Hedwigging Out
by Gaëtan L. Charlebois
Tim Oberholzer is an Ottawa-based actor, theatre creator, producer, and graduate of Algonquin College’s Theatre Arts Program. He is also a recent nominee for the 2013 Emerging Artist Award from Ottawa’s professional theatre awards, Les Prix Rideau. Mr Oberholzer has most recently appeared in Age Of Arousal, The Comedy Of Errors, The Taming Of The Shrew, (Bear & Co.), Ethan Claymore (Same Day Theatre) and The Chronicler (Screaming Artists’ Collective). Tim Oberholzer is a founding member of the Ottawa-based theatre collective Bear and Co., and also serves on the advisory board of SevenThirty Productions. He is the artistic director of Vanity Project Productions and oversees the Ottawa Theatre Producers’ Network.
CHARPO: First off, what brought you to Hedwig?
OBERHOLZER: My first connection to the piece was through the Original Off Broadway Cast Recording, which I purchased purely out of curiosity. I was immediately struck by how beautiful, powerful and accessible the music was. I’ve performed in a few rock musicals over the years, and have always been a fan of the genre, but this is definitely one of the best rock musical scores out there. At the time I had taken a break from producing, but I definitely filed it away mentally as a potential future project. After seeing the subsequently released film adaptation, I was only more intrigued by the show and the Hedwig character, so sought out the script and since then have just been waiting for the right conditions to present themselves.
