A Little Unfinished Family Business opening May 26 is a new play by local writer and UFV Theatre department member Rick Mawson.
This year, along with the regular season schedule, the University of The Fraser Valley theatre department will present a summer production during the last week of May and the first week of June.
A Little Unfinished Family Business is a comedy/drama, harking back to those halcyon days of the mid to late 70s in small-town B.C.
It will give everyone flashbacks with disco references, and mentions of Baby Duck, Molson stubbies, bad fashion, along with a generous helping of family intrigue.
Mawson's work has been published in Vancouver and national publications and his play Caliban: House Sitter played to sold out houses at the 2000 Vancouver Fringe Festival. Rick also adapted the Penelope poems of Chilliwack poet Vicki Grieve for the stage in a one act play entitled: Penelope Couldn’t Have Phone Sex, which had a sold-out run at the UFV Directors’ Theatre Festival. The cast of A Little Unfinished Family Business includes: Darcy Knopp is Ken Reavley, a young, English landed immigrant in Canada, Darcy has appeared in several major roles for the department including The title role in Macbeth and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His Canadian wife, Sherry, is played by Jennifer Maxwell, who makes her debut for the department in this role. Judy Becker, who plays Sherry’s overbearing sister Jude, has appeared in several UFV productions including The Rez Sisters and King Lear. Jude’s long suffering husband Hank is played by Ray Syrnyk also making his debut in a UFV production. The role of Bob, Ken’s father, is taken by Rick Mawson.
Lighting design for this production is by Sandy Tait, with sound design by Claude Dorion, set design is by Bryan Cutler with costume design by Jody Cameron.
A Little Unfinished Family Business runs May 26, 27, 28 and June 2, 3 and 4 at 7.30 p.m., with two Sunday Matinees May 29 and June 5 at 2 p.m. in the Studio Theatre on the Chilliwack campus. Tickets $10 at 604-795-2814, or email theatre@ufv.ca or www.ufv.ca/theatre.