by AMY BARRATT

We hear a lot of griping these days about how professional companies only want to produce shows with small casts, to keep costs down. Certainly, one-person shows aren't good for the acting community as a whole, and choosing to produce them based only on economic considerations is bad for everyone. That said, plays with larger casts aren't automatically better, and the one-person play can be a thing of beauty.

When I first started working as an usher at the Centaur Theatre in the fall of '87, the first play I had to "sit in on" was a rental called Tightrope Time: Aint Nuthin' More Than Some Itty Bitty Madness Between Twilight and Dawn. Written by and starring a skinny black gay man named Walter Borden, it held me rapt, not just once but numerous times. Shifting effortlessly from one character to another - for a total of 12 - Borden showed us the souls of these men and women, gay, straight and trans. By 1987, Borden had been performing the piece for a couple of years. Soon after the Centaur stop, he would move on to other projects, and the play would lie unproduced for another 17 years. Borden, who these days appears regularly at Stratford and regional theatres all over the country, told an interviewer a year ago that he hoped one day to see Tightrope Time done with another actor.

Enter Black Theatre Workshop. Now, I know that, like all theatre companies, BTW has to think constantly about its bottom line. But when I spoke to artistic director Rachael Van Fossen last week I did not ask her if she was producing Tightrope Time because of financial constraints. I'm sure she would have said that she's doing it because it's a wonderful play. And it is. Van Fossen did say that this play has been "on her list" for some time.

BTW is lucky enough to have within its fold an actor who just might be able to do justice to Borden's rich, poetic text. He is Chimwemwe B.D. Miller, an actor and musician who has appeared in BTW's A Common Man's Guide to Loving Women and The Crossroads and who also runs the company's YouthWorks program. Van Fossen talks about the actor's "versatility" and his physical and vocal virtuosity in explaining why he was chosen for the role(s). Miller says that when he first read the script, he was "terrified," but ultimately excited and honoured to be entrusted with such a rich text.

Walter Borden did something quite radical within African-Canadian literature with Tightrope Time: put male homosexuality front and centre. I asked Miller if he thought a segment of the audience would still find the content radical or shocking. To him, the beauty of Borden's characters is that, while they may be radically different from us on the outside - a drag queen, a hooker - they reveal an inner vulnerability and humanity that we can't help responding to.

BTW's production of Tightrope Time is directed by Ahdri Zhina Mandiela with set, lighting and costumes all contributed by Ana Cappelluto.

Walter Borden has been available to the company as a resource via long distance from Stratford, but has not attended rehearsals. Van Fossen says the playwright plans to make it to a performance late in the run. For his part, Miller hopes that Borden will see the show, but says he doesn't want to know what night he's there.

Tightrope Time, Oct. 21–31 at The Mai (3680 Jeanne-Mance), Wed.–Sat. at 8 p.m., $15–$20, 932-1104

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