Kerri Salki Takes Home the Trophy!

What an amazing evening!

Our second annual So You Think You Can Act was a massive success! All of the celebrities blew the audience away and completed exceeded their expectations. In addition, Emcee Lee White provided the audience with hilarious commentary, as did our judges Mariam Bernstein, Ryan Miller and Robb Paterson. Other special thanks go out to our actors, who worked with their celebrity scene partners with lots of patience and encouragement!

For most of our celebrities, this was this first foray on stage, though they all took risks and really enjoyed themselves. Every celebrity participant displayed tremendous confidence in their new found acting abilities. However, the audience felt that one celebrity in particular displayed just enough brilliance to put them over the edge. Kerri Salki of 102.3 Clear FM was ultimately announced the winner and awarded the trophy! Kerri performed expertly with her scene partner as part of Daniel MacIvor’s classic piece Marion Bridge.

Every one of our celebrity participants was memorable in their own way! Our two finalists were world champion curler Jeff Stoughton and big band and jazz legend Ron Paley.

In addition to a stellar evening full of star-studded performances, the audience also partook in a raffle featuring amazing prizes and a wine and dessert post-show reception.

We want to thank all of our amazing raffle donors, volunteers, staff, playwrights who donated their work, actors and of course, the celebrities for making this evening just as memorable – if not more so – than last year’s inaugural event. We are also grateful to the audience who enjoyed the performances but also helped to make Sarasvàti Productions’ world premiere of Jail Baby a reality through their ticket and raffle purchase.

We are over the moon at how enthusiastic and excited our audience was last night! Now we need your input – who should be in the line-up for next year? What local celebrity would you most like to see try their hand at acting? We can’t wait to start working on another amazing event for 2014.

Sarasvàti Productions Challenges Local Celebrities!

We are so excited to be announcing the celebrity line-up for our 2^nd Annual So You Think You Can Act fundraising event, which is taking place on February 20, 2013! Last year the evening was a great success and we are confident that this year will be even bigger with more hilarity and hijinks!

For the uninitiated, So You Think You Can Act pairs local celebrities with local theatre actors to perform short scenes for a panel of judges, who will provide comical commentary on the performances. The event is done in the style of reality television competition shows, which means it is ultimately up to the audience to decide who their favorite pair will be! This year’s theme is Family Ties, definitely lots of potential conflict and humour in scenes about family relationships!

And now, onto the celebrities!

Hosted by Lee White (CRUMBS)

Judges:

– Mariam Bernstein (local actor and director)
– Ryan Miller (Hot Thespian Action)
– Robb Paterson (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Associate Director)

Celebrity participants:

–Jenna Khan (Breakfast Television)
– Jon Ljungberg (Comedian)
– Marcy Markusa (CBC Radio)
– Ron Paley (Ron Paley Big Band)
– Kerri Salki (102.3 Clear FM)
– Desiree Scott (Olympic bronze medalist)
– Jeff Stoughton (world champion curler)

 
Ron Paley, Jenna Kahn and Lee White

Tickets are only $25 (which includes a wine reception) and all proceeds go to Sarasvàti Productions and our world premiere of Jail Baby, taking place from May 16-26, 2013. Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks to learn more about our celebrities, their acting partners and the scenes they will perform! After last year’s great success we are expecting a sell-out, so buy your tickets early!