Director Michael Armstrong Takes On New Play

The Nighthawks by B.C playwright Michelle Deines makes it's debut at the Cedar Community Hall from September 30 to October 16, 2022. A dark comedy about grave robbing and family dynamics, director Michael Armstrong will lead a cast of four to the first ever full performance staging of this play.

Director’s Statement.

"As a playwright, a director and a dramaturge, it is a true delight to work on a new play, particularly one as clever and touching as Michelle Deines new work, The Nighthawks. I was introduced to this work in the fall of 2019 when I was asked to provide some dramaturgy on the winning entry in Yellow Point and Ladysmith’s first playwriting competition. I suppose I had a handful of picky notes but there wasn’t much to say. Michelle is an experienced playwright and this was pretty much ready for the stage. As we have rehearsed and peeled back the layers, it has only become richer. We hope you enjoy watching as much as

we have enjoyed working and playing to bring this to life. This is my first time working with the Yellow Point Drama Group and it has been a delight. Thank you to everyone here and at the Ladysmith Arts Council, who have worked with us to make this production a success. Theatre is about community. It takes as many hours and people to build a show as it does to build a house. These people are volunteers, your friends and neighbours. Think about that next time you meet. You might want to consider buying them a coffee or a beer and shaking their hand."

Michael is an actor, director, playwright and theatre instructor with over 40 years of experience in theatre. He has an MFA in Playwriting and is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada. Recently, Michael directed his own commissioned play, Extended Wings, for Western Edge Theatre in Nanaimo. He has been a juror in Theatre BC’s Canadian Playwriting Competition numerous times and was also the competition manager for the inaugural Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition. In the past few years, he has appeared in a number of productions with Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre in Victoria including

Beckett’s Happy Days, All My Sons, The Drawer Boy, and Our Town. He has worked extensively with Theatre BC as a workshop instructor and guest director and has adjudicated in seven of the ten zones as well as at Mainstage, the provincial community theatre festival. Currently, he and his partner, Beth DeVolder, are writing a musical, The Last Frontier, the first act of which was presented in this year’s Nanaimo Fringe Festival.