Vaudeville is making a comeback in Port Hardy this April.
Lucas Myers has been an actor since a young age. His start was, in of all places, the stretch of forest behind his home growing up in Nelson, B.C. Myers, said that it was from this time alone that the acting bug took hold.
“We didn’t have a TV growing up, my mom went kind of hippy on us when I was about six.
“So I would kind of run around the forest here in Nelson and play games in my mind, and for some reason I could take that into my drama class.
“We had this one exercise to come up with an alternative wacky super hero. So I was like ‘I’ll be amoeba man’,” said Myers.
This initial taste of performing brought the Nelson native to the National Theatre School in Victoria B.C. in 1998. Over he years, Myers has been a staple of the performing arts scene in the Lower Mainland. Myers has received training from the Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI) in New York City, and won Best Comedy at the New Zealand International Theatre Festival in 2009 for his Cromoli Brothers production. Myers describes The Cromoli Brothers as a neo-vaudevillian production as a modern re-take on the classic 1920’s travelling theatre shtick.
Myers came up with the idea while attempting to receive grant funding from the Canadian Council for the Arts.
Although no funding materialized, Myers was confident of its appeal, took the show on the road and it became a mainstay among his other productions.
“I have about four or five shows that I have on hand I can tour. It depends on what people are interested in. I have different versions of the show here in Nelson,” said Myers.
For over six years the Cromoli Brothers have been on the road.
“I kind of call it a mash up. It’s kinda like stand up, musical theatre and sketch comedy. I realized that vaudeville was hard for people to get their heads around because people don’t know what it is don’t know what it is, but it was the original form of entertainment, the original TV,” said Myers.
The production will make its North Island debut at Theatre Quadra Island on April 17.
The Port Hardy engagement, brought to the community by the North Island Concert Society, will take place on Saturday, April 18 at the Port Hardy Civic Centre. There will be a guest star appearing during the show, a local mystery performer who is going to do some entertaining Tickets are only available for pre-sale at Guido’s Cafe, Port Hardy Museum and the Port McNeill Flower Shoppe.
Tickets are $45 for adults and $35 for students. Dinner for the event will be catered by Seto’s Wok & Grill.