disappear.
But not all stories end up so bleakly.
Lunchbox Theatre’s How Patty and Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition delves into how unlikely friendships come through a desire to seek connection, and maybe win a tap dancing competition
The story of Patty and Joanne revolves around the two eponymous women, who, as tap dance beginners, end up abandoned by their tap dance instructor at the holidays.
Through that shared experience, Patty, mother of five with barely any time for herself, and Ellen, lonely but trying hard for a friendship, overcame to become dancing champions.
“The two women in this play are just so relatable. They both live in very much in our worlds. When we were casting the show, we held auditions, and every person who came in to audition was like, ‘I still identify with this.’ The busyness, one of them, the character, she has five kids, and the other one lives alone with her, just her cat,” said Bronwyn Steinberg, Director for How Patty and Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition.
The play written by three-time Stirling Award winner Trevor Schmidt wasn’t originally intended to be Christmas-themed, said Steinberg.
Steinberg said her encouragement of Schmidt turned the play into a timely holiday piece that is destined to resonate with Calgarians, especially women, this December.
“I hope that they feel not only that, they feel reflected and see themselves, but they also feel encouraged to get out there and try a new activity that might lead to a new friendship,” she said.
“The way to build new relationships and new connections, and it’s harder as you get older and it’s harder as you are busier with work or with your family or whatever it is, but sometimes you need to just find a new thing that you like and see who’s there. It can lead to these beautiful friendships, and I think that’s really important,” said Steinberg.
Tap dancing into holiday hearts
One of the real-life parallels to the play is the long-awaited return to the stage of Ellen Close and Elinor Holt as co-leads. The pair worked with choreographer Jocelyn Hoover to learn to tap dance themselves—at least at a beginner level.
“They’ve known each other a long time, and they’ve been on stage together years ago, but it is the first time in a long time. We actually had both of these actors in a workshop of this piece. So, that’s been really fun, because they got to do a work-in-progress exploration of it with me and the playwright. I was very happy to bring them back,” said Steinberg.
“The thing is, the characters are both in an adult beginner tap class. Both of the characters have never done this before, so it’s quite fun to work with actors whom I chose based on their comedic and acting ability and their fit for the characters, and then we just see how far we get with the tap. It’s quite delightful.”
The feel-good nature of the production also extended behind the scenes, she said, calling the ability to work with some of the most talented people in the Calgary arts scene a joy.
“I feel like I just get to do a play with all my friends. I’ve had the chance to work with most of these artists before, and they’re all just terrific. Especially a play about friendship and about these two women, it’s really fun to have a lot of my women friends just all working on this. You know, we’re having a good time,” said Steinberg.
How Patty and Joanne Won High Gold at the Grand Christmas Cup Winter Dance Competition is being unveiled as a dual world premiere of productions, with Lunchbox Theatre doing their take in Calgary, and in Edmonton at the Northern Light Theatre under Schmidt, who is also directing that performance.
Lunchbox’s performances run from Nov. 25 through to Dec. 21, at the Studio in Vertigo Theatre. For more details and tickets, see www.lunchboxtheatre.com.
