You can get some good friends through family connections.
Okotoks actors Connor Smith and Paul Grahame have developed a friendship through their work on Windmills Theatre Players The Addams Family Musical.
“We didn’t know each other before the show and we just really hit it off — we carpool and we’ve gotten to know each other,” Grahame said.
Grahame, a Grade 10 student at Holy Trinity Academy, has previously performed with Calgary Storybook Theatre and most recently was the lead Jet in Holy Trinity Academy’s West Side Story.
For Addams Family he is playing the preppie-like Lucas, who has fallen for the slightly oddball Wednesday Addams, played by Foothills Comp student Maria Zimmermann.
The play is based on the Addams Family comic strip, which later became the classic TV show staring Carolyn Jones and John Astin.
“It is so much fun to play someone who is young and in love and naďve, because that is kind of what I am,” Grahame said. “I’m just 15 and new to the world.
“It’s close to home — a ton of fun.”
Grahame is in his first Windmill production. His mother, Gita, is part of the “ancestors”(ensemble).
Smith said the friendship with Grahame crosses rival lines — he attends the Alberta High School of Fine Arts (at the Comp) while Grahame is at HTA.
“It’s like Romeo and Juliette were from rival families,” Smith said with a laugh. “At first it felt like competition — he’s from HTA and I’m the Comp, but it is now a genuine friendship. He’s a fun person.”
Smith plays Lurch, the Addams Family butler – a tall-dude with a cadaver-like appearance.
“I’m playing a really old person, no one knows why he is there, it’s like he is just there by accident,” Smith said. “He’s a sad person, but does a lot of funny things.”
He got the role when an actor had to step down due to scheduling. Zimmerman recommended Smith for the role.
It’s not like he didn’t have any experience. He has previously played in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Foothills Comp’s Cyrano de Burgershack.
Addams Family director Lisa Auton said the play’s plot has “Their (The Addams Family daughter Wednesday has fallen in love ... with a young man who is from a 'normal' family (the Beinekes),” she said. “The normal family meet the “Addams bunch” and a whole crazy set of happenings ensue, including a scorching tango. “She added the performance includes exciting projections, fantastic music created by an orchestra of 12 Foothills area musicians, led by a conductor studying for his Master’s in conducting with the University of Calgary.
The cast includes performers from across the Foothills.
“It’s a very comedic show and is sure to have laughs throughout,” Auton said. “It’s not your traditional kind of musical that's really soft and gentle and lovely. It's a little bit risqué and vamped up but it's exciting, it's different and new.”
The Addams Family dinner theatre is April 20, 27 and 28. Regular theatre is April 21 and 26. There is a matinee on April 22.
All performances are at the Highwood Memorial Centre in High River. For dinner theatre tickets call Celia at 403-652-7913. For all other shows call 403-652-4404. Go to windmilltheatreplayers.com for more information.
