pornStar: solid performance, solid show

What happens when someone from Saskatchewan goes to TO

At first, I thought that vocal warm-up exercises are NOT the way to start any show.  Eventually, I realized that I was in good hands with this script by Chris Craddock and a solid performance by Anna Wyman.  Then, I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Though the script is a bit dated (it was first produced for Fringe in 2000), the story is a good yarn.  We first meet mousy but sexually liberated librarian Esther Kirkenchuk living in smalltown Elbow, Saskatchewan.  She is as surprised as we are to learn that she's been nominated for an award from Pronto Video in the category of Amateur Female Performer as Esther Starr.  Armed with an invitation to the award night in Toronto, Esther eventually gathers up her courage and curiosity to take off for the big city. 

Before she gets there, we meet three other women – a young girl named Kate who commited suicide at fourteen, sex advice columnist Clarice Dubois and a middle-aged woman who has a pro-marriage, anti-gay approach to sex.  I don't want to ruin this show by telling you any more than that – much of the fun of this journey is figuring out the connections between these four women.  Check out pornStar – it's well worth the 65 minutes of your life that you'll never get back.

For showtime information go here.

Did you see pornStar? What did you think?

By Allyson McGrane