Hilda's Yard

Left to right: Kevin Shipley, Mary Kennedy, Rae McDonald, Bryan McDonald, Regan Bennett and Paul Butler.

It’s an exciting summer day in 1956 for Hilda and Sam Fluck. Newly on their own since their thirtysomething children Gary and Janey moved out, they are finally ready to relax. Hilda plans to hang her laundry while Sam goes to buy a shiny new television. What could disturb their simple peace?

Turns out doors are merely decoration as Gary and Janey literally fall over the fence into the backyard, looking for help out of sticky situations. Gary has lost his job, is enamoured with his new girlfriend, Bobbi, and running from a bookie named Beverly, while the ever-dependent Janey has unexpectedly left her husband. The family careens into an afternoon of calamity, showing them that ultimately they must celebrate how they can be together rather than apart.

Norm Foster’s heartwarming and relatable family comedy proves that there will always be a significant weight to an empty nest.

Hilda's Yard premiered at Theatre New Brunswick (where Foster's first play, Sinners had its premiere) in the fall of 2012.

Norm Foster

Norm Foster was born in Newmarket, Ont., and raised in Toronto. He studied radio and television arts at Centennial College in Toronto and Confederation College in Thunder Bay, and had a 25-year career in radio - some of it in Kingston - before a friend persuaded him to go to a community theatre audition in Fredericton, N.B.

Foster, who says he had never seen a play until then, got the lead role (Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey), fell in love with theatre, and two years later wrote Sinners, which Theatre New Brunswick produced.

He went on to become Canada's most produced playwright and has written more than 45 plays. They include The Motor Trade, Ethan Claymore, The Melville Boys and Wrong for Each Other.

He has also written a musical with composer Leslie Arden (The Last Resort) and four musicals (Jasper Station, Race Day, Sitting Pretty and One Moment) with composer Steve Thomas.

We would like to acknowledge that this production takes place on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. We honour and give thanks to the land, its inhabitants and their enduring cultures.

Admission $20 (plus Grand Theatre surcharge). Tickets available through Kingston Grand Box Office, 613-530-2050 and online, until 2 p.m. on day of performance, and at the door (cash, debit, Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay or Android Pay) on performance nights when available. Seniors and members $16 at the door on Thursdays only. Children and students $10.

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