Opal’s Million Dollar Duck

by John Patrick

Directed by: Susan Dearing

Farce

2025 Show Dates: Mar 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16

Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime. All shows take place in the Studio Theatre (black box theatre) upstairs at CAT.

Season tickets (5 shows) available at a discount by calling the box office at 403-967-1769.

“Dinner & a Show” 10% OFF select menu items

Show your Showpass ticket for a discount on CAT 2024-2025 show dates with “Dinner & a Show” offer at select downtown restaurants.

In partnership with the Downtown Business Association.

About Pouf!

Finally, we visit a cluttered little store off the beaten track to the sleepy edge of town and an unexpected, far-from-quiet tussle over a fortune.

Searching for costumes for their next production, Desmond and Queenie, the “stars” of the local summer-stock company, drop by “Opal’s Antique Junque Shop.” While rooting through Opal’s treasures they spot a nondescript oil painting—a still life of a dead mallard duck and an apple—and recalling an item in the morning newspaper about an old master who has disappeared from the local art museum, suddenly realize that this may be the missing canvas, for which the insurance company is offering a sizable reward. Summoning up all their acting skills, they try to charm Opal into selling the painting for a pittance, but she explains that she plans to give it to her friend, Rosie, as a birthday present, whereupon the plot thickens hilariously. Desmond and Queenie resort to everything from outrageous flattery to knock-out drops trying to get their hands on the picture. Rosie, however, rejects it on the grounds that it reminds her of her pet duck (which was run over by a truck); and the plotters, much to their glee, march off triumphantly with their prize—unaware that a later edition of the paper carries a new item: The old master has been found, and the canvas that disappeared was a worthless copy that the museum had thrown out with the garbage!

About the Playwright

John Patrick Goggan was born on May 17, 1905, in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of John Francis and Myrtle (Osborn) Goggan. Abandoned by both of them, Patrick spent his childhood in a variety of foster homes and boarding schools, including St. Edwards' School in Austin, Texas, and Holy Cross School, in New Orleans. A drifter during much of his teen years, Patrick landed a job as a radio announcer for KPO Radio in San Francisco, California, at the age of nineteen. Changing his name to John Patrick, he wrote over eleven hundred radio screenplays for the "Cecil and Sally" show, which was eventually broadcast by NBC between the years of 1929 and 1933. He continued to write for NBC from 1933 to 1936, and in 1940 Helen Hayes performed his adaptations of the classics, also on NBC. From 1941 to 1944, Patrick served in World War II as an ambulance driver in the American Field Service. John Patrick is best known as the author of TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, which was awarded a Pulitzer, a Tony, and a New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Other plays include THE HASTY HEART, which chronicles his experiences as a battlefield ambulance driver during World War II, ANYBODY OUT THERE?, A BAD YEAR FOR TOMATOES, A BARREL FULL OF PENNIES, CHEATING CHEATERS, THE CHIROPODIST, COMPULSION, CONFESSION, THE CURIOUS SAVAGE, THE DANCING MICE, DIVORCE—ANYONE?, and THE WILLOW AND I. Patrick also wrote more than two dozen screenplays, including "Teahouse of the August Moon," "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," "High Society," "The World of Suzie Wo,"The Shoes of the Fisherman," and "Les Girls," which earned him an award from the Screen Writers Guild. He died November 7, 1995.