Theatre at TWU examines the side effects of love and medicine in their season opener, Anatomy of Gray, by Jim Leonard, playing Oct. 20-31. 

This whimsical and romantic fable follows a time-forgotten town drastically altered when a fantastical healer blows in with modern remedies to a mysterious disease.  Is their new doctor the cause or the cure?

When June Muldoon’s father dies, she prays for a healer.  Suddenly, in a town where “nothing ever happens” a chance summer storm delivers Dr. Galen Gray to her doorstep.  Soon he’s saving lives and introducing “unprecedented” practices to their rural community.  But when an inexplicable illness ravages the town, the remedy is as elusive as the cause.

The play was written before the T.V. show Grey’s Anatomy, but there are “all sorts of parallels,” says director Angela Konrad. 

“Life and death stakes, medical mysteries, and lots of sexual tension.” 

With a handsome new doctor in town, everyone has a fever for love and a passion for treatment. 

“But when people start dying, questions start to surface, and there are no easy answers.” 

Konrad, who also heads the theatre department, was drawn to the play because, “We all want answers to inexplicable things.  Medicine is one way we try to control chaos.  At the heart of the play is a young girl trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs.

"What happens when the answer we’re looking for isn’t clear or what we expected?”

 Which isn’t to say life doesn’t have its humorous side as well. 

“This small town sometimes feels a bit ‘over the rainbow,” jokes Konrad.  “A handsome doctor blows in on a tornado, filling their ‘black and white’ world with a little Technicolor.  We’re substituting McDreamy for Dorothy.  It’s truly a world where anything can happen.  The lines between fantasy and reality are easily – and frequently – crossed.” 

Second year theatre student and long-time Langley resident Gordon Bylenga agrees.  Even with all the craziness, “I have to continually remind myself that my character isn’t me at fifteen,” says the Langley Christian High-School grad. 

This is Bylenga’s first show on the TWU stage and he’s amazed at the depth in this production. 

“There is so much that we don’t know or understand about God and why things happen.  We all have to find our own way to live with the mystery.”

Also featured in the production are Karyn Guenther, Erin Mahoney, Philip Miguel, John Voth, Kyla Ferrier, Jordan Schuurman, Danielle Spampinato and Mackenzie West.  Set and lighting are designed by Lauchlin Johnston, costumes are designed by Barbara Gregusova, and stage management is by Carrie Waterton. 

A fantastical parable full of laughter, hope, and some “not-so-contemporary” medicine, Anatomy of Gray plays at Trinity Western University Oct. 20 – 31.  It’s a powerful reminder that when it comes to love and medicine, the answer is never black and white.

For tickets or more information visit www.twu.ca/theatre.