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Artscene By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF 19 · Wednesday, June 2, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com Sign up now for guitar, bass, drums, and piano OAKVILLE'S MUSIC STORE First dates are tough never mind 30 Dates I f you've ever been on a date, you'll know that making a good first impression can be difficult. And this Oakville actor tries to do it several times a night -- though not always successfully. Thirty-one-year-old Richard Young is making a return in FenStar Productions' 30 Dates where he will play three major roles in addition to appearing as a couple of minor characters. "As an actor you also want to bring in yourself. But then you want to make the characters different, but you also don't want to make them feel false. Some of the characters are larger than life and some of them are more natural and normal," Young said of his five distinct roles. "For me, it's a treat to go and play a bunch of different characters. It's extra work and it's an extra challenge. I have to figure out the back stories for these characters, but it's a treat." The play, 30 Dates, was first produced in 2008 in Toronto. It is a Bollywood-style romantic comedy written and starring Fenulla Jiwani. Jiwani plays a romantically-challenged 35-year-old woman on a quest to find her true love, while she's dealing with family pressure, a ticking biological clock and modern technology. Young, a White Oaks Secondary School graduate, plays some of those 30 dates in the play. "It can be a bit of a crazy hassle when you're jumping backstage to change into a new character and get back in," he said with a laugh. After the original production, which featured Young, played to sold-out audiences, the play moved around Canada to places like Vancouver, London and Montreal. Now, two years later, it's back in Toronto playing at the Berkeley Street Theatre, with an opening night on Wednesday, June 2. "While we've done that (performed for two years), the script has gotten better," Young said of the latest rendition. "There are new characters, the scenes have been re-written to make it tighter. It's always getting better. The people who saw the first play, if they come again, they'll see a lot of different things. Scenes are stronger and funnier. There are new scenes." The production plays on various dating horror stories, Young said. He noted the male characters who go on SUBMITTED PHOTO DATING GAMES: Richard Young, right, performing in one of the earlier installments of 30 Dates with male actor Shafik Kamani dressed as a woman. The comedy is about all the types of dates one may encounter in the pursuit of true love. the dates with Pritti, the main character, are not all looking for the same thing she is. Some are looking for a one-nighter, while others, seeking a long-term relationship, don't have the same ideas as she does. Young has had a relatively short professional acting career, graduating from Humber College's acting for film and television program about a year ago. Since then he's had various theatrical appearances and acted in the feature-length film English Butler, Masala Chai. He began acting in 30 Dates while still in acting school. While acting was not always in his career plan, Young said he has always had an interest in the industry. He attended university for business and psychology, receiving a bachelor's degree "Once you like what you are doing, it doesn't feel like work at all. " Richard Young, Oakville actor from Queen's University and masters degree from York University. Young then entered the world of marketing, but one day he decided that particular field was not for him. "Even though I was doing well,s I was not satisfied, I was not happy with what I was doing," he said. "Finally, I took the plunge. Much to my boss's chagrin, I said I want to stop my marketing and go into acting and I made the switch. The switch was fairly easy because I was always doing acting on the side." Young noted he spends many more hours on his new career and it is much more work as well. However, he countered that with, "Once you like what you're doing it doesn't feel like work at all." The theatre is located at 26 Berkeley St. in Toronto. The play runs until June 12. Performances are Wednesday to Sunday at 8 p.m. with a Saturday matinée at 2 p.m. General admission costs $25 in advance or $28 at the door. Senior and student admission is $23 in advance or $28 at the door. For tickets, call the box office at 416368-3110.