Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Feb 22/02) - Laughs abounded during two performances of a play exploring some of the problems young people face.

In "Yellow on Thursdays," characters Rebecca and Mike begin an up-and- down love affair, while Rebecca's best friend, Katie, comes to suspect the reason she doesn't like boys is because she's lesbian.

The play was a co-production between Gwaandak Theatre Adventures and Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse, and was written by Sara Graefe. The play was performed Feb. 12, once in the afternoon and again in the evening.

Stage manager Dean Eyre explained "Yellow on Thursdays" has a universal theme.

"It's not just wondering whether you want to sleep with boys or girls, it's the whole sex thing," Eyre said.

"Adults or kids can relate to it, 'cause either you're going through it right now, or you have."

The crew had put on three shows in Whitehorse but Inuvik was their first road show. Eyre noted the afternoon performance was the first in front of a big school audience.

"We were really nervous about it," he said. "It was really cool."

Yvonne Wallace, who plays Rebecca, said the students responded well.

"It was like a whole lot of giving and receiving," Wallace said.

"Sara has written a really complex, fast-moving, intricate play that I think is timeless. In the process of the play I was able to revisit my high school years, safely," she said.

"The universal message is what are the things we do that pigeonhole other people?"

Jamie Lee Shebelski, who plays Katie, likes the fact the characters reveal their innermost thoughts in monologues.

"You see the characters as their social selves, and you see them in their private moments," said Shebelski, who is from Saskatoon.

"You see the questions that are going on and all this crazy stuff that's happening to you. But then in the social situation, you're not supposed to talk about it, you're just supposed to know it all already. That's what's really neat to me."

A graduate of Ryerson Theatre school in Toronto, Shebelski said acting was just something she always did.

"I just think it's a really interesting job. I'll never master it."

Wallace is from British Columbia and completed her theatre training at Humber College in Toronto last year. She said storytelling is what attracted her to acting.