The local theatre series Off the Page ends its season of monthly performances at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons this weekend the same way it launched its first season three years ago, with a reading of local playwright David King’s comedy, How Things Have Changed.
“It’s a love letter to the Coast,” King said in an interview. It seems that love has deepened, as How Things Have Changed has itself changed. King revealed that he has added to the original version and is considering even more.
“I’ve expanded it quite a bit, to the point now where I’m beginning to see it as the first part of a trilogy. I’ve begun to introduce characters who are talked about in the play, but we don’t actually meet them. We will meet them in the next edition.”
When King wrote the play in 2017, he set it five years in the future, but his intent was not so much to speculate about Gibsons in 2022 – he just wanted some creative space. “The liberties I’m taking with the facts are excused in a comedy,” King said. “The whole conceit of five years in the future is really just to let me off the hook in terms of my imagination running wild.”
The play is about the recently widowed Danny, his sister Noel, and a family friend, the imprudent Curtis. “He’s the comic pin around which it all keeps revolving, a one-of-a-kind guy. He’s there to comfort Danny, in his fashion, which means it could be more devastating for Danny than the actual passing of his wife.”
Dave Hurtubise and John Payne play the male characters. Noel is played by Wanda Nowicki, who, along with actor-producer Janet Hodgkinson, took over managing Off the Page when King, who created the series, wanted to move on.
“After a while I had other projects I was wanting to get into,” said King, “so I asked the two of them to take it over and they’ve done a tremendous job.”
An added feature of Off the Page is to have the author on hand to engage with the audience after the performance, an experience he values personally.
“Aside from the feedback you get at the end, while you’re watching it and gauging people’s response, you know what works. It’s been very positive and helpful for me as a playwright to have that resource.”
King is still crafting new projects, following decades as a Vancouver-based actor and writer of award-winning plays and screenplays. In recent years he’s delved into music, playing and songwriting in the duo Foolish Man, with Peter Hill.
King is also writing a musical he’s titled Stars Without Makeup. “Now that I’m older, I’m sort of having to prove myself all over again because I’ve kind of been away from it now that I’ve moved over here,” he mused.
How Things Have Changed runs Sunday, March 15 at 1 p.m. Admission is by donation.
