Hairy Tease Productions in Moncton, N.B., is celebrating it’s 40th production as audiences make a return to community theatre.
Community theatre actor Aloma Jardine said there has always been something stress-relieving about sharing a laugh under the bright lights.
“It is always so wonderful to just hear people guffawing, not just laughing but laughing so hard,” said Jardine.
She said that making people chuckle has even more meaning since the onset of COVID-19.
“People need to laugh like that so much right now there is just so much going on in the world,” she said.
Like so many community theatres across the country, Hairy Tease Productions in Moncton was forced to shut down amid the pandemic, according to director Mike Granville.
The community comedy theatre is back up and running and Granville said he is now hoping to see the numbers of laughs grow along with their audiences.
“During production week we would pack in a full 200-plus and it has been tough to get back to it but we are getting there,” he said.
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Granville is hoping for a good crowd for this week’s opening of their 40th production called Jonas and Barry in the Home which open at the Theatre l’Escaouette in Moncton this week.
But some theatre lovers are still a little leery to venture out due to COVID-19, he said. “People are very apprehensive I think it hasn’t gone away entirely.”
He said that with each performance audience numbers are steadily growing – it is an upward trend that everyone involved in the production hopes will play out on community theatre stages across the country.
“There is something about getting out and engaging with people,” said actor Ken Ermen who has been acting in community theatre since the early 1980s.
This week’s productions will be his first time back on stage since 2020.
“I missed it tremendously,” said Ermen. “When you are standing on stage and you can see four of five people if you can make them laugh it is beautiful – there is no other feeling like it,” he said.
Scott Grant is also an actor in the play, returning to the stage. He said he is looking forward to making the audience laugh.
“It will feel good. It will feel really good.”
Jonas and Barry in the Home runs from Thursday to Sunday with performances scheduled in the afternoons.