A full year after spending the early months of 2023 filming Maria and the Mennos, cast and crew are now finally getting the chance to share their work with sitcom fans.
The show debuted on the Canadian faith-based television station YESTV earlier this month, with episodes streaming live every Wednesday.
The 13 episodes are set in Winkler and follow a Filipino-Canadian woman who moves in with her conservative Mennonite in-laws. Cross-cultural hijinks ensue as she tries to maintain her identity while adjusting to the world of pierogis, hymn sings, and rural prairie living.
Local actor Chuck Fefchak plays the role of Hank, the father who, along with wife Sarah (played by Reinfeld native Erna Peters), welcomes son, Nate, and his new bride, Maria, into their home. The newlyweds are played by Steinbach’s Kenton Dyck and Winnipeg actress Victoria Exconde.
Fefchak says cast and crew were treated to a special screening of the pilot episode and two others a few weeks ago. Otherwise, they’re experiencing the show week-to-week like the rest of us.
He says he was inundated with calls from family and friends after the first episode aired Jan. 3.
“My phone blew up,” he says.
For his part, Fefchak is pretty happy with how the finished product turned out and especially pleased to have been a part of the process.
“It’s not a Hollywood show,” he says. Watching the pilot, Fefchak says he can tell it was “the first three days that we were in this house. In many cases, we didn’t know each other let alone our character, let alone how this whole process works. None of us were TV people. Every single one of us were stage performers.
“So if this [first episode] was our first toe dipping into the ocean, I know it’s going to be really good by the time we get to episode five, episode six when not only do we know each other but we know how the process works and, most importantly, we know how the arc of our characters’ development is growing.”
The show captures well the funny familial interactions we’re all familiar with, with some specific Mennonite and Filipino experiences thrown in for good measure, Fefchak says.
“It’s good for us to laugh at ourselves,” he says. “None of us are perfect, and Hank Friesen is no exception.
“It’s just the weaknesses and human foibles that we all have, and it pokes a little bit of fun and it does it with a little bit of Low German speak as well.”
Maria and the Mennos was filmed over 10 weeks early last year at a local house and a number of other locations across the region. The intensive shooting schedule meant Fefchak had to book time off work from his job at Southland Honda, but it was an opportunity he simply couldn’t pass up.
“I have absolutely no regrets that I took that chance,” he says. “At the age I’m at, if I don’t take these few opportunities that come it’s not like there’s another coming down the pipe. So, zero regrets. I enjoyed every day.”
He’d be back for season two in a heartbeat if asked, but it’s too soon to say if that will happen.
“If they decide that they’ve got enough support to do a second season, and they still want Hank back, I’ll be there.”
‘A quirky, fun-loving show’
Kenton Dyck, who plays Nate Friesen, is ready and raring for more episodes as well.
“This has been something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says, admitting, however, it can be a little surreal to see himself on the TV screen each week.
And while season one tells a complete story, there’s certainly room for more.
“It does remind me a lot of sitcoms from the ‘90s, both in style and the way that it works,” Dyck says. “It kind of follows that first year of them living with his parents, and it does have a bit of a wrap, but it’s certainly open for a season two.
“I’d love to play this character more. And I feel like the show kinds of builds as it goes—a lot of us were new to this early on, so we were all learning it and getting our feet underneath us. I feel like we just learned so much through the season. It was such a great experience.
“I consider it a success whether or not it gets a second season just because I had so much fun,” he adds. “It was me living out my dream.”
Seeing the finished product a full year after filming has been a blast so far, Dyck shares.
“It’s exciting to see what we did actually from the perspective of the camera,” he says. “I only ever saw very short bits and pieces from behind the monitor when I went and looked at it after a shot. And some days I wasn’t even there because they were shooting scenes my character wasn’t in.
“As a whole, the way it came together, I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s kind of a quirky, kind of a silly show. I would call it very fun-loving; it doesn’t take itself too seriously.”
Maria and the Mennos was created by Winnipeg filmmaker Paul Plett, Hazel Wallace, and Winkler’s own Tina Fehr Kehler.
You can catch it on the YESTV streaming service by setting up a free account at yestv.com/streaming. Check out the program guide on that page to confirm episode air times on Wednesdays.
