By Barb Brouwer
Contributor
To the residents of a small and conservative Saskatchewan farming community, Kate Allen must have seemed like something from another planet.
John Richards brings his girlfriend from the busy city to live on his parents’ farm. It is the dry, hot summer of 1988 and Kate’s behaviour rocks the community when she promises to run naked through the town if and when a severe drought breaks.
Shuswap Theatre’s winter offering, Dry Streak is a “dramedy” set in Olive and Peter Richards’ farm kitchen Dry Streak and provides a glimpse into the life of a small Prairie farming community.
Like many farming communities, everybody knows everybody’s business and you’ve got to get along with these people for your whole life, said director Howard DeLong.
“Kate doesn’t look like them, she dresses like a punk rocker and has travelled all over the world,” said DeLong. “To them she’s like an alien and she doesn’t fit in right away.”
DeLong is directing a cast of seven and describes Peter, the father, as a hardworking man on the cranky end of the spectrum.
As the mercury climbs and the seemingly unending drought continues, tempers heat up too. Fed up with it all, Kate has too many drinks one night and announces to the bar patrons that if the drought would end, she would run naked through the town.
News erupts widely when the local newspaper shares Kate’s declaration with the residents of Stony Valley.
“She is an embarrassment to John’s family,” said DeLong. “How can they show themselves in church and what is Olive’s best friend going to think?”
DeLong explained the humour is subtle in this play about passion and acceptance that doesn’t happen right away.
“You don’t have to be a prairie person to enjoy the play,” said DeLong, pointing out the play is well-written and very community oriented. “The the absurdity of the situation makes it funny.”
Dry Streak is a full-length comedy by playwright Leeann Minogue, a freelance agricultural writer, editor and research consultant in the areas of agriculture and economics, a playwright and a farmer. She is the author of Hanson Acres, a fictional column published in Country Guide, and the former editor of Grainews.
DeLong and his wife, Mary Fabian, left Salmon Arm in 1989 and lived and participated in community theatre in Saskatchewan and Prince George. The couple returned to the city in 2020.
“We wanted to come to B.C. because it is a magical place and has everything we like: recreation, theatre and an impressive arts scene,” said DeLong, noting he feels quite a bond with the play having once attended a music festival in Bengough, Sask., a farming community with a population of just over 300. “Even though they (farmers) lived 100 miles apart, they all knew each other and were very welcoming. There was a real spirit of hospitality.”
DeLong said he approached the Shuswap Theatre board about presenting Dry Streak to Salmon Arm audiences a year ago.
“This is an homage to Saskatchewan where the play is very popular,” said DeLong, noting it has also played in Saskatoon, Rosthern, London, Ont.,and more than 25 rural Canadian communities.
Fabian is the producer who brought together the stage crew of more than 20 people for the Salmon Arm production.
“She’s been very valuable to this production,” DeLong says, also pointing out that the Dry Streak set is going to be magical.
Dry Streak opens on Feb. 16. Tickets are available online at shuswaptheatre.com or at Choose Refill near Boston Pizza. The play runs at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 16 to March 2, with Sunday matinees at 1:30 p.m.
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