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Performers’ Theatre Company is back with quirky and fun production “Stanton’s Garage”

A man and woman standing smiling in front of a wall that reads CHMA
Actors Ben Hébert and Faith Higgins play in Stanton’s Garage, which opens this Friday at Performers’ Theatre Studio on Fairfield Road. Photo: Erica Butler
Erica Butler - CHMA - Sackville • NB | 14-06-2023
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Sackville’s community theatre company is at it again. The Performers’ Theatre Company is just about ready to open its latest production, Stanton’s Garage, this Friday evening at the Performers’ Space on Fairfield Road in Sackville. Written by Joan Ackerman and directed by Sackville’s Chris Farella, Stanton’s Garage is part reflection on life, and part comedy of errors.

“It has this sort of personal, introspective, reflective side to it,” says actor Ben Hébert, “and then it has this more sort of goofy, silly side, which Performers’ [Theatre Company] is really known for.”

The play is set in the quintessential rural garage, says Hébert, complete with a quirky cast of characters. “When people see this garage, we want them to be like, ‘Oh, I’ve been in this garage. I’ve talked to these people before.’”

Actor Faith Higgins says the set design has recreated the atmosphere of a small town garage, made easier with the cooperation and generosity of a local garage owner. “We were able to pull a bunch of junk that he just had lying around for like 10, 20 years in order to make our set look just identical to his,” says Higgins, complete with decades of grease and oil residue.

This is Higgins second production with Performers’, having served as assistant stage manager for  Hound of the Baskervilles. She says the experience has rounded out her skill set as a drama student at Mount Allison, where she has learned how to work with more high-end equipment. At Performers’ she is learning the art of lighting and design on a shoestring budget.

Hébert says he is grateful for the volunteer-run theatre company. “I didn’t have a lot of theatre experience growing up,” says Hébert, “and it was something I just wanted to get into. And Performers’ has given me the opportunity to just explore that a lot.”

Stanton’s Garage opens this Friday June 16 at the Performers Theatre Company space at 3 Fairfield Road. The show runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7:30pm, with a matinee on Sunday at 2pm. And it’s back for another weekend run from June 22 to 24.

Hear Hébert and Higgins in conversation on Tantramar Report:

Download Audio