The Dressing Room by Sydenham playwright goes up this weekend in K-town

Wilma Kenny | Jul 10, 2019

Writer/director Peggy Hallett talking with cast following final rehearsal of her new play The Dressing Room, which will be running this week (Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 7:30) at Domino Theatre, 52 Church Street, Kingston.

Hallett says the idea for the play came to her while sitting backstage waiting to go on in a musical years ago; “The idea that there was actually a story, lots of drama and comedy, in the ladies backstage dressing room percolated with me for awhile. I realized it could work, and got moving on it.” She took her script-in-process to several reading groups for critiques, including a play reading at Domino. This spring she began casting and production. This is the final product of a number of rewrites and fine tunings.

The whole comedy takes place backstage in an aging theatre, over a period of several years, each scene set during the production of a different musical. The all-female cast runs from age 15 to 65.

Dress rehearsals can be pretty grim, but this one went well with very few hitches, though it is to be hoped that the unnecessarily complicated set changes will be speedier on opening night.

Hallett, a Sydenham resident, is retired from her teaching job, but works more than full-time painting, writing and editing. Come to her play, and enjoy the additional treat of seeing some of her artwork in the lobby.