Warning: Contains mild spoilers for Season 2 of Riverdale.
Riverdale fans who鈥檝e been intrigued by the surprisingly nuanced character of Moose Mason will want to snap up a ticket to on Granville Island 鈥� but only if they鈥檙e allowed to watch R-rated fare.
Actor 鈥� who portrays the bi-curious jock Moose on The CW鈥檚 hit series about Archie Andrews and his eclectic group of pals and foes 鈥� launches his new theatre company, , this month with a week-long run of Red Light Winter, the searing drama from American playwright Adam Rapp that was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2006.
鈥淭his show is rated R, and we鈥檝e been warning people not to bring kids to it,鈥� says the Okanagan-raised, Vancouver-based actor and theatre artist in a recent phone interview. The R-rating is printed on the show鈥檚 tickets: for coarse language, nudity, sexuality and violence 鈥� none of which is 鈥済ratuitous, but it鈥檚 absolutely needed for the story,鈥� notes Kearsley. 鈥淭here鈥檚 absolutely meaning behind it.鈥�
Red Light Winter follows two college buddies (portrayed by Kearsley and ) who take off to the Netherlands and are pulled into a bizarre and tortured love triangle with a Dutch sex worker (Alexandra Voicu).
Riverdale is dark, but Red Light Winter is (in the parlance of season one Veronica Lodge) full dark, no stars. Kearsley describes Red Light Winter as prototypical Adam Rapp: 鈥淚t鈥檚 very raw and very visceral and it鈥檚 very in your face. He doesn鈥檛 let the audience off the hook at all. It鈥檚 funny, but it鈥檚 also brutal. It鈥檚 as dark as it is funny and it鈥檚 as beautiful as it is tragic. It鈥檚 all-encompassing theatre.鈥�
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Red Light Winter is the inaugural production for Vagrant Players, which Kearsley says will provide a safe haven for emerging artists and actors who crave risk-taking theatre and diverse voices, but might feel rootless in the 麻豆传媒映画theatre scene. It鈥檚 why he chose the name Vagrant Players in the first place.
鈥淰agrant is another name for outcasts, and I feel like, as artists, we don鈥檛 really belong in society a lot of times, and when we鈥檙e not filming, we鈥檙e sitting around picking up odd jobs and figuring out where our next meal is coming from,鈥� Kearsley says. 鈥淚 really wanted this to be an artistic shelter for artists to come and create art together and allow the community to be there with us to support and listen to these stories.鈥�
Just because Kearsley is making inroads into Vancouver鈥檚 theatre scene doesn鈥檛 mean that he鈥檚 leaving Riverdale (鈥淚 love being on set, and I鈥檓 looking to expand my career in that,鈥� he says,听adding that when he read a recent Riverdale script in which (spoiler alert for fans who haven鈥檛 seen it) Moose was shot by the Black Hood, he assumed he鈥檇 been killed off) 鈥� but it does mean that he鈥檚 determined to make theatre 鈥� his first love 鈥� an even bigger part of his life.
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鈥淢y biggest passion right now is to help build the theatre industry here,鈥� says Kearsley. 鈥淭he experience you get on stage is unlike anything else.鈥�
As for the audience鈥檚 experience of Red Light Winter, Kearsley says ticket buyers are in for an emotional gut-punch. 鈥淚 want the audience to fall in love and be heartbroken.鈥�
He laughs. 鈥淭hat sounds a bit sadistic. I don鈥檛 want them to feel heartbroken, but that鈥檚 probably how they鈥檙e going to feel. I鈥檓 sure they鈥檒l be reminded of experiences in their own life, and they鈥檒l come out better for it.鈥�
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鈥⑻齊ed Light Winter听is directed by Nadine Wright and runs Nov. 18 to 26 at the Revue Stage (1601 Johnson St.) on Granville Island.
