Love turns brutal on local stage

By Lethbridge Herald on January 13, 2026.

HERALD PHOTO BY JOE MANIO Trevor Loman playing Eddie, Cole Prior as Martin and Dave Mikuliak as the Old Man rehearse a scene from Sam Shephard's award-winning play Fool for Love earlier this week.

By Joe Manio

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter- Lethbridge Herald

A local theatre company is bringing Sam Shepard’s award-winning searing drama Fool for Love to the stage this week, promising to plunge audiences into an intense emotionally-charged portrait of obsession and betrayal set in a remote desert motel.

Narrative Art Entertainment,  a joint theatre and film production company established by University of Lethbridge (UofL) graduate Trevor Loman a few years ago, is staging Fool for Love with a production team made up of mostly fellow Uof L graduates.

“What makes this production special for me is that I am working with my fellow classmates from Uof L,” says director Anastasia Siceac. “Ninety percent of our team consists of UoL Drama Alumni. 

“These are myself, three of our performers (Trevor Loman, Cole Prior, and Emily Laidlaw), as well as our sound designer Achilles Friesen and Intimacy Director Brent Clark. Trevor, Cole, Brent and I all graduated together. It always feels nice to get back into the rehearsal room together with people you love and create something special.”

Set in a rundown Mojave Desert motel, the one-act play centres on the volatile reunion of rodeo stuntman Eddie and his on-again-off-again lover May. The drama blends raw realism with mythic elements of the American West, exposing the destructive pull of love, memory and identity.

During the course of the play their obsession and shared past unravel under the watchful presence of the Old Man, a spectral figure who embodies family secrets and competing versions of the truth. 

“For me, the heart of the play is an inescapable cycle—two people trapped in patterns they can’t break, circling the same moments again and again. Memories feel fractured, unreliable, almost looping, as if the past keeps replaying itself in different forms. It can feel like being caught inside someone else’s emotional memory—messy, repetitive and deeply human,” says Siceac.

Fool for Love features four characters: Old Man played by Dave Mikuliak; Eddie played by Trevor Loman; May played by Emily Laidlaw; and Martin played by Cole Prior. Props on the set are minimal, allowing the audience to focus on the characters.

First produced in 1983 and published the following year Fool for Love quickly established itself as a modern American classic. The play won multiple Obie Awards in 1984, including best new American play, and was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, cementing its reputation for its raw emotional power and stark portrayal of love, identity and family legacy.

Sam Shepard (1943–2017) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning American playwright, actor and director whose work helped redefine modern theatre. Emerging from the 1960s Off-Off-Broadway scene, he became known for spare, emotionally charged plays that explored family, identity and the mythology of the American West.

Shephard wrote more than 40 plays, including Buried Child, True West and Fool for Love, and also built a successful film career, earning an Oscar nomination for The Right Stuff. Shepard is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in late 20th-century American drama.

With its stark setting, raw emotion and electric tension, Fool for Love promises a gripping night of theatre, reminding audiences why Sam Shepard’s work remains a landmark of American drama.

“Audiences can expect something raw and unapologetic. Fool for Love pulls you into a world of intense emotion, and unresolved tension. It’s a play that makes you think, and asks questions about love, memory, and identity… though I can’t promise all of those questions will be answered,” says Siceac.

Fool for Love opens on January 15 at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre at Yates Memorial Centre and runs through January 17. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. on all three days with additional 5:30 p.m. shows on the 16th and 17th. It is recommended for audiences:14 and older (because of course language). 

Tickets are available at visitlethbridgearena.evenue.net.