Author’s Agent: Great North Artists Management/ 350 Dupont Street/Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 1V9

5 @ 50 was first produced by the Royal Exchange Theatre Company in April 2011.

Walterdale Theatre would like to acknowledge that we are on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional meeting grounds, gathering place, and travelling route to the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene and Nakota Sioux. We acknowledge all the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for centuries.

Walterdale Mission Statement

We are an Edmonton-based community theatre committed to the production of engaging and vibrant works and providing our member volunteers opportunities to participate in all aspects of theatre production.
Want to get involved with Walterdale?

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at stage management, acting, directing, or even media relations in theatre?

Walterdale Theatre has been successfully run by its volunteers for 60 years now, and we invite you to join our team. Whether you can donate a few hours or a few seasons, we are always looking for new volunteers to help grow our theatre.

The best way to get involved at Walterdale is to become a member today! You will receive news about shows, special events, opportunities to volunteer or audition, and discounts on tickets.

For more information about joining Walterdale, go to our website at www.walterdaletheatre.com, e-mail us at walterph@telus.net, or call us at 780-439-3058. We will get back to you!

Walterdale’s COVID Restrictions

• Keep your masks on at all times in the building
• Please stay in or near your seat whenever possible
• Follow all instructions from our Front-Of-House volunteers
• Enjoy the show!

For more information regarding Walterdale’s COVID-19 response, please click here.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Ursula Pattloch	Fern
Elizabeth Marsh	Lorene
Cinnamon Stacey	Norma
Nicolle Lemay	Olivia
Anne Marie Szucs	Tricia

PRODUCTION TEAM

Louise Mallory	Director
Cherie Howard	Costume Designer
Rebecca Cave	Lighting Designer
Joan Heys Hawkins	Set Designer & Master Painter
Darrell Portz	Sound Designer
Hailey Bly	Assistant Set Designer and Assistant Master Painter
Richard Hatfield	Lighting Advisor & Technical Advisor
Kristen Finlay	Mentor Director
Jenn Robinson	Production Manager & Properties Master
Hunter Luth	Stage Manager & Sound Operator
J-P. Fournier	Fight/Intimacy Consultant
Kahlan Oosterveld	Assistant Stage Manager & Video Interviewer
Sonal Bajaj	Lighting Operator
Gibson Finlay	Video Editor
Geri Dittrich	Wardrobe Assistant
John Anderson	Director of Production
Jessika Clarke	Poster Design
Christine Gold & Ed Medeiros	Co-Directors of Publicity

Director’s Notes

In March 2020, we were a few weeks away from performing this play when the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak led the Walterdale Theatre board to put activities on hold. A year and a half later, we started rehearsing on Zoom hoping to perform in December 2021. Most of our team was available for this second chance, and others stepped up to fill in the gaps.

Themes of isolation and reconnection run through 5@50. The 2020-2021 pandemic experience makes those themes even more relevant. Other themes of aging bodies, difficult families, alcohol abuse, invisibility of lesbian and bisexual women’s relationships, and the challenges of long-term friendships have continued too. As one of Brad Fraser’s characters exclaims, “Middle age is an endless parade of what the fuck!”

I want to recognize the teams behind Walterdale’s productions of From Cradle to Stage Festival 2020, Merrily We Roll Along, and The Mask, which did not get the opportunity to perform. I want to acknowledge the significant and ongoing losses of life, of health, of community, of environmental stability, and of financial security for people in Edmonton and around the world. And I want to celebrate with you the importance of friendship and art in challenging times.

“To uncertain futures, and absent friends.”

-Louise Mallory, Director

Synopsis

When Olivia loses control at her fiftieth birthday party, her three best friends decide to intervene once and for all, much to the irritation of Olivia and her long-term partner Norma. But is she the only one battling a demon or does each of these women face an addiction of one kind or another? 5@50 is a raw and darkly comedic portrayal of turning fifty in contemporary society, and of the friendships we can’t live without.

Setting
A Canadian city, present-day or near-future

Run Time
The running time of this performance will be about 2 hours and 15 minutes. There will be one 15 minute intermission.

Audience Advisories

5@50 includes offensive and obscene language and crude sexual references. Drug and alcohol use and addictions are depicted on stage. If you are affected by problem drinking or substance use, by yourself or by a relative or friend, the following resources may be helpful. Take what you need and leave the rest. You are not alone. Al-Anon – peer-support meetings and literature for friends and relatives of problem drinkers. Associated with AA but focused on supporting the friend or family member. https://al-anon.ab.ca/ SMART Recovery – secular and science-based mutual-support meetings in person and online. https://www.smartrecoverytest.org/local/ Includes groups for family and friends. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) – Traditional 12-step peer support meetings and literature for problem drinkers https://edmontonaa.org/ Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Traditional 12-step peer support meetings and literature for addicts http://www.eana.ca/ 211 Alberta – https://ab.211.ca/ or call 211 – Information on agencies and programs in local communities, including help on addictions, mental health, employment, 2SLGBTQ+, homelessness, violence, seniors.

Cast Biographies

Production Team Biographies

Brad Fraser won his first playwriting competition at the age of seventeen and has since written numerous plays, including Cold Meat Party, Love and Human Remains, True Love Lies and Poor Super Man, among others. Brad is a five-time winner of the Alberta Culture Playwriting Competition, a winner of the London Evening Standard Award for Promising Playwright, London’s Time Out Award for Best New Play and the L.A. Critics Award. In addition to his work as a playwright and director, Brad writes for print media, radio, film, and television. Check out his website here!

Walterdale Theatre is particularly proud to showcase this amazing Edmonton playwright because Walterdale produced Brad Fraser’s first play, Mutants back in 1981! Check out a few photos from the production below!

Acknowledgements

Walterdale Relaunch Committee

Contributors to 5@50 in 2020, including:
Erin Forwick-Whalley (Lorene)
Karin Lauderdale (Production Manager)
Angie Muirhead (ASM)
Sam Jeffery (Fight and Intimacy Director)
Julie Sinclair and Melissa Owen
Jake Tkaczyk
Gregory Caswell
The cast and crew of 1984
Linette Smith/Strathcona High School
Spotlight Cabaret
That Yoga Place (Spruce Grove)
An anonymous consultant on drug use, and others.

Scott Henderson & Henderson Images

WALTERDALE THANKS OUR PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS

DONORS AND SUPPORTERS

Walterdale Theatre extends thanks to the generous support of local business, government grants, partners, and our patrons and members for their donations of time and funding. Without your support we could not continue.

We would especially like to thank all the subscribers, Flex Pass, and 6Pack ticket holders who donated the value of their tickets from the cancelled shows of the 2019-20 season to the theatre.

Benefactors ($1,000 plus)
The Cinders Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation
Rapid Response Fund at the Edmonton Community Foundation

Champions ($500-$999)
AbleIT Inc.
Jan Streader

Supporters ($100-$499)
Anonymous
Patricia Luxford
Richard Hatfield
Julie Sinclair
Mike Harding & Don Zeman

Friends ($50-$99)
Pat Burden
Margaret Marriott
Judy Stelck
Barbara Winberg

Donors ($49 and under)
Vivian Binnema
Christine Gold
Sarah Winberg

If you would like to be a part of the Walterdale Theatre family of sponsors, contact our Administrator by e-mail or phone the theatre at 780-439-3058.

WALTERDALE THEATRE ASSOCIATES Is a Canadian Registered Charity, and will provide you with an income tax receipt for any donation over $20.00 you wish to make. Thank you to everyone who supports our theatre!

A Brief History of Walterdale Theatre and Building

Walterdale is one of the longest running community theatres in Canada.

Walterdale Theatre Associates traces its beginnings to Theatre Associates, who produced their first plays (Lady Audley’s Secret and Out of the Frying Pan) in August 1958, playing in the Jubilee Auditorium social room. Before finding its home in the current Fire Hall, there have been two other Walterdale Theatres. The first was an old school on the Walterdale flats (Kinsmen Fieldhouse area), hence our name. The second was a former service men’s club house, which was later demolished for Kingsway Garden Mall.

Our current building was built in 1910 and was Strathcona Fire Hall #1. In 1912 it was re-numbered Edmonton #6 when the City of Strathcona amalgamated with the City of Edmonton. The bell tower houses the Strathcona “Town Bell”. It is topped by an octagonal belfry, covered by an octagonal roof. The tower was used to dry hoses (by hanging them up) after use. The stable (now set-building workshop) was designed to house nine horses.

The building ceased to be a working Fire Hall in 1954 and was used to store furniture. In 1974 Walterdale Theatre Associates took over the building and lovingly restored it, and converted the inside to a 145-seat theatre. The first play produced in this theatre was What the Butler Saw by Joe Orton, which opened November 12, 1974.

Major renovations were again carried out in 1993 (raising the roof and tying the building together with new beams) and in 2011 (new main floor washrooms, renewing the bricks and other major outside work).

Walterdale continues to keep our building updated and efficient, and have replaced the lighting instruments with LED lights, and the aging second floor furnaces with new high-efficiency units.

Walterdale Theatre Board of Directors 2021-2022

Executive

Artistic Director – Monica Roberts
President – Sally Hunt
Vice-President – Anne Marie Szucs
Interim Treasurer – Alle DeMelo
Secretary – Jennifer Robinson
Past-President – Kristen M. Finlay

Directors

Building Director – Matthew Lindberg
Front-of-House Co-Directors – Alle DeMelo & Mary-Ellen Perley
Membership Director – Laura Eschak
Production Co-Directors – John Anderson & Louise Mallory
Public Relations Co-Directors – Christine Gold & Ed Medeiros
Technical Co-Directors – Richard Hatfield & Kahlan Oosterveld
Directors at Large – Jay Sanni & Anne-Marie Smyth

Front of House Volunteers

Front of House Directors
Mary Ellen Perley & Alle DeMalo

Front of House Committee Members

Volunteer Coordinator
Shelby Johnson
Box Office Manager
Anne Marie Szucs
Bar & Concession Manager
John Dolphin

A special and heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful volunteers for Front of House positions during the run of The December Man!

Jim Herchak, Dave Wolkowski, Bob Klakowich, Shelby Johnson, Alle DeMelo, Monica Roberts, Heidi Ryll, Rob Cauti, Richard Hatfield, Louise Mallory, Ron Johnson, Veronica Petrola, Vivian Binnema, L Eschak, Michelle White, Sarah Huffman, Mary Gordon, Phil Zyp, Kendra Litwin, Anne Marie Szucs, John Dolphin, Mike Harding, Nadeem, Andrea Newman, Mary-Ellen Perley, Alison Besecker, Tracy Wyman, Shannon Szmydt, Anneliese Coutu, Mike Cooper