Kathy Zaborskt; Robert Kirik; Camille Pavlenko; Tyler Reinhold; Jade Benoit; Andrew Merrigan; Kyle Schulte star in Centennial, Governor-General Award winner Sharon Pollock’s musical revue celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of oil in the Turner Valley. Photo by Darryl Pollock.
Centennial
by Sharon Pollock
PDF Manuscript copy available on request HC_Pollock@shaw.ca
Number of Acts: 1
Length: 60 mins
Actors: 7
Men: 1
Women: 1
+ 5 actors playing a variety of roles
Synopsis:
It’s after hours in the bar at The Black Diamond Hotel. A clock strikes twelve and issues in a new day, May, 14, 2014. A special day, for it marks the Centennial of the Dingman #1 oil strike. But where’s the celebration that surely should herald such a significant birthday?
As bar staff clear the tables and turn out the lights, another world is revealed. It’s one populated by ghosts and memories of the past. Sara Jane, a cheeky young girl from an early homesteading family, confronts a crusty old man, William S. Herron, who proposes himself as the Father of the Oil and Gas Era. Sara Jane is a mite confused by it all, or pretends to be. A trio of roughnecks and a female duo, all deceased for many years but “ghostin’: round the Hotel, are called into service to help William make his case.
Through story, sketches and song, and with Sara Jane on piano, her fellow phantoms take on a host of roles as William attempts to present and re-live a theatrical, often comic, tracing of the Turner Valley oil and gas years. As the bar opening hour approaches, ghosts and memories fade back into the walls leaving Sara Jane and William to decide what comes next in their budding relationship.