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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, September 21, 2012 · 26 Act of Faith brings Norm Foster's Old Love to stage By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Even while Oakville's Vince Carlin was still working at the CBC, he had wanted to be in theatre. He dabbled in community theatre, winning a number of acting awards in the process, but he wanted to get onto the professional stage. He got himself an agent, but the opportunities were still few and far between. So rather than wait around to get roles in shows, he cast himself after he approached a few theatre friends to form a production company of their own. "It was a little slow and I was moaning to Dia Frid, who had directed me in a couple shows, and I asked her to help me with a Shakespeare audition," the 68-year-old Carlin said. "When we finished, I was moaning about not getting enough auditions, typical actor stuff, and she said, `Why don't we just do our own?'" That was several years ago, and now that theatre company, Act of Faith Productions, is putting on its fourth show, titled Old Love. And yes, Carlin is still the lead man on stage along with actor Kitty Varley, who together form the entire cast of the two-person show, which opens on Thursday, Sept. 27. Not only has Act of Faith been successful enough to continue on since then, it helped propel Carlin's second career as he now regularly gets cast for professional acting gigs. "I'm just now full-time as a professional actor and this looked like a good time to re- Artscene nikki wesley / oakville beaver / @halton_photog finding love: Pictured rehearsing for their upcoming performance of Norm Foster's Old Love are Kitty Varley and Vince Carlin. The play opens on Thursday, Sept. 27 in Oakville. establish Act of Faith as an Oakville professional theatre company. So we're hoping we'll be now on a more regular basis instead of every couple of years," Carlin said. He retired from the CBC, of which he was the ombudsman in his last few years with the corporation, in December 2010. Since that time, he's been fully engaged in professional acting, having had a number of roles on stages across southern Ontario, including a Macbeth production in Toronto, a staging of Art at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre, and a farce called Who's Under Where at Mohawk Dinner Theatre. He'll also be appearing on the CBC's Murdoch Mysteries. The two other founders of Act of Faith are still involved with the company. Frid is director and the designer for Old Love. John O'Hara is producer. O'Hara is also the executive producer of West End Studio Theatre, from whom Act of Faith rents studio space. Act of Faith tries to find plays that are interesting but not well known, ones that don't get produced often. Old Love is a lesserknown play by well-known Canadian playwright, Norm Foster. "This one was a little bit different (from Foster's usual works) because it's funny, but it's also very touching and thoughtful. And, it Oakville NissanFamily Series PINKALICIOUS (ages 2 to 10) October 21 CANADIAN OPERA CO: HANSEL & GRETEL (ages 6 to 12) November 25 OUTERBRIDGE: THE TIME CAPSULE (ages 8+) December 22 PETER & THE WOLF (ages 6 to 10) January 27 TALES OF THE GARDEN (ages 5 to 10) March 12 & 13 BOO! (ages 4 to 12) April 7 hadn't been done a lot," Carlin said. The play is about an older man named Bud (Carlin) and his love interest Molly (Varley). Bud has been infatuated with Molly for some time, but both had been married to other people. Fast forward to when the play opens and Bud is already divorced, while Molly's husband suddenly dies. So, Bud takes his opportunity to ask Molly out to dinner at her husband's funeral. The actors play the characters at various stages of their lives, from young to old. Carlin said his character is callow and unsure of himself in his younger days but he matures as he ages, while maintaining the same personality from his younger days. "What makes him interesting as a character is that he maintains his youthful exuberance and passion but is more mature and confident in himself," Carlin said, "which leads him to be able to go to the funeral and say, `Hey, let's go to dinner.'" Act of Faith keeps a motto of "Theatre is an act of faith in a wise word in an insane world," written by poet Victor Hugo Rascon Banda. "We try to find things that have something to say in that regard and this play does. It has something to say about older people finding love or looking for love," Carlin said. "This play is fun. It's a great evening out. It's nice that it's funny and it's touching. There is a message in it, but it's not preachy at all." Carlin adds the play can be enjoyable for audiences of any ages. "This play is not just for older people. I think it's for younger people, too, who never see older people sort of reflected as normal human beings," he said. "That's what this show does. The older people are seen as both younger and older, but they're just people. They're not stereotypes or archetypes... These are healthy, contemporary people who live." Old Love will be staged at WEST's studio, located at 1109 North Service Rd. E. Theatre dates are Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 4-6 with shows at 7:30 p.m., and Sept. 30 for a 2 p.m. matinee showing. General admission tickets cost $25 or $23 for the matinee, while student and senior tickets cost $20, or $18 for the matinee. For tickets or more information, visit www.carlinproductions.com. THE OAKVILLE CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS To order tickets call: 905-815-2021 or go to All performances are at Improv group hosts Theatresports tonight Oakville Improv is gearing up for another round of matches as four teams will compete for comedic supremacy tonight (Friday). Theatresports will take place at Central Baptist Church at 8 p.m. Theatresports consists of staged comedic improv challenges between two teams, with each team vying for points to win. The church is located at 340 Rebecca St. Entry is through the rear doors. The Oakville-based, non-profit group is starting its fall improv classes the last week of September. For more information, visit www.oakvilleimprov.com. www.oakvillecentre.ca