SET TO the tone of ‘Happy 100th birthday Mr Brown’, the Canowindra Community Players will again be putting on a show for all to see, to raise money for various charity and community groups.
For the past five years, the players have raised more than $40,000, in which the proceeds have been previously donated to Canowindra Soldiers Memorial Hospital for a new ultrasound machine and the Give Me Five For Kids foundation.
Ian Guihot, also known as Con the town taxi driver and organiser of the players group, said this year’s show will be set in a fictitious nursing home called ‘Finish’em’.
“Our main play this year is called ‘Happy Birthday Mr Brown,’ which celebrates Mr Brown’s 100th birthday,” Mr Guihot said.
“The plot of the story is that Mr Brown runs away from the nursing home and tries to catch a bus, but doesn’t have enough funds to get to Eugowra and ends up with a gangsters bag full of cash.
“It’s a travesty of fun, there’s a few laughs, a few songs, I don’t want to give too much away, but Mr Brown ends up on a farm called Happy Acres.”
Mr Guihot said 18 people are involved with the once a year production, all of who are volunteers from the community.
“We have people from all walks of life, from the town reverend to high school students,” he said.
“We do one production each year, which involves four months worth of rehearsals and three sets of distinctive sets.”
He said the players group supports everybody, as one of their cast members is blind.
Also involved with the town production, Robyn Wilkinson said Ian’s wife Debbie had written the production, sewed all the costumes and painted all the sets, ready for the show to go on.
“Ian and Debbie are the driving force behind the show, they put so much effort in,” she said.
“The show will go for three weeks, and there will be a Sunday matinee for those not wishing to venture out at night.”
She said there are a lot of references to things happening in the town and the people.
“We hope the town will be appreciative of the local production and we hope we can turn over another $40,000, which is incredible for such a small town,” she said.
“It’s a great night out, it’s $40 a ticket for a dinner and a show.”
- The production runs until May 28. Visit the Canowindra Community Players Facebook page for tickets.