Having spent more than 50 years in Calgary theatre, it’s no wonder Maureen Thomas counts several firsts in her career. Read More
Having spent more than 50 years in Calgary theatre, it’s no wonder Maureen Thomas counts several firsts in her career. She was in the first drama class at the University of Calgary and was a resident member in the first year of Lunchbox Theatre at Bow Valley Square. She was in one of the first
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Having spent more than 50 years in Calgary theatre, it’s no wonder Maureen Thomas counts several firsts in her career.
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She was in the first drama class at the University of Calgary and was a resident member in the first year of Lunchbox Theatre at Bow Valley Square. She was in one of the first productions of Theatre Calgary, Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, and played Eliza Doolittle in the 1972 production of My Fair Lady at the Jubilee that I directed for Calgary Theatre Singers.
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Skipping ahead 53 years, Thomas plays Grandma Mavis in Alberta Theatre Projects’ comedy, Liars at a Funeral, which opens April 22 in the Martha Cohen Theatre.
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“She’s the matriarch of a dysfunctional family. By staging her funeral, she hopes to bring them all back together again,” says Thomas.
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This new comedy by Sophia Fabiilli premiered in 2023 at the Blyth Festival in Ontario. Alberta Theatre Projects and Western Canada Theatre are co-producing this Western Canadian premiere.
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The clever gimmick in Fabiilli’s play is that Thomas’s four co-stars each play two family members.
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“It calls for some very quick costume changes. This is part of the fun of Liars at a Funeral. If eight actors were playing these characters, it would be a very different play. The quick changes are part of the charm of this play. It’s so cleverly written, and such great fun to play.
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“It’s very much character humour. It’s a collision of different personalities, which are very relatable. The audience will know these people.”
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Thomas says she and her co-stars, who include Tyrell Crews, Helen Knight, Joel David Taylor and Grace Fedorchuk, represent three generations.
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“The young actors are in their twenties, the older ones are in their forties, and then there is me. It’s such a joy to be surrounded by such talent. I’m so lucky to still be working. I wish I could say more about the play, but that might spoil the fun for the audiences.”
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Haysam Kadri, ATP’s artistic director, says that Liars at a Funeral is breaking box office records before it even opens. The main floor seating for many performances is already sold out.
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Thomas was last seen in Stage West’s production of Driving Miss Daisy opposite British Shakespearian actor Joseph Mancel. She has one more first to put on her resume. In 1997, Hans Graf, who was the director of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, approached her with an idea. He wanted to do Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with her playing all the characters.
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“I play 11 characters. As far as I know, I am the only person to have ever done this. Since then, I have done the Dream with orchestras all over the U.S. and in France, Croatia and Singapore. In June of 2026, with Hans conducting, I will do the Dream in Calgary again, and then put it to sleep. It will have come full circle.”
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