Lady pirates bring gold to Inuvik's East Three stage

East Three Theatre Productions' final play of the year, Lady Pirates of the Caribbean, focused on the club's strongest actors – the senior girls, according to director Abe Drennan.

"Girls make up the majority of the students in our program, so we thought, well why don't we tailor a show to their specific strengths, and Lady Pirates just kind of fit," said Drennan. "The heroines, the main characters, I think they're really proud to be playing roles like this, which is really cool."

The play also featured an orchestra for the first time.

"Kimmy, the cellist, she came up to me and told me she knew how to play the Lady Pirates of the Caribbean song on the cello and asked if she could play it," said Drennan. "The atmosphere, the feel of live music, the tone of the song, it really set the stage for the play."

Lady Pirates of the Caribbean tells the story of a troupe of female pirates, the Lawless Ladies, and their misadventures on Parrot Isle with the cowardly governor and his scheming niece. Stolen gold, a shipwreck and a climactic sword fight were all part of the not-so-classic pirate tale that featured 21 student actors.

Drennan said approximately 300 people came out to see the play over the course of its three runs.

"It had its challenges, but they were able to pull it off really well," he said. "The money we get from the tickets funds the evolution of the program."

The theatre program is currently facing some equipment shortages and is looking into how the school could be retrofitted with more lighting and sound equipment.

"We've had to beg, borrow and steal for equipment like lights, microphones and the fog machine this time around," he said. "There is a lot more you can do with light and sound – we're just scratching the surface right now – so we're looking at purchasing some of that stuff with the proceeds."

Nicole Verbonac, one of the play's lead actors, played the role of Don Juan Futon.

"My character is Don Juan Futon, the governor of Parrot Isle … he's kind of a huge coward," said Verbonac. "I think it went really well, I had a lot of fun doing it."

She said it wasn't difficult to play a character of the opposite gender, but it was difficult to play someone so opposite to herself.

"Most of the characters I've ever played were dudes," said Verbonac. "The real question is how difficult it is to play someone so opposite to my personality. It's weird, but I like trying something difficult."

Verbonac has been acting in school productions for years, and is considering studying theatre in post-secondary school.

"I still have one more year in school, so I'll definitely continue acting here. I'm still debating whether or not I'd want to go to a theatre school," she said. "My older sibling, he's actually going to a theatre school in Montreal, so theatre and the arts run in our family."

Kenzie MacDonald, who was involved with building props and part of the backstage crew, said he is impressed with how the student actors have grown over the four years the theatre company has been operating.

"The actors have evolved. Some of the kids when we first started were hesitant, very shy, very nervous, and now some of them just walk on the stage like they own it," said MacDonald. "Their confidence has been built. They look forward to it more and more every year."

He said the Saturday night play went off without a hitch.

"I was really impressed. They didn't miss anything," he said. "So come out and see what we've got next year!"