Cold Woman: New Brunswick’s Murderess was put together in less than three months by six writers, six actors and six directors.
“It was a different type of a collaborative process, it was really democratic,” said Brett Loughery, one of the six collaborators. “We talked about the general idea of the play. What we did is, we divided it up, and each of us went on our own and wrote a scene about on what we thought would be important for Sophia Hamilton’s story. It really worked out well.”
Loughery plays multiple characters, ranging from Sophia’s henchman to a suspicious mailman.
The Next Folding Theatre Company production opens Thursday in the Ted Daigle Auditorium on the St. Thomas University campus. The play tells the story of New Brunswick fabled serial killer Sophia Hamilton. It’s based on William H. Jackson’s 1945 pamphlet Life and Confession of Sophia Hamilton and follows Hamilton and her gang who murdered guests at her tavern.
Julia Whalen, another collaborator, also starred in The Next Folding Company’s production of Pistols and Petticoats: Shadows of Sarah Emma Edmond earlier this year, which was the second collaborative production to come out of the theatre company. She said communication is key on such an ambitious project.
“There really wasn’t ever a point where anything was tragically wrong or a big fight about it. Whenever someone says something that doesn’t mix well, we’d have a conversation, and we just needed a dialogue.”
Whalen, a fourth year journalism and great ideas major at STU, said the best part about being in a creative collaboration is the different backgrounds and levels of experience.
The Next Folding Theatre Company strives to produce a unique collaborative performance each year with actors from all different concentrations. This is the third collaborative production that has focused on a piece of little-known New Brunswick history.
Loughery said working on a team is something he would do again.
“It’s really neat and interesting to see what kind of stuff we can come up together, and I definitely want to pursue that in the future.”
Despite the project’s ambitious storytelling method, which includes Sophia being played by both female and male actors, audiences are going to be entranced by the story and production, said Loughery.
“I really think they are going to enjoy it. It’s a really captivating story; we put a lot of work in to it. Especially when it’s something based on the area, people are going to be like wow I didn’t know this was something that went around in this province, whether it did happen or not.”
Cold Woman: New Brunswick Murderess runs Nov. 15-17 at St. Thomas University in the Ted Daigle Auditorium starting at 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 for general admission, and $5 for students/seniors.
