A hockey rink probably isn't the first place that leaps to mind when you're thinking about where to find romance. Yet, in "Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad," it's the place where two single parents of peewee hockey players make a connection.
How will that connection play out? Let's just say that, like a hockey game, it can be fun and exhilarating, but it can also be difficult and test boundaries and temperament.
"Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad" will be on stage at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Empire Arts Center. Directed by Ross Young, it opened last year in St. Paul and is now part of the traveling theatre repertoire of The Actors Theatre of Minnesota, a professional company based out of St. Paul's Lowry Theatre. This is the same organization that produced the fishing musical, "Guys on Ice," in November at the Empire.
The show stars Heidi Fellner and E.J. Subkoviak. Because Subkoviak has a conflict, Young will play the "hockey dad" part for the show in Grand Forks.
"Hockey Mom. Hockey Dad" is a romantic comedy about two lonely single parents who meet and fall in love while watching their kids play a season of peewee hockey. In their section of the bleachers in an old rink, they find the best and worst in themselves reflected by the game.
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"Love and violence collide in this tender, uproarious, and sometimes disturbing story about our (Canadian) national obsession," says a description of the show. It was written by Michael Melski, an award-winning writer and filmmaker from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Young said the play takes turns the audience won't expect, with surprises in the characters' backgrounds that will shape its outcome.
"It turns serious near the end of the show," Young said. "There certainly is a romantic piece to it, but it also deals with people's boundaries and temperament and where is the line between violence that is appropriate and necessary -- because hockey is violent -- and what's abusive."
The show is two acts, about 45 minutes each, and Young said it was appropriate for teenagers and older.
Tickets are $20, $18 for members. To charge by phone, call (701) 777-4090 or go to Ticketmaster.com.
Reach Tobin at (701) 780-1134; (800) 477-6572, ext. 134; or send e-mail to ptobin@gfherald.com .
