HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-12-03, Page 26Blyth Memorial Hall has been
shortlisted as a potential venue for
the 2016 Sears Drama Festival and,
if all goes well, it could represent a
change in the way the festival will be
hosted.
Local drama teacher David
Armour, from Goderich District
Collegiate Institute (GDCI), is one
of several teachers coming together
to run the festival instead of having
it hosted by a single school. This
builds on last year when the event
was co-hosted by GDCI and St.
Anne’s Catholic Secondary School
in Clinton.
“One of the things we’ve been
thinking about lately is the fact that
[the festival] is a big effort for one
school to host it,” he said. “It always
has been. While no one minds doing
it, some schools have gotten smaller
so there are fewer people to carry the
load in those individual schools.
We’re thinking we should share the
organization of each festival.”
Armour said that the 2016 show
will be a trial to see if that plan
works and, if it does, using
professional spaces, including
Memorial Hall, on a more regular
basis, could become a reality.
Those professional spaces are
great, according to Armour, not only
because of the nature of the space
but also because it takes away many
of the problems that the festival can
run into while using a school stage.
“A space like Blyth’s Memorial
Hall is so much better suited for the
festival,” he said. “Use of the facility
has no obstructions for scheduling.
Technical rehearsals are on while
school is in session and, while we
can usually reserve space at the
schools, the bells still go, students
are still moving around the site and
there is noise.”
He said that sometimes the
facilities are dual-use, like at St.
Anne’s Catholic Secondary School,
where the theatre space is a part of
the cafeteria.
“Doing it in a professional theatre
space is way preferable,” he said.
Armour pointed to the “electrics”
of the theatre space, including the
lighting array, as a benefit of such a
space.
“It offers the kids a really
professional experience in terms of
the finish they can give their plays,”
he said. “That’s the big thing,
making use of the facilities that a lot
of schools don’t have anymore.”
Hosting the Sears Festival next
year are teachers from F.E. Madill
Secondary School in Wingham,
Listowel District Secondary School,
Stratford Central Secondary School,
South Huron District High School in
Exeter, Central Huron Secondary
School in Clinton and GDCI.
One of the barriers to using a
professional space, Armour
explained, is often the cost.
“One of the reasons for doing it in
schools is because doing it in
professional spaces is prohibitively
expensive for us,” he said. “In a
school, you don’t have to worry
about the cost of a venue and
passing that on to the students
participating or gate receipts.”
That is why the festival has gone
back and forth between spaces like
Memorial Hall and in the schools,
Armour said.
North Huron Township Council
recently decided on a flat rental fee
of $1,000 for the week that the Sears
Festival would be using the space.
“We’re really grateful for that
decision,” Armour said. “The
committee was pretty thrilled with
that option.”
The move was very much an
economic development move for
North Huron, as director of
Recreation and Facilities Pat
PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2015.
A young playwright whose career
took a significant step forward at the
Blyth Festival has won a prestigious
award for her work in theatre just
weeks after being shortlisted for
another.
Britta Johnson of Stratford just
won the inaugural Paul O’Sullivan
Prize for Musical Theatre, which is
handed out through the Toronto
Fringe Festival. Johnson’s play Life
After was the work being honoured.
When Johnson was just in her
teens, her first musical, Big Box
Story, was produced at the Stratford
Festival in the Avon Theatre for a
special one-night performance,
followed by her second major work,
which was Alligator Tears, a Young
Company production at the Blyth
Festival in 2010.
Alligator Tears was a success on
all levels in 2010 being housed in the
Festival’s Phillips Studio, and was
remounted in 2011 and became
the first Young Company show
ever to be performed on
the Memorial Hall stage
when Johnson was just 20 years old.
She also co-directed the production.
Johnson attended the University of
Toronto and graduated last year.
She then went to work producing
Life After. She actually began
writing the play when she was just
19 and serving as the Paprika
Festival’s playwright in residence in
Toronto, returning to the project
again later on.
Life After, a story about a 16-year-
old girl coming to terms with the
death of her father, a famous author
of self-help books, was then chosen
as the Paprika Festival’s fundraiser,
which led to a public reading of the
play at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre.
The Paul O’Sullivan Prize is
named for O’Sullivan, an actor who
passed away in 2012, but was known
for performing with Toronto’s
Second City troupe, television
shows like The Red Green Show and
Little Mosque on the Prairie and as
a teacher at Humber College.
Johnson’s win comes just weeks
after Life After was also shortlisted
for the Stage West Pechet Family
Music Award – one of the
Tom Hendry Awards handed
out annually by the Playwrights
Guild of Canada.
Blyth Sears Festival could serve as trial
Johnson awarded
by Fringe Festival
Coming together
The Blyth Christian Reformed Church was the place to be Sunday night as it served as the
central location for this year’s community Christmas service, put on by the Blyth and Auburn
churches. The evening featured several musical performances, speakers and offerings for the
North Huron Food Share. Here, Deb Siertsema, left, and Darlene Vander Veen, performed for
those at the church. (Vicky Bremner photo)
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