David Nairn, Artistic Director of Theatre Orangeville (TO) always says his hardest job is choosing the shows for any season. He is well aware of his audience with their quite varied tastes, but he is also aware of his obligation to his art – the art of bringing theatre to the theatre.

It is never a simple matter of a good old song and dance – this is not perpetual vaudeville. Real theatre, even in basically a rural environment, must challenge, must deliver thoughtful moments, along with the laughs and the feel-good family shows. It can’t be all lightness and laughs. It must also be demanding and questioning. That is what art does: it lightens our lives while engaging us.

TO’s administration discovered two things last year: that Saturday matinees work well for lots of people and that extending the season into May is also fine with local audiences.

So, with this year’s selection of plays and entertainment, David Nairn has once again come across with a wonderful cross section of funny and thoughtful, keeping all the while, his very high standard of excellence in writing and producing.

It worked so well last year, offering an “entertainment” in September while keeping the first real play until later, in October, that he decided to stick with the format.

This year, the season will open with Leisa Way’s Tribute to Dolly Parton: Rhinestone Cowgirl, which she performs with her band, the Wayward Wind.

“This provides a jump start to the season,” said Mr. Nairn with considerable excitement. “We like this formula of a presentation of high quality at the beginning.”

Rhinestone Cowgirl is four performances only: three evening shows from Thursday, September 23 to Saturday the 25th and a matinee on Sunday, the 27th. The show is a marvel of Dolly’s life, touching on the huge variety of music that she has written and produced. Ms. Way has been putting the show together for the last several years. Now that it is finally ready, you will not want to miss it.

The first actual play of the season is Skin Flick, written by, you guessed it, Norm Foster – about an older couple, who, for various reasons – all about money or the lack of it, decide to produce a porn film.

Mr. Nairn is back on the stage for this piece – who could resist that? Along with him are the writer himself, Norm Foster, with Susan Greenfield, Jamie Williams (father in Christmas Story) and, fresh from Newfoundland, Maria Dina, all directed by Walter Learning.

“There are lots of laughs,” promises Mr. Nairn, and I believed him. Catch the show from October 15 to October 31.

Auditions for the Christmas-season production are set for three days next week – Tuesday, September 7 to Thursday, Sept. 9 – for young actors, ages 14 to 18(ish).

Mr. Nairn is fully aware of the hard work involved for the youthful cast, all of whom will be in high school and will have to commit to pretty well two full months of nearly full absence from school. They have to keep up their school work along with preparing for and doing 29 performances of the play, Anne (of Green Gables). No music this time, just the straight family, heartwarming play.

Mr. Nairn is strict about school work being maintained over the course of producing Anne. In fact, he insists on seeing current report cards with the rest of the résumé each actor brings to the audition.

The auditions for the young actors are run exactly according to professional lines. Each person has about 15 minutes in which to present his/her routines. It is fantastic training and a wonderful experience for the budding actors, who will (or will not) go on to work in other professional engagements during the rest of their lives.

With Anne as the focus for the end of the year, Mr. Nairn is planning to cast the young roles with local young talent.

Anne opens November 25 and runs until December 19.

The New Year will bring a drama with a brave face to Theatre Orangeville, for Mr. Nairn has picked a play by First Nation writer Drew Haydon Taylor, novelist and playwright extraordinaire. This piece, In a World Created by a Drunken God, two brothers from opposite ends of a spectrum meet and the ensuing story confronts many fronts, many contrasting elements of society. No doubt an intellectual play on some levels, this is an evening that should not be missed. Theatre Orangeville brings the aboriginal community to the theatre and it will make for fascinating entertainment.

“..Drunken God” is on from February 17 to March 6.

Keeping the individual lives of the local community in mind, Mr. Nairn ordered up a local story, this one directed by Mr. Nairn himself, in Harvest. The premise is a about an older couple who are ready to give up the hard work of the farm but not altogether ready to give up the homestead, which they opt to rent out, with a rather disastrous and funny outcome. What might a young man from the city come to the country to cultivate – if he thinks he can get away with it?

This humorous tale runs from March 31 to April 17.

May brings another World Premiere to Theatre Orangeville and its audiences. With the combined talents writer Norm Foster and the top musical theatre lyricist/composer in Canada, Leslie Arden, this new work, Ned Durango is assured of being a hit.

Still in the works, Ned Durango’s plot involves a town wanting to “strut its stuff” for a potential investor and the fading, but famous, cowboy who promises to deliver the goods on the big day. Whether there will be an actual horse on the stage is yet to be declared. After all, it is a Norm Foster/Theatre Orangeville production!

This happening will run from May 5 to May 22 and no doubt, the house will be full for every show.

There you have the schedule and layout for the coming season. You can buy a season’s pass, of course, but, in any event, you should mark these dates on your calendar as must-do’s.

David Nairn remarked, “The challenge by Canada Council [of the Arts] from which we received our grant again this year, is to articulate who and what our community is. This is a hugely artistic community but there are many other elements to it as well.”

As always, Mr. Nairn has taken on the challenges of his job and dealt with them in the way that makes us want to keep him.

For tickets and more information, call the box office at 519-942-3423 or www.theatreorangeville.ca.