An advocate for New Brunswick children, youth and seniors by day, community theater performer and director by night, Kelly Lamrock has had a passion for theater and stand-up comedy since her school days, and he does not intend to stop now.
Most of the time, the Moment Theater Co., Lamrock’s community theater company in Fredericton, puts on its shows the day before the show starts, because everyone in the production has a day job.
“Some people play golf in their spare time,” he said. “Some people play poker, some people make albums and I guess we’re some of the crazy people who like to put on shows.”
Lamrock and the other actors who make up his theater company present their latest production, almost, maine, Saturday at the City of Fredericton.
“You really can do things you love to do, and don’t be afraid to do something you love just because it might not be worthy,” Lamrock said.
Not taking yourself too seriously is something politicians and lawyers should remember, Lamrock says, and that’s just one of the lessons that can be learned from the performing arts.
He should know – Lamrock is a former Liberal MP who served in a variety of cabinet positions including education, social development and attorney general. He then briefly joined the NDP before focusing on his legal practice.
He sees it as a cross between his professional skills and those he has developed as an actor and comedian.
Lamrock quotes John Cleese of Monty Python fame, who, like Lamrock, has a law degree, saying that lawyers and comedians focus on taking a premise and following it to a logical conclusion. .
“And that logical exercise, comedy, is about finding the dissonance and the absurdity in the things we watch and don’t think about,” Lamrock said. “To find dissonance, you have to find logic, and that’s what lawyers are trained to do. So even though they’re far apart in time, there are commonalities.”
Lamrock first discovered a love of theater when an elementary school teacher challenged him to read macbeth and rewrite it in modern English for his class to play. A variety of roles followed throughout school and college.
His first summer job was acting with the Calithumpians in Fredericton, and he remained with them for several years. He admits applying to acting schools after graduating from high school and receiving callbacks, but ultimately decided to keep it as a hobby.
“Ultimately, law school beckoned,” Lamrock said, adding that he also sees community theater as a way to access creative freedom.
“You might be playing in smaller venues, but you can choose your shows and do things like Avenue Q, Hello Dolly and Almost, Maine. It’s better than auditioning for Chrysler commercials.”
Almost, Mainewritten by John Cariani, stars Kelly Lamrock, Eryn Frawley, Neil Mundell and Karla Pooley, playing multiple characters in an immersive play about a magical night in the fictional small town of Almost.
The show is Saturday at 8 p.m. and all proceeds will be donated to Inclusion NB. It’s one of the ways Lamrock sees his passion for the stage complementing his professional work as an advocate – he donates all proceeds from his shows to charity.
Lamrock considers the play a “soft comedy”, reminiscent of other small-town feel-good stories such as Gilmore Girls or North exposure.
“I’m really drawn to theater that kind of tells us who we are,” Lamrock said.
“Sometimes it’s in the quieter moments of plays that we discover something a little unusual, a little weird about a character and then, you know, we learned a little something about ourselves- same.
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