Theatre New Brunswick kicks off 50th anniversary season this week

TNB launch their 50th anniversary season with the world premiere of Any Given Moment, a new play by NB playwright Kim Parkhill.

Claudia Gutierrez-Perez, Wally MacKinnon and Alexis Milligan. Photo: Dave Risk

Theatre New Brunswick’s 50^th anniversary season officially gets underway this week with the world premiere production of Any Given Moment, a new work by New Brunswick-born playwright Kim Parkhill.

Produced in partnership with Ship’s Company Theatre, Any Given Moment, featuring Fredericton actor Wally MacKinnon, wrapped up three weeks of performances in Nova Scotia last Sunday and will arrive in communities across the province beginning on September 4 with a performance at Mount Allison University.

Over the past year, Any Given Moment’s significance to the company has continued to develop and take on new meaning besides simply marking Parkhill’s playwriting debut with TNB.

In April of this year, it was announced that the play would be a co-production between TNB and Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro, NS with Ship’s Company’s Natasha MacLellan directing. Three months later, after a successful interview, MacLellan was announced as the incoming Artistic Director at TNB.

The play also has an unexpected relationship to recent events in the Fredericton area. Described as “…a touching, hilarious and unexpected look into the culture of fear and challenges our expectations of what we think we know”, Any Given Moment focuses on the lives of three individuals trapped together after police lockdown the neighourhood. Stuck inside a church, the characters of Lisa, Emma and Bill speculate on what dangers may exist in the outside world and attempt to understand their three very different perspectives.

Following performances in Bathurst, Florenceville-Bristol, Moncton, St. Andrews, Sackville and Saint John, Any Given Moment will close out its run with six Fredericton performances at the Open Space Theatre, 55 Whiting Road.