A Theatrical Biography...
Even as a child Lawrence Badanai was not afraid to perform in front of an audience. At an early age we was acting and writing scripts using stuffed animals for other actors. He was one of those kids that kept busy and was always trying new things. In elementary school, Lawrence and he fellow classmates put on weird adaptations of shows such as the Phantom of the Opera. "We got costumes from home and the original music on tape, got dressed up and sipped ginger ale from plastic champagne glasses." On St. Patrick's Day he'd head of to school in a leprechaun costumes his mother made for him. At Easter he and a friend made a crucifix out of 4x4''s and acted out the days of Jesus. "We practiced the roles of the Apostles - the washing of his feet. My brothers stopped me from walking down the busy street of River Street carrying the huge crucifix." The play, depicting Christ's last days was performed under his direction by his fellow classmate at St. Bernard's. His mother supplied the towels for the robes, and the ketchup to represent the blood. A year later he played a modern Santa in Leap of Faith. Wearing sunglasses and accompanied by his own personal bodyguard, he sold advertising. He even sang in the school choir and in a musical about recycling. His first appearance outside of school productions was as a "large" Tiny Tim in Actor's Repertory Theatre's production of "A Christmas Carol"
St. Ignatius High School required some adjustment. There was no longer teacher involvement in theatre so he and other students mustered up their courage and created a lunch-time drama club. In the group's production Suddenly Shakespeare, Lawrence played one of many narrators who were unable to tell his story because everyone interrupted. When the group did "Noises Off" Mrs. Kilgour came out of her retirement to help out. By this time Lawrence began writing and submitted a show into the 1st Annual Cambrian Players One Act Play Festival. And so began a long road which he met many friends at Cambrian Players and began to write more and more for the upcoming play festivals, winning his company and himself many awards and raves in the community newspaper. With the support of Sharon Malcolm, a drama teacher at ST. Ignatius High School, Lawrence was given the artistic freedom to grow his craft both writing and producing theatre with original shows, one acts and of course a comedy version of "A Christmas Carol"
At Cambrian Players, Lawrence worked on a number of shows both onstage and off and on the Board of Director. (Later he took over coordinating the One Act Play festival for two seasons.) From Wrong Turn at Lungfish, The Lion in Winter, Arsenic and Old Lace and many more Lawrence learned a lot from working with this talented group. The late Don Jamieson encouraged me to continue on with my craft and start writing for adults and not just children's shows. He was a wonderful man who also taught me not just to be yourself on stage but how to create a real character on stage ... even if it was above and beyond the norm. It was during this time, that he began to produce shows in the Fringe Festival, which just came to Thunder Bay. He saw great success with an adaptation of Noises Off He would later return to the fringe festival years again.
After working with Rob MacLeod on the shows The Lion in Winter and I'll Be Back Before Midnight at Cambrian Players, Lawrence followed Rob into his life-dream project. While attending Confederation College for Arts Administration, Lawrence assisted in the opening of Mr. MacLeod's Theatre, The Northern Knights Feast. This project included the renovating of the Old Capitol Theatre on Brodie Street, and turning it into a medieval dinner theatre. "I could have not of asked for a better boss or friend." This experience gave Lawrence the opportunity to manage the general operations of the building and market and promote the show. By summer of that year, Lawrence was looking to fill the second stage in the Capitol Theatre. After having no luck at getting another group to rent it and pitching ever theatre group past and present in Thunder Bay including Moonlight Melodrama, Lawrence took on the space himself.
Lawrence never liked the musical Grease but for some reason, something was drawing him towards it. That summer he assembled a cast of 18, a 4 piece band, and a whole production crew to go along with it and mounted this musical in a month. It ran for over a month when Lawrence decided that why should only Thunder Bay be allowed to see this show.... so he turned around and took the show on the road. touring smaller towns in the region. During this time Lawrence also met the lovely Candi. The next year also saw a partnership with Old Fort William where Grease was produced again during the summer months... but on an Ontario historical park.
While attempting to finish his education, Lawrence received an offer he could not refuse by managing the production department at Magnus Theatre. For almost two seasons he took on this professional job that allowed him to network with a whole new group of local and national artists. But something was still missing....
Lawrence had the lust of the live stage and being behind the curtain was no longer cutting it. With a partnership with the Prince Arthur Hotel Lawrence began producing dinner theatre himself. Starting with the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? which Lawrence played Mr. Humphires himself and Candi as Mrs. Slocombe. Two more shows were produced under this partnership: Capone’s an interactive speakeasy show and I Love Lucy. But the partnership fell apart and Lawrence went looking for another venue.
Lawrence and Candi went into a partnership and leased a building of their own, old clothing store and turned it into an intimate dinner theatre with a max seating of 60 people. Their first show was an interactive wedding show called "My Big Fat Italian Wedding" which had mixed reviews. Followed by Stephen Kings Misery.
So what did the people of Thunder Bay want to see? Returning back to pop-culture and show types that did well before, they turned to "Gilligan's Island" and Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" Having your own building gave them the time to produce the musical "Godspell" the way they saw it... a very intimate show that has an unlimited potential to touch the heart and make you leave with a promise of a new world. They began working on a tribute show to the "Simpsons" All was great... but the show never had the opportunity to open and the theatre company ran out of equity and closed.
Lawrence and Candi returned to the Prince Arthur Hotel a year later to do the farce A Perfect Wedding in June. But it did not have a big enough appeal for the summer crowds to convince them to keep them from going to their camp on the weekends. Lawrence and Candi tried the Fringe Festival with a new play by Lawrence that had the audience laughing out loud to the antics of Ole and Lena. It’s like a Red Green Meets Ivanka.
When and where and who or what the next production would be, is a mystery all in its own. Presently, Lawrence is kept busy at Confederation College as he has returned to school. After two years of being a Banquet Captian at the Valhalla Inn, he called it quits for a new career. He may sometime find some time on his hand once again.... So in the meantime dear reader, you'll just have to wait and see what the next chapter in the story might be!
