One of Thompson's newest wintertime traditions, the fourth-annual - well, fourth in this century - Beer & Skits night was held Feb. 25 at the Juniper Centre.
Organized by Thompson Playhouse, and serving as that group's chief annual fundraiser, this year's Beer & Skits had only two skits entered by the community at large, but Playhouse - whose entries weren't eligible to win - stepped up to fill the void, delivering several skits which entertained the audience while poking fun at notable Thompsonites, including - or perhaps especially - Mayor Tim Johnston.
This was the first year since the revival of Beer & Skits that Thompson City Council chose not to participate - which provided extra motivation for other groups, as city council had won first prize in each of the previous years. With council out of the picture, the Thompson Kinettes stepped up to claim top spot, providing a look at the life and times of Rudy the Raven. The Kinettes pulled no punches, examining everything in his life that got Rudy to where he is now - including the good (flying high as Thompson's mascot in the old Kinsmen Winter Festival) and the bad (bottoming out and seeking help from the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba).
Second place went to Marie-Eve Mongrain, whose "Tup-Rare" skit spoofed the popular Slap Chop commercials as well as her own status as "the Tupperware lady."
Other activities through the night included a Thompson version of "The Newlywed Game," a 100-prize raffle, and "sweat poetry," where audience members were given 10 words and had to compose a poem using all 10.
Thompson Playhouse members also performed a scene from "Dixie Swim Club," a comedy about five women, lifelong friends, who get together at a cottage for one weekend every year. The play jumps through time periods, spanning different eras of the group's lives.
"Dixie Swim Club" will be performed by Playhouse this fall as a major production. Typically, the group only does one such production every two years, but Playhouse president Donna Wilson - who will be sitting in the director's chair for the first time with "Dixie Swim Club" - said that the group saw it performed last year at provincial drama festival Act Fest, and decided they couldn't wait until 2012 to perform it.
Thompson Playhouse's last major production was whodunit mystery "Murdered to Death," which was performed at the Letkemann Theatre twice over the last weekend of November.
