Everything's Coming Up Golden

The 50th anniversary season at the Fort Peck Summer Theatre is soon coming to an end. And what a fitting end it is.

The last show at the theatre on the lake is On Golden Pond. The season ender is more than just a show for this crew, showcasing well-known faces on the stage, a young up-and-comer, and a first-time FPST director, but a combination for a perfect blend of all the theatre represents for the region.

“Such a talent!” gushed veteran actor, James Rio about Ian Wright, the young local who stars as young Billy. Rio, who was on the FPST stage for Man of LaMancha, directed by co-star Pam Vies, was full of praise for his fellow thespians. “I was eager to work with Pam again,” he said, after discussing previous shows, Cabaret and Leader of the Pack which Rio directed, they had collaborated on.

Dan Sharkey, a veteran of several Broadway productions as well as Montana theatres, took on the role of director for this production. “Nothing like directing a cast of directors,” he chuckled. Rio was quick to point out the advantags of having been on both sides of the lights, noting that having patience comes in handy for the director and actors alike as they work.

“It’s been really great. Eveyone has been willing to try stuff,” elaborated Sharkey. One such example was the addition of a kitchen to the stage set. That small change to the set allowed the crew to keep the show more active. The inaugural director explained that he did a lot of reading up on the history of the Ernest Thompson play. In his research, he sat down with Fred Grandy, whom he had done a show with, to discuss Grandy’s views of the show since the former Love Boat star had won an award for playing the role Rio is playing.

“‘Find the humor.’ That’s what he told me. It is a funny piece. So many people think it’s sad, it’s a drama,” said Sharkey. “But it has a lot of heart.” From their first rehearsal, on a boat on Fort Peck Lake, to the day before the show opened, it is clear that Rio and Sharkey have found the joy and humor in the show and in their time in northeast Montana.

Sharkey touched on the playwright’s history, how he wrote the show at 28 when he could not secure an acting job. Based on his grandparents, the writer captured his memories so well that the work has become a classic of stage and screen. “Maybe he didn’t understand at the time what he wrote. He was an old soul,” marveled Sharkey.

Capturing memory was a key component in the finale production. “Like a memory play, but not a memory play. It shows solving current problems with the past,” Sharkey explained. “It is a beautiful piece.”

The changes to the stage for this show included a screen door, trying to recreate that memory of times past. Rio rather wistfully explained, “That sound of that door shutting is so evocative of summer.”

The final closing of that screen door, the show, and the summer season, will be on Sunday, Sept. 1. Tickets can be purchased at the online box office, fortpecktheatre.org.