{"id":35703,"date":"2025-01-16T19:06:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T00:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=35703"},"modified":"2025-01-16T19:06:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T00:06:56","slug":"tough-topics-tempered-with-laughter-as-theatre-aurora-prepares-for-the-melville-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/tough-topics-tempered-with-laughter-as-theatre-aurora-prepares-for-the-melville-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough topics tempered with laughter as Theatre Aurora prepares for The Melville Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Difficult topics are set to be deftly handled with laughter at Theatre Aurora next week as the local community theatre company launches its next production, The Melville Boys, on Friday, January 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Penned by Canadian favourite Norm Foster, The Melville Boys centres on a brothers\u2019 weekend fishing trip where Lee aims to break some devastating news to his brother, Owen, only to find their respective plans upended by two sisters in a canoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing Lee and Owen to life in this season\u2019s production are Joey Nessuno and Christian Tribuzio, both actors with local roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLee is the older of two brothers and he\u2019s sort of the responsible one who has been head of the family since their father died young. He has a terminal cancer diagnosis so his whole goal for the weekend is talking to his brother because he has been avoiding the subject of his illness, concerned he is going to be leaving the family without someone looking out for them. He\u2019s trying to rein in the brother who is very much a free spirit, very much an unserious person, and he desperately needs his brother to stand up in this moment, to hear him out, [and] acknowledge what is going on,\u201d says Joey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Christian: \u201cOwen is rambunctious, very immature about certain things, probably sexually a little inexperienced as well, but tends to be more outgoing and childish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the sisters, who quite literally float by, the brothers each find something they were lacking at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are roles most people can relate to, both on-stage brothers agree, and were part of the attraction in coming out for a role in the Kay Valentine-directed play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am looking for good roles I can sink my teeth into and get something to latch onto,\u201d says Joey, who has appeared on stage for Theatre Aurora in their recent productions of Murder on the Orient Express and On Golden Pond. \u201cWhat brought me back to Theatre Aurora was a friend who passed away, and all of us close to him looked at ourselves and thought, \u2018What do we want to be doing?\u2019 He was a guy who did stuff that he enjoyed and appreciated and we were all really grateful he lived his life fully while he had it. Theatre is something I have always wanted to go back to, but you can only do so many things when you\u2019re raising a family, going to school, building a career, that theatre didn\u2019t make the cut in my 20s and 30s \u2013 but I love it. The ability to work with the people at Theatre Aurora was so great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian, on the other hand, grew up in King City with knowledge of Theatre Aurora from afar, making the company one he always wanted to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are shows I wanted to be a part of,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, it was a no-brainer to audition for The Melville Boys. I genuinely didn\u2019t expect to get a part; I just thought, what the hell, let\u2019s see what happens. As Joey can attest, my character never shuts up, so I got what I asked for there, I suppose!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a comedy, first and foremost. We\u2019re going to be entertained and to have a few \u2018yuks\u2019 as Owen would say. Despite the fact I think a lot of people are going to walk away from the show smiling from having laughed a lot, I also feel there is a lot of heart and a real core to the play where, by the end of the play, you might want to give your brother or sister a call. As funny as the play is, there\u2019s a lot of heart and a lot of drama \u2013 and I think people will identify and connect with the fact that even in a perfect family there is sometimes drama, sometimes really impossibly difficult situations where, as a family, you have to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Joey: \u201cIt\u2019s a delicate subject matter, so I feel a sense of responsibility. I am sure there will be people they have recently lost to cancer or may be currently going through cancer, so first and foremost, I want to make sure I honour the role and that I honour the experience that anyone in the audience might be going through. Secondly, what I am hoping is that they do enjoy what is enjoyable. I hope they come along on the emotional journey. There is an emotional journey. There is a joy and a joie de vivre that Owen brings, that Lee needs, that makes life kind of exciting and unpredictable. While Lee might not appreciate it, I am hoping the audience enjoys his company and I hope that the humour is\u2026finding humour in these dark times, is what keeps you going. I am hoping they\u2019ll laugh when it\u2019s funny, they\u2019ll cry when it\u2019s sad, and clap when it is over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Melville Boys opens at Theatre Aurora on January 24, running on select dates and times through February 1. For more, including ticket information, visit theatreaurora.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Difficult topics are set to be deftly handled with laughter at Theatre Aurora next week as the local community theatre company launches its next production, The Melville Boys, on Friday, January 24. Penned by Canadian favourite Norm Foster, The Melville Boys centres on a brothers\u2019 weekend fishing trip where Lee aims to break some devastating […]<\/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-35703","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\/p3D2k4-9hR","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 13:59:45","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\/35703","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=35703"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35704,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35703\/revisions\/35704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}