{"id":30155,"date":"2021-10-21T20:27:14","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T00:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=30155"},"modified":"2021-10-21T20:36:19","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T00:36:19","slug":"kitchen-witches-is-welcome-homecoming-for-local-theatre-local-actor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/kitchen-witches-is-welcome-homecoming-for-local-theatre-local-actor\/","title":{"rendered":"Kitchen Witches is welcome homecoming for local theatre, local actor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Denise Kennedy still remembers sitting expectantly in her seat in a Los Angeles auditorium to see Sandy Duncan take flight in Peter Pan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It left a lasting impression on the girl, who had a love of theatre immediately sparked inside her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although musicals were her first love, the singing chops, by her own admission, did not love her back, so the King resident focused on comedies and dramas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like you get to go and play in the sandbox,\u201d says Ms. Kennedy of stepping onto the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunities to do just that, however, have been few and far between since the start of the pandemic, but that is all about to change next week as Theatre Aurora lifts its curtain for the first time since the Winter of 2020 with The Kitchen Witches, a comedy written by Caroline Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kitchen Witches, described by Theatre Aurora as a \u201ccomedy with food\u201d, is directed by Kay Valentine and runs at the theatre, located at 150 Henderson Drive, from October 28 through November 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Kennedy plays Dolly, one of the two female leads, who are well-known and rival domestic divas who are brought together for one final challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe play is so funny and I get to play at least two different characters,\u201d she says. \u201cI missed my theatre terribly since everything shut down and this is the first audition notice I had seen in a while. So, I went out and auditioned and was fortunate enough to be cast. I love the story. There is a lot of dialogue, a lot of action, there\u2019s cooking and it\u2019s just mayhem sometimes. It is a fun story and it is so well-done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolly steps into the kitchen with a few secrets under her belt, which slowly bubble to the surface over the course of the play. She\u2019s the slightly over-the-top presence on the stage, a foil for her more conservative and \u201cuptight\u201d rival Isabel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe can sling the hash with the best of them,\u201d says Kennedy of Dolly, but just what kind of hash is going to be slung? You\u2019ll have to purchase a ticket to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Kennedy, who works in Bolton, grew up in California with a mother who would fundraise for her sorority by volunteering as theatre ushers with her fellow \u201csisters\u201d at many prominent productions. If the show she was working was family friendly, Denise would often come along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt instilled in me the love of theatre,\u201d she says, noting drama was something she pursued in high school, picking theatre arts, perhaps understandably, over her other option: auto shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI auditioned for Annie Get Your Gun and you had to sing for your audition, which was pretty pathetic as I was scared to death,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many plays I did in high school, but when I moved to Canada, I would take my boys downtown to see different shows at Mirvish and I have been following my bliss, which is exactly what this is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting back into the theatre was like going home because it is so familiar. The last time I was on stage was in February of 2020 in Steel Magnolias (in Newmarket) and I couldn\u2019t wait to get back at it. It takes a lot out of you. I work full time, go home, memorize lines, and go back to the theatre, and it can be tiring in a lot of ways, but you miss the people because it is a family and very much like going home to play in the sandbox. I think everyone has had a good rest and they have had time to cool down. Now it is time to get back into the game and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead to opening night, Ms. Kennedy says she hopes the audience \u2013 which must be double-vaccinated in order to attend \u2013 leave the theatre with entertained and \u201cwith a smile if nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I go into the theatre and forget work and everything else that is going on, being entertained and forgetting where I am for a couple of hours, my ticket is worth its weight \u2013 and without our audience we wouldn\u2019t have the arts!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further information on The Kitchen Witches, including the purchasing of tickets and COVID protocols, visit theatreaurora.com or call 905-727-3669.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denise Kennedy still remembers sitting expectantly in her seat in a Los Angeles auditorium to see Sandy Duncan take flight in Peter Pan. It left a lasting impression on the girl, who had a love of theatre immediately sparked inside her. Although musicals were her first love, the singing chops, by her own admission, did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Qn","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 15:27:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}