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New Westminster actor back on home turf for Noises Off

A remount of the Arts Club Theatre's 2020 production runs at Massey Theatre Feb. 15 to 27
Julie MacLellan
Julie MacLellan
Noises-Off-0437-Massey-Theatre-(Instagram)
Colleen Winton returns to the Massey Theatre stage in a remount of the Arts Club Theatre's Noises Off, Feb. 15 to 27. She's seen here in the 2020 production (set design by Ted Roberts; costume design by Christine Reimer; lighting design by Alan Brodie).David Cooper

Don’t mind Colleen Winton if she seems a little extra emotional on opening night.

She’ll be the first actor onstage when the curtain rises for Noises Off, and she’ll be making up for two years of time lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I can hardly believe it, I really can’t,” Winton says. “It’s really, really magical to come back to this play after two years away from theatre.”

Winton is taking to stage as Dotty in a remount of the Arts Club Theatre’s 2020 production of Michael Frayn’s acclaimed farce. It’s onstage Feb. 15 to 27 at Massey Theatre.

The New Westminster actor is pleased to be returning with almost all her castmates from the original run – a list that includes a host of top names from the Vancouver theatre scene:  Tess Degenstein, Charlie Gallant, Ming Hudson, Andy Maton, Nora McLellan, Andrew McNee and Emma Slipp. They’re joined by Kayvon Khoshkam, who steps into Jovanni Sy’s shoes.

Winton says the cast developed a tight bond during the original run, and they’ve kept in close contact over the past two years.

“To come back to this, a play we really love doing, love performing for people, is special because it’s coming back to something familiar,” she says.

But Winton’s love affair with Noises Off goes much further back than that – decades back, in fact.

Many years ago, she was in a production at Bastion Theatre in Victoria with her now-husband, actor Russell Roberts; it’s where their romance began.

They’ve raised two sons in New Westminster, and they still live within walking distance of Massey Theatre.

There’s an added element of nostalgia in this particular production because it’s being staged on Winton’s home turf.  The Massey has been a part of her life since high school, when she was a student at NWSS.

“That’s the first stage that I set foot on as an actor,” she says.

She’s been back over the years for a number of performances, including a starring role in Royal City Musical Theatre’s Hello Dolly! in 2012. But this will be her first fully professional production on the stage she knows so well.

“It’s really like coming home,” she says.

“Tears will be shed, I am sure. I get verklempt talking about it, so I can’t imagine what it will be like when I’m standing on that stage. I open the show, so I hope I can hold it together.”

Get your tickets now

Tickets for the show are $75 regular, $55 for seniors and students; preview pricing for Feb. 15 is $45/$35. Call the box office at 604-521-5050 or buy online.

Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, jmaclellan@newwestrecord.ca.