{"id":31158,"date":"2018-12-14T03:55:26","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T11:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31158"},"modified":"2018-12-12T12:14:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T20:14:00","slug":"a-royal-panto-at-metro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/12\/14\/a-royal-panto-at-metro\/","title":{"rendered":"A royal panto at Metro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Katherine Matlashewski plays Mopsy in\nMetro Theatre\u2019s musical panto King Arthur\u2019s Cour<\/em>t. (photo by\nTracy-Lynn Chernaske)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Katherine Matlashewski has numerous\nacting, singing and choreographing credits on her resum\u00e9, the musical panto King\nArthur\u2019s Court<\/em>, which opens tonight (Dec. 14) at Metro Theatre, will be her\nfirst pantomime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnlike a traditional play, there is a lot of\nimprov and audience participation,\u201d she explained about a panto. \u201cThis can be a\nchallenge because, as an actor, you never know what is going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s also part of the fun. \u201cIn any show,\u201d\nshe said, \u201ceveryone brings something unique to the table. In this wonderful\ncast [of 28], there is such a wide range in age and skill level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, King Arthur\u2019s Cour<\/em>t marks\nfellow Jewish community member Heather Webster\u2019s third panto. Webster has been\nstage-managing at Metro for about five years now, but her connection to Metro \u2013\nand pantos \u2013 goes further back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first theatre experience came from my\ngrandmother, Shirley Rose,\u201d Webster told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cShe took me\nto the Metro Theatre when I was 12 for my first panto. From there, I got into\nworking backstage and learning stage craft in high school at Kitsilano from\nJulie Bond. In Grade 11, I began volunteering at the Metro Theatre, and have\nbeen ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webster, who used to work as an on-call tech\nfor the Rothstein Theatre at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver,\ndoes stage-managing in her off-time. Her full-time job is with Purolator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matlashewski teaches at Arts Umbrella. \u201cI love\nhaving the opportunity to share my love of visual and performing arts,\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cI believe it is so important for kids to have a creative outlet as part\nof their education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Matlashewski owns a small\nbusiness, Sweetheart\u2019s Baking, which can be found on Instagram and Facebook.\n\u201cLike theatre,\u201d she said, \u201cmy passion for baking started at a young age. This\nkeeps me extremely busy when I am not in a show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At age 2, her mother enrolled her in her first\ndance class at Arts Umbrella. \u201cIn the years to follow,\u201d Matlashewski said, \u201cI\ncontinued my training in dance while also exploring theatre and visual arts. My\nlove of musical theatre began at a very young age. Since then, I have not\nlooked back. I feel extremely blessed to have had multiple opportunities to\ntrain with so many professionals in the industry. I am grateful to have taken\npart in programs such as the Arts Club\u2019s Musical Theatre Intensive and the\nPre-Professional Musical Theatre Troupe at Arts Umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Matlashewski\u2019s teachers and colleagues in\nthe Jewish community have been Erika Babins, Perry Ehrlich and Wendy Bross\nStuart, to name only a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a result,\u201d said Matlashewski, who comes\nfrom a small family, \u201cI have had many wonderful opportunities to connect with\nothers in the community, create a positive support network, and learn more\nabout my culture. I feel so blessed to be a part of such a warm and welcoming\ncommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matlashewski has also worked with the director\nof King Arthur\u2019s Court<\/em> before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year,\u201d she said, \u201cI worked with Chris\nAdams (our director) on RCMT\u2019s [Royal City Musical Theatre\u2019s] concert\nproduction of Into the Woods<\/em>. He encouraged me to take part in this\nproduction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams was most recently featured in the Independent<\/em>for directing and co-producing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of FleetStreet<\/em> (jewishindependent.ca\/experience-sweeneys-revenge<\/a>). While this isMatlashewski\u2019s first show with Metro, this will be Adams\u2019 seventh show andthird panto with the theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember sitting in the audience, as a\nlittle kid, booing the demon and cheering the good fairy and then rushing to\nthe stage after the show, just to get autographs from the cast,\u201d he recalls on\nMetro\u2019s website. \u201cFrom that childhood time,\u201d he says, \u201cpanto has kept a warm\nplace in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Arthur\u2019s Court<\/em> will feature a\ndemon and a fairy, too, along with a dragon and, of course, Arthur and the\nKnights of the Round Table. Chivalry and chicanery will run aplenty, and the\naudience will be encouraged to cheer and jeer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matlashewski plays Mopsy, the court jester. \u201cMy\nrole requires me to do lots of singing, dancing and goofing around onstage,\u201d\nshe said. \u201cI also talk directly to the audience at certain times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, behind the scenes, Webster will be\nmanaging the chaos. For her, she said, \u201cThe best part is when I get to hear the\nkids talk to the actors during the meet-and-greets, and hearing their favourite\nparts of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about and tickets to KingArthur\u2019s Court<\/em>, visit metrotheatre.com\/currentshow<\/a>. It runs until Jan. 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katherine Matlashewski plays Mopsy in Metro Theatre\u2019s musical panto King Arthur\u2019s Court. (photo by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske) While Katherine Matlashewski has numerous acting, singing and choreographing credits on her resum\u00e9, the musical panto King Arthur\u2019s Court, which opens tonight (Dec. 14) at Metro Theatre, will be her first pantomime. \u201cUnlike a traditional play, there is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[8583,6296,8582],"class_list":["post-31158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-metro","tag-musical-theatre","tag-panto"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}