"The Berlin Blues," Blyth Theatre's second play of the season, opened Friday

"The Berlin Blues," written by award-winning playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, is the second show of the season at the Blyth Festival Theatre, opening Friday night and running until Aug. 19.

This play is a slap-down, drag 'em out cultural appropriation comedy of the highest (and lowest) order.

Two German developers arrive unannounced on the sleepy, fictional Otter Lake reserve. They have with them international investors, $164-million, and blueprints for a "Native Theme Park," complete with bumper canoes, an international longhouse of pancakes, and a giant laser dream catcher. What ensues is a hilarious, laugh-a-minute riot, as some members of the community try to shut down the development, while others leap in with both feet.
 
Trailer: "Do you know anything about Buffalo?" Donalda: "They have great wings."
 
Reserve your seats by calling the Box Office at 519.523.9300, Toll Free 1.877.862.5984 or on-line at blythfestival.com.
 
"The Berlin Blues" features long-time festival favourites Catherine Fitch, Tony Munch, and Nicole Joy-Fraser who was last seen at Blyth as Bridezilla Mandy in 2014's "Stag and Doe." Making their debuts on the Blyth stage, are multifaceted performing artist Nyla Carpentier, veteran actor of the Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation on Manitoulin Island Jonathan Fisher, and Port Elgin's own James Dallas Smith.

Hayden Taylor is a journalist, novelist and filmmaker. Born and raised on the Curve Lake First Nation, he has done practically everything from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., to being artistic director of Canada's premiere native theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. The author of 30 books, his most recent is the play "Crees in the Caribbean."
 
Director Brad Fraser is an award-winning writer/director/host who has worked extensively in various media. Credits include plays: "Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love," "Poor Super Man," "True Love Lies," "Kill Me Now," and others produced worldwide; film: "Love and Human Remains," writer and "Leaving Metropolis," writer director; and television: "Queer as Folk," writer, story editor and associate producer, and "Jawbreaker" which he hosted for two seasons on Out TV.

He has written a number of projects for radio, CBC and BBC, as well as regular columns and stories for Xtra, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and others. He has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards and has just finished his Masters degree in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. His most recent play, "Kill Me Now," was nominated for a Governor General's Award in 2016.