Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 14/98) - A longtime member of the Yellowknife theatre community is working on a labor of love to bring Evita to the stage at NACC.

Brian Wainwright says he has had the dream in the back of his mind for a number of years to stage the production.

"When I listen to music, I see very strong visuals," he says. "I've got to let it out.

"It's only right to share your vision with other people."

This local production of Evita -- which Wainwright will direct -- will be the only one of its kind in North America. It comes after a long period of inactivity for the production, as the company which owned the licensing rights to Evita were not making them available to anyone.

"The show had been taken out of circulation for a while," Wainwright says. "Then MTI in New York convinced the people who owned the rights to let them let it out to a few people.

"Then I got a phone call and was asked if I was still interested in putting on a production."

While he is ready to get on with the work of staging the production, Wainwright is well aware of the challenges he will face.

"Evita is a very specific show. I want to make sure I have strong leads already in place before I begin the audition process for the other people I will need in the cast."

Finding the right actress to portray Evita was Wainwright's greatest challenge.

"I had someone in mind when I first began to think about the production, but by the time I finally got the go ahead for the production, her career had gone off in a different direction.

"Then, as I worked during the Under the Midnight Sun Festival, I found my new Evita."

In the production, which will hit the NACC stage in June 1999, the role of Evita will be played by Karen McCaul. The role of Peron will be played by Brian Collins, and Che will be played by German Saravanja.

With those key roles now in place, Wainwright will be able to work on the details of the production.

But that doesn't mean he will have all his actors in town up until the start of rehearsals.

"Two of my three key players are going to be away at school until May," Wainwright says. "So they will have to work on their own during the year.

"I will be able to send them photocopies of the blocking I have worked out as well as recordings of the music, so they will hopefully be ready to go when they come back from school."

He is looking for a large group of actors to fill the more than 60 roles which will make up the cast of Evita.

"I'm not just looking for people who can sing," Wainwright says. "I need singers, but I also need actors who might not be able to sing. I need 15 to 30 young people for a children's chorus. I need mature people.

"There are a lot of people I need, because there isn't always time for the actors to move completely off stage."

Wainwright has already constructed a miniature of the NACC stage, which will help him properly block each scene of the production, and will help better visualize how and where the actors will stand during the songs.