www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday August 24, 2007 - 23 Artscene Oakville Beaver Actress enjoying role in a fun bit of Nunsense By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Lauren Busteed as Sister Mary Leo Lauren Busteed can't really compare her current role to others she's taken on in her acting career. It's not for a lack of experience the 23-yearold Oakville native has been on stage since age 11. It's because Nunsense is in a cat Lauren Busteed, commenting egory all its own. "It's wacky. It is what it is," a on dancing in a nun's habit smiling Busteed said of the Stage West Mississauga production. "We're of Performing Arts Inc. and continnot trying to pretend like it's not just ued to dance during her college years. nuns putting on a show." Dancing in a habit, she admits, The musical comedy by Dan Goggin is based on the Little Sisters takes some getting used to. "It presents its challenges with of Hoboken, but what goes on in their New Jersey convent isn't exact- certain things the veil whips you in ly what you'd expect.The nuns are in the face when you turn," she said, the midst of organizing a fundraiser laughing. "You get used to it, and it's to pay for the burial of four sisters, pretty basic movements. You can't do among a large group poisoned by the a whole lot in a habit." Busteed does pull out the pointe convent's cook, Sister Julia Child of shoes for two numbers in the show. God. "Reverend Mother bought a plas- Her favourite dance number is The ma TV instead of paying to bury the Dying Nun Ballet. "It's hilarious, and it plays off the last four nuns," Busteed said. The six nuns showcased in flying nun," she said. "It's sort of a Nunsense include a woman from the dance version of when Sister Julia Bronx and another they call Sister poisons the nuns with soup. I die at Mary Amnesia she can't remember the end, there's a big burp and then I fall." anything. Busteed had a hand in some of Busteed plays Sister Mary Leo, "the novice and youngest nun," she these numbers as assistant choreographer of the show, helping director says. "She's really sweet and innocent. and choreographer Di Nyland She's a dancer, and she wants to be Proctor wherever her expertise was needed. the first ever nun ballerina." Proctor also directed Busteed in Busteed's background is wellsuited for the part, as the recent Anne of Green Gables with Drayton Sheridan College Music Theatre Entertainment, and approached her Performance grad started ballet at to join the Stage West production of age 4 at the Fleming School of Dance Nunsense in Calgary, which ran from now known as the Fleming School February to April. "It presents its challenges with certain things -- the veil whips you in the face when you turn. You get used to it, and it's pretty basic movements. You can't do a whole lot in a habit." "I admire Di and I think the world of her, so I was on that bandwagon right away," said Busteed, who played understudy to three nuns in the Calgary show. "The way she directs it she doesn't push for laughs. We are actually nuns putting on a show, and the laughs just come through that. "It would be really easy to go too far and make the obvious nun jokes." Busteed is just beginning her career in professional theatre, but realizes Nunsense may be one of those once-in-a-lifetime gigs. "It's a big undertaking, because you're on stage basically the entire time, and it's also so much fun," she said. "I don't know if I'll ever get this experience again." Busteed has been represented for the past year by an agency called The Talent House, which is based in Toronto, where she now lives. After Nunsense wraps up, Busteed will play a role in Emily a musical based on the story of Emily of New Moon at the Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie. As long as the work keeps coming, Busteed says she couldn't be happier. "In Canada, I base success on work. If you continue to work, that to me would be enough," she said. "I'm so lucky to do what I love. This was always my main passion, and I thought, if I never try it, I'll always wonder what if. I wouldn't want that." Nunsense continues at Mississauga's Stage West until Sept. 16. Performances run nightly from Tuesday to Sunday with matinees on Wednesdays and Sundays. For tickets, call the box office at 905 2380042.