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Theatre company explores love, shaken and stirred up

The latest Quarter Century Theatre show is called Black and White and Grey All Over, and it runs from Sept. 23 to 26.
2018-09-20-QCTBlackandWhite-OS
Rochelle Reynolds and Graham Conway will be performing in Quarter Century's Theatre's latest show: Black and White and Grey All Over. Contributed Photo

Collingwood’s Quarter Century Theatre has created a new show and while the medium is not necessarily the message, it helps.

Rochelle Reynolds and her team including director Khaleel Gandhi are exploring love outside the expected structure, that’s why it works that the performance is a play/film in a garage/theatre.

The show is called Black and White and Grey All Over, and it’s based on a script Reynolds wrote in university.

“I had this obsession with what love is,” she said. “What is true love? Does it exist or is it something we made up?”

Reynolds’ script was torn apart by her professor, and she didn’t expect it would see the light of day, but Gandhi heard about it and thought it was a tale worth telling.

The story follows two friends, a man and a woman, who are each homosexual but end up falling in love with each other.

“It explores the idea of soul mates,” said Reynolds. “There are people we are drawn to in this universe by fate … what do those people need to be to us? Are they forever friends? Lovers? Or something else? This is a deep dive into all of that.”

The show features two actors on stage - Violet (played by Reynolds) and Carlos (played by Graham Conway) as they are surprised by the love they discover for each other. There’s also a film component. The team spent three days shooting footage that will serve as flashbacks to fill in the memories of what brought Violet and Carlos together and what shaped them as humans who love.

The title – Black and White and Grey All Over – is meant to indicate the show’s exploration of human emotion and more.

“If you try to simplify the depth of human connection and emotion to black and white, you’re really doing a disservice to the complexity of human nature,” said Reynolds. “We confront some pretty complex issues. On the surface it’s maybe not an easy story to tell. It really is a warped love story, but people can really identify with that.”

Carlos and Violet are quirky or “adorably flawed” as Reynolds calls them. In a way they are meant for each other simply because if they didn’t have each other, they wouldn’t have anyone.

Reynolds said she was inspired to write this story after hearing an anecdote about two nurses, both women married to men, who are sent to a remote area alone on a medical mission. While there, they fall in love with each other. Once home, the nurses realize their feelings remain and they each leave their husbands to be together.

“I think everybody goes through that sort of crisis to varying degrees,” said Reynolds. “We grow up to find our identity as hetero, or whatever … but what happens if that gets shaken and turned upside down by meeting one person? I don’t know what the answer is.”

Reynolds is the founder of Quarter Century Theatre, and she has made it a company mission to shake things up and produce high-quality, edgy theatre that will spark discussion.

Black and White and Grey All Over runs Sept. 23 - 26 at the Quarter Century Theatre Studio Theatre located at 19 Fourth Line in Collingwood. Tickets are available online and are $20 in advance or $40 at the door. You can also order tickets by phone at 705-607-7056. There are mature themes and language in the show, and it is not recommended for children under 13.


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Erika Engel

About the Author: Erika Engel

Erika regularly covers all things news in Collingwood as a reporter and editor. She has 15 years of experience as a local journalist
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