Tickets for The Dreams of Johny Brown, running Wednesday, May 18 to Saturday May 21 at 7pm, are available at the door the night of each performance and are $10 general admission and free for people with disabilities.
It is a one man show in many ways. Its star, Aravind Bharathy, who also goes by the stage name of “Johny Brown”, not only performs the show, he choreographed it, put together the music, and has been hard at work at the Playhouse in the wee hours painting the set.
Bharathy describes the story of “Johny” who, while questing for happiness in life, encounters a wizard in a dark forest. The wizard tells Johny if he drinks from the water from a magical well, Johny will have his three most cherished dreams come true: to be a world famous actor; to be the leader of a nation; to share one more visit with the ghost of his beloved wife. The wizard also tells Johny the fulfillment of these wishes comes with a heavy price.
This is Bharathy’s second production at the Boardmore. In March of this year, he, with an ensemble cast of local performers, staged Balcony, a well-received allegorical dance extravaganza about a young man finding the inspiration to aspire to great things in the trash (and people) that others discard.
Bharathy came to Cape Breton from Southern India to study mechanical engineering but found a chance to further his acting ambitions at the CBU Boardmore Theatre. He had a featured role as the “Player King” in the Boardmore’s recent production of Hamlet.
While pursuing further studies in petroleum engineering, Bharathy is also looking to move to Hollywood and establish a movie career. He says that has been his own dream since he used to sneak off to see the movie musical spectaculars of the prolific Indian film industry. He even confesses to dipping into his father’s wallet to finance a trip to the cinema only to find on arrival he had not “borrowed” enough rupees for the admission price.
Bharathy is already planning his next production, Queen of 7th Planet, for this August and is looking for anyone who might be interested in assisting that production either onstage or off. He can be reached at a740@gmail.com.
