n Floyd Collins, presented by The Cultch, Patrick Street Productions and Talk is Free Theatre, on now until March 30, at Vancouver's York Theatre, 639 Commercial Dr.
Tickets: $19 and up. For more info thecultch.com.
Actor Krystin Pellerin can't say enough good things about Floyd Collins, a play she's starring in at Vancouver's York Theatre.
"Myself as an audience member, this is the kind of theatre that I want to be seeing. (When) I'm in the audience watching it, I'm overcome with emotion and just completely enthralled by the story," she says. "The performances are so wonderful, the characters are so alive and it just transports you. The music is unlike anything you've ever heard before. I just feel like it opens your mind and your heart in a way that I've never come across in a piece of theatre before. ... It's really beautiful and definitely worth seeing. If you can come, I just think you'd leave feeling lifted up."
The bluegrass-infused musical is set in 1925 Kentucky and, according to promotional material, turns a theatrical eye to "the true story of an American cave explorer and entrepreneur who, in his search for the ultimate tourist attraction, found himself trapped 100 feet below the earth."
Floyd Collins is a copresentation between The Cultch, Patrick Street Productions and Talk is Free Theatre. It had its Vancouver premiere Tuesday and its run will continue until March 30. Cast and crew plan to remount the show in Barrie, Ont., next month.
An avid stage actor, Pellerin is a longtime member of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre, she's also a well-known face in film and television. Pellerin has held a starring role on CBC TV's Republic of Doyle throughout its five seasons, and has also appeared on TV's The Tudors and Lost Girl, as well as the films, Killing Zelda Sparks and Warriors of Terra.
Splitting her time between her native St. John's Nfld., where Republic of Doyle is filmed, and Toronto, Ont., Pellerin has been in Vancouver for the last month in preparation for this week's opening. "We're in a really good place and the whole process has been such a special one in terms of the piece itself. We all feel very lucky to be working on Floyd Collins," she says.
Cast and crew were pleased with an opportunity to spend a few days working with Floyd Collins' creator, Adam Guettel, a composer and lyricist based in New York City. "To get the opportunity to work with the composer on his own work and to get his insight firsthand is like a once in a lifetime opportunity," says Pellerin.
Pellerin plays Floyd's sister Nellie, who, when the story starts, is just returning from a mental institution. "(She) and Floyd have a very special connection. ... It almost feels telepathic," she says. "Everyone writes her off as being crazy but I sort of see her as maybe being the most connected and most in touch and sane person in the group. She lives on a different plane and she has a sixth sense unlike anybody else and is really connected to Floyd on a spiritual level too, I think. I love playing her and there's a lot of freedom playing somebody like that who lives in that other kind of reality."
Pellerin found it easy to connect with onstage brother, Daren A. Herbert, who's playing the show's title role.
"He's such an openhearted person and a real pleasure to work with.. .. He just gives you so much when you're working with him, it's really great. I love playing brother and sister - Floyd and Nellie - with him. It's just really, really fun. It's really playful."
Pellerin is grateful that, despite her busy shooting schedule, she's able to continue to find time for theatre projects.
"Theatre is where my heart is and I find it so energizing and so inspiring and it keeps me in such good shape. I just feel very challenged by it and it's very demanding. But at the same time I get to play in another way and I get to play a whole slew of characters that are completely different from who I am, so that's what I love about it. It's a joy to do it and I have a need to do it so I feel really lucky to be able to fill the off-season that way," she says.
Pellerin has just finished the fifth season of Republic of Doyle and is anxiously awaiting word on a sixth. When asked what it's like to be part of such a successful show (it's been picked up in more than 100 countries), she says, "It's a total dream."
"I always say this, but it's better than what I could wish for. I get to be at home and working. And Allan (Hawco, who plays lead Jake Doyle), has written this dream part that I get to play and it's such a great part to be playing. I love working with everybody. It's a wonderful cast and crew and so talented," she adds.
When asked whether she can offer any insight related to what's next for her character, Sgt. Leslie Bennett, whose story arc has been rather dramatic as of late, Pellerin laughs. "I'm really excited to see what's going to happen because I have no idea what's going to happen to her. I'm kind of in the same boat as the audience."
