A Thousand Clowns – with a handful of actors

My colleague, co-host and radio bestie was one of the stars of Herb Gardner’s play A Thousand Clowns, put on by the Live Theatre Society in Merritt.

That's me taking a picture of Sarah putting the finishing touches on her make up just a half hour before she show starts. The venue was packed and they were looking for more chairs. I thought I was early, but it was hopping. When I first saw her I could have sworn she was Ellen Page.

I hopped on the Greyhound and made the trip up the mountain to see Sarah Hyde shine.

Literally.

Her and her fellow thespians were rocking the stage so hard I thought the furniture might fall through. I was blown away by the audience turn out, too. Although Sarah joked in an interview about rivaling Avatar, (both the movie and the play had sold out shows) the evening I was there, it wasn’t too far from the truth.

What a triumph for theatre!  And they didn’t even need Sigourney Weaver!

Imagine a large crowd of mitton-wearing movie-goers throwing off their 3D glasses for a bag of chips and a wooden seat at the Legion. That was the spirit in the air. Like we were all doing something new together right after rushing out of the house and half-eating supper in the car ride over.

And just as impressive as the acting (which I’ll get to in a second) were the high school students. They did make up, stage direction, raffles, you name it.  I had a sense that a lot of people in the audience had a part in the show even if they weren’t anywhere near the stage. From a perfect prop donation, to food for the crew, to making sure their significant others got to rehearsals, this was a community at its best.

And all for a show.

A good show.

Here’s a little confession. I was worried the play would be boring at best, bad at worst and then I would have to tell Sarah Hyde what I truly thought. There’s a little nagging stereotype that circles my brain about every year or so that gets proven wrong again and again (Hello Fringe Festival!).

Here it is: I figure all community theatre is like Waiting for Guffman… but without the laughs.

And I am wrong.

The actors in Merritt’s Live Theatre Society’s performance of Herb Gardner’s A Thousand Clowns were superb.

Yup, superb.

And you can turn into M2M on CJSF 90.1fm, Thursday from 3-4pm to find out why.