October 24th - November 2nd at 8:00 pm
Havana Theatre, 1212 Commercial Drive
TICKETS: 1-800-838-3006, or visit brownpapertickets.com
Institutional Theatre Productions Society is a small theatre company that evolved out of the theatre program at Matsqui prison. We hope to use a production of a new play, The Tao of Ron, to draw attention to the transforming effects of theatre as Ron began his the
atre and post secondary education while in prison. Unfortunately since that time, the government has cut many of the academic prison programs. The Tao of Ron is a confessional style play that is part realism and part fantasy. It’s a beautiful, poetic and moving play that is at times brutal, funny, touching and tragic. The play tells the true story of Ron Sauve as written by his widow Bev. It takes place in the period of time just before, during and just after his death and intertwines two parallel stories, combining Ron’s turbulent past with the grieving process of his wife. It deals with both her grief at the death of her husband and his lifelong struggle with addiction and the consequences of that. Ron was a convicted killer and he**in addict who became a professional actor after his release from prison. At that time there were theatre programs for prisoners at both Matsqui and Williams Head prisons. A number of the prisoners that participated in those programs became theatre professionals after being released. We believe that it’s an important play that needs to be produced. From a social/political stand point it examines how society deals with poverty and addiction. It also questions the move in recent years away from a penal system that honors rehabilitation to one that is more punitive. From a personal standpoint it deals with issues of redemption and forgiveness.
