Bumbershoot turns eight

Photo: Contributed

Kelowna's Bumbershoot Theatre has some exciting plans for their coming eighth season of operation. Artistic Director Tracy Ross said, “We have opened up the season to provide more options for families to design their own experiences.” This will include more flexibility in season passes and savings on subscriptions.

The heart of the season will be a lineup of six exciting mainstage productions. The season will open with ‘Balloonacy’ from January 21 – 31 telling the uplifting story of a lonely old man and his friendship with a balloon; ‘The Flower Ball’ March 10 – 20 is a homegrown Kelowna production written by artistic director Tracy Ross with music by Neville Bowman;  ‘The Railway Children’ April 21- 31 is an award winning adaptation of the story by E. Nesbit; and May 19 – 29 will feature the musical ‘Junie B. Jones through a special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).

Two fall productions will include ‘James and the Giant Peach’ October 13 – 23 based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, and ‘2B WUT UR’ by the award winning Canadian playwright of the same name that allows adults to reflect on what it was like to be young.

Again this year Pizza Nights will be featured on the first Saturday evening performances of each production in cooperation with Murray’s Pizza in Westbank. The popular 'PJ Milk and Cookie' nights will continue on the Thursday opening production nights.

The 2016 Mainstage productions will again be designed for all members of the family, and particularly children, featuring adult as well as young performers. The new Family Pass offers a 30% reduction so a family of four (two adults and two children) can attend their choice of four mainstage productions for $199. Theatre Lovers offers tickets for all six productions at a 20% discount.