It is actress Louise Lambert’s first time tackling a one-woman show in her career and, despite the nerves, she couldn’t feel more rewarded by the role(s). What lured her to accept the job, offered by Northern Light Theatre’s Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt, was the heart and soul of the script’s central character, Trisha Lee.

Trisha is a small town Texas single mom, whose Christian world is sent spinning out of orbit when her daughter comes out as gender queer, and announces she wants to start a gay straight alliance (GSA) at her school.

"She had me laughing my head off; I was also crying. [Trisha Lee is] just such a juicy role, to be honest," says Lambert on her first reading of The Pink Unicorn. "The woman is ignorant in her small town ways, but there is also innocence."

"There’s no way I could pass this up."

Though seven other characters interweave the plot’s fabric, Trisha Lee is the main thread.

"So many great characters to play and to play with," Lambert says of the work, written by Elise Forier Edie, of Texas herself.

Like Trisha Lee, feeling rather alone in a town that is quickly dividing against her, Lambert too has found strength in solitude up on the stage.

"I’m speaking for 90 minutes, and it’s definitely a long time to be up there... if it goes downhill it’s all your fault, but I’ve never felt more satisfied," she says. "I walk right out on stage and I am looking at every member of our audience, and I am looking at them right in their eyes, and I’m having a conversation with them... Because of that – because I get to look into each audience member’s eyes and tell them such a great story – it really feels like I’m connecting with people."

Lambert has long wanted to work with Schmidt; NLT is a small company known for big works. Through his tutelage and support, Lambert has been able to bring to life a story so many people should – and need – to hear. In the process, she has also had opportunity to explore a different side of herself.

"I think and I hope that our audience... sort of see themselves in [Trisha Lee] as well. She is incredibly judgemental, really concerned with appearances; she is very conservative, [set] in her ways, and is very religious as well. There are some things I could identify with ... but she is definitely a little bit different."

"I think the story – I don’t have any children but, if I do, you wonder – I have parents come up to me after shows and say I’m a parent and I wonder what my children are going to be like when they hit 15... I think this story is really for parents and I hope a lot of them can come out and see this show."

The root message of The Pink Unicorn is that regardless of a woman’s inability to understand ‘transgender’ or relate to what her daughter is going through, there is nothing in the world that will stop this mother from standing by her child.

"She says in the play I don’t understand transgender and I don’t think I ever will (and it is likely that even by then end she doesn’t) [but] what she has is a love for her daughter, and wants her to be herself no matter what."

The play previewed on February 19^th and opened the next day at the PCL Studio in the ATB Financial Arts Barn in Edmonton to some ‘really wonderful reviews’.

"A couple of parents have come up to me now and sort of say... if her child was a little bit older she would have loved to have brought him... it’s a fantastic lesson no matter what your child is going through – it’s just a really great lesson to say Hey, I’m with you no matter what, even if I don’t understand it."

Lambert promises there is lot of humour, and class, in this play as well.

"The play is really respectful for people who have very conservative or very religious beliefs," she says. "It is really about a parent and her daughter’s story."

The play shows at a relevant time, when there is much discussion going on in the province over the mandating of allowing GSAs to be formed in any school where a student wants to form one.

"So [the play] is getting people talking about it," Lambert says. "We close on the 28th and I just really hope we can get as many people out as we can to see it."