HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-07-31, Page 13act
At th0 Blyth rnirer F stival
Amate
rs n dspe Bob and Alvin. storcy ofSunday With'iStr, .00 rs'I*Try
Aockum; , 640,4 street .the past:
Mr. NY091r
family piOtic. its :Stratford
'
Steven Sharon, PoteOY.*11
10k. Sunday. • ae4:Wskted'00' Sunday WO!
Mr. and MrS.' Dos Buchanan
Arnold.. and:
aPent the weekent at Wasaga John cif:AiC401,
Beach. • . W;••.aart.Mr.S;•ll:Tateo0 Hunter
• Mr, and Mrs. fleeter IciaB§W,Si :Of Colborne jilt*. VASA) and
of Clinton, visited ..on Sunday,
evening with de0r0 v.0;0 ,*Pt' SPO4Y visiting at :the
Mcllwain and Mx. artd:M;* arl John Thompson
Merner and family. David Whytespot ,m9poiy, •.
Mr. and Mrs. Preszcator with biS:,i;9_.Cle.4110. and
Bill and Michael visited on Mr0',han iwc4;nont of
went to the Mob, ,Safarai Pew* returirsillorno witlt,ticr
tionlesyi)100.S44), -vy)1cp".00: ..$cOtt ',arid - .PW4.110 .,1:084.khg1;••
and Jennifer wended. the Muir • ' and. Mrs;
MIPIPIPICAPIP.Tma
We are
Buyers of
WHEAT
BARLEY ,„
MIXED GRAIN
FIGHTING OFF A BOA CONSTRICTOR- Actor. Jim Schaeferseems to be enjoying
the improvisations of the youngsters at the Children's Workshop held at the Blyth
Steer Theatre Saturday mornings. About 16 kids from the area "attended the
Wertshop and in the picture three are trying 'to fight off boa constrictors that are
wrapping themselves about their legs. ' (Staff Photo)
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By Nancy Andrews.
The two newcomers opened the
door and cautiously entered.
Sprawled on the floor were about
six teenagers. •
Standing in the large basement
was a tall, thin man in his late
twenties with a goatee and his
brown hair tied behind his back.
He was telling the kids .to
."relax' Imagine you'se sinking
into the sand at a beach. "Loosen
up, there is tension in those
feet," he said as he bent over to
move one of the teenager's feet to
a more relaxed postion.
It was just a little after 10:00
o'clock Saturday morning and as
he looked at the newcomers
rather quizically, he said some-
thing very conventional like "may
I help you"?
"The newcomers , my cousin
who w as visiting and myself,
equally conventional, asked if this
was the Blyth Acting Workshop,
though it was fairly obvious to us
both that it was..
We We were answered in the
affirmative, and told to remove our
shoes and join the others on the
floor.
This was the second of 'four
workshops being held at the Blyth
Summer Festival, sponsored by a
provincial grant.
Workshops were also being
held in directing with about ten
attending, in stage management,
one present and in child-
ren's acting, with about 15 'from
the area.
The adult acting workshop was
being instructed by StevenThorne
co-writer of the play, Mostly In
Clover,' and director of the Blyth
Summer, Theatre.
The group was told about the
different skills needed to become
a good actor including proper
breathing, 'posture, and voice.
With the exception of one,
everyone was a' chest or a
combination of chest and dia-
phramatic breather, Mr. Thorne
went around end placed his hand
on the kids back and stomach.
Mr. Thorne' said it was itnpor-
tent that actors becomecliaphram-
tic breathers or breath froth the
diaphram because they can
breathe deeper and also it causes
less tension in the chest area.
He said it was, easiest to
practice breathing with the stom-
ach muscles while flat on your
back. He said babies breathed
this way, but children and adults
pick up bad breathing habits
along the, way.
He had the kids gather around
him, place a hand on his chest
and stomach and proceeded to
demonstrate the two types of
breathing.
The workshop was in many
ways just to learn by seeing and
doing. The kids, in turn, started
to practice diaphramatic breath-
ing, one hand on their stomachs
and one on their chests.
One teenager told the instruct-
or that she didn't breathe through
her diaphram because she didn't
like to see her stomach stick ut.
Mr. Thorne is not involv d in
theatre for nothing and e was
quite comical when he demon-
stlk .ate the different ways people w
He said everyone walks in a
different way,.but to be an actor
you had to learn to 'control your
body and to walk in different ways
so that each time you come on
stage you can assume a different
personality.
He said each person has their
own center of gravity, for some its
in the knees, so the knees go first
and the rest of the body kind of
tags along behind. This is how he
used to walk, he said.
Others have their-centers in the
cheit and walk as if to say, "This
is me, aren't I great?"
He had several of the kids walk
across the room, and had the
others try to guess where their
centers were. They decided I was
a "hip and thigh person".
One Girl walked naturally
across the floor, and the group
decided her center was in her
waist. Mr. Thorne Told her to
imagine there was a string
attached from the top of your
head pulling you up. She did this,
and the change was quite re-
markable. Mr. Thorne said actors
have to learn to combine the
relaxation of the natural position
which is often the slouch with the
upright stage posture.
He said the stage postion was
leaning alightly forward on the
balls of your feets, so you will
always be ready to move on stage.
Mr. Thorne said as an actor a
person has to learn to control his
voice. He can learn to do this by
sending his voice through differ-
ent resonating Spots in" his , head.
Some actors become co speCial-
ized at this, they can resonate
their voice off a given tooth.
The group was told the majority
of our voices were trapped in our
throats. An actor must learn to
throw his voice out the top of his
head.
There was surprisingly little
embarassment at the many antics
we did. Only one girl said she
couldn't throw out her voice to hit
him in between the eyes.
"It would take me a year to
learn to' do that," she said as she
glanced at the others nervously.
"It will take you a year if you
think it will take you a year," Mr.
Thorne said. "Try again". She
tried and everyone 'down the line
also took a turn.
The theme to this section was
that an actor must control his
body, and not let ht's body control
him.
The group did several exercises
to develop imagination. We threw
an imaginary football around for
awhile and we played tug-a-war
with an imaginary rope.
It took awhile for me to get into
the swing of this for I was tugging
while everyone else on my side
was being pulled. Finally I started
to concentrate which is the secret
of the game, to watch what the
other fellow is doing. I was
starting to sweat before the
instructor called the game off,
and if -it had lasted much longer I
think I might have got rope burns.
Another attribute an actor must
learn, the group was told was
"trust." Oh, no, I thought, .has he
learned I'm a reporter with the
Expositor?
To my relief, he said, actors
must share a lot of emotion on
stage, and often real tears are
shed, so actors must be able to
learn to trust others on stage with
thes,e emotions.
The exercise was to tip back on
your heels and fall and trust that
your partner behind you would
Eric Winkler, chairman of the
management board of the Ontario
Cabinet, officially opened the
Maitland Valley Conservation
Authority's newly-renovated of-
fice "in Wroxeter Saturday..
About 200 attended the _event,
which featured the raising of the
authority's own flag for the first
time.
Mr. Winkler was presented
with a Rocky Raccoon T-Shirt.
Rocky 'is the Authority's mascot.
Full-scale renovations occurred,
at the head quarters which is the
former Wroxeter school, house.
catch you. .
The truth was out, I wasn't a
very trusting. person. come to
think of it, I wouldn't even trust
my mother, in this type of
situation,.
I tried to fall, but my body
wasn't going for any of that as my
foot would shoot out to regain my
balance. If I wasn't very trnsting,
it was equally trueof the others.
Our lack . of trust, perhaps was
well founded when , were
dragging a partner around with
his eyes closed. Trying to avoid
the milling kids, and a couple of
poles in the room, a collision
occurred bet‘yeen two groups.
Screams rose from the Blyth
Theatre basement. I'm sorry
about that, I wasn't watching
where I was going.
They will never trust you, if
you're not careful, he said. As he
warned before, if you let them
fall, they will never trust you
again.
Mr. Thorne asked the group
what they thought of the or
shop. One teenager said, " ne er
thought I'd be able to do a of
this."
The group was small but maybe
there is an advantage to that,
When he was humming, everyone
had to place their hands on his
head to feel the vibrations.
In a larger group, he might
have needed a bigger head. Of
those present about four weren't
from the county.
My cousin from Windsor came
with me, and three girls who were
bicycling through the area at-
tended. They said they saw an
advertisement for the Blyth
Theatre and bicycled down for the
play. They stayed the night with
some local people who put them
up, and stayed for the workshop.
They were enthusiastic and said
the worksop was 'fun .
James Roy, was -giving the
directing, Ross Ferguson the, set
design and Jim Schaefer, the
children's acting workshops.
The renovations began in 1974,
with all the carpentry being done
by the authority staff.
Authority Chairman Jack Graul
of Ellice Township said the school
and 11/4 acres of land were
purchased , from the Howick
Township area school board for
$8,500 in 1965.
Besides the offices, the former
school now houses a spacious
boardroom, drafting room and
resource centre. By the time the
renovations are completed„ total
investment in the building will
reach $80,000.
Correspotlatit 1-
turgnreYdstaMblortnaSn'eri 041inlYrtaZihrYY!eaft: 7r-
spending the paste week on
holidays with their aunt and uncle
Mr. and Mrs. Don Barker and,
family of King City.
Steven Bos spent the past week
with his aunt and uncle Mr. and
Mrs. Leo Sanders, Jennifer and
Jeffery of R.R. 4, Brussels.
Mr. Barry Powley returned
from , Alert on Saturday having
spent the past 6 months there.
Mrs. Powley met him in Trenton
and returned to visit with her
family, Mr. and Mrs. John Thom-
pson, Sharon Jim and Bob, before
they leave pn Wednesday for a
trip to visit with his parents in
British Columbia. Their sons
Jason and Jonathan ,will accomp-
anj, them.
Mr.' and Mrs. Bill Storey
accompanied their son and gran-
, • •
7.11.0 .111.1119.N .ExoporrpF4.4..tny.:;i, .197.
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ARNOLD STINNISSE.N .alt.e;•; IVASUR
By 1860 most of the Labrador
Inuit were' members of the
Moravian church, although the
Semigak family of Saglek Bay was
not converted until 1933.
There are nine residents in the
Yukon for every 100 square miles.
* This compares with 606 people to
every 100 square miles of Canada
as a whole.
Correspondent
Mrs. John Templeman
The Staffa Juniors have won
their last two games. They won
over Fullarton 5 to 1. Ken Harris
was the winning pitcher for
Staffa. Monday night they won
over Downie 7 to 3 with Jim
Skinner the winning pitcher for
Staffa.
A STAR IS BORN- Those attending the Blyth Acting Workshop practice sensitivity
and concentration while relaying impulses through their hands and feet. The
Expositor reporter in plaid pants at the top of the star, joined the group, to get an
inside view of the workshop.
Staffa juniors
win 2 ball games
Personals
Laurie Milne, Bornholm was a
weekend guest of Nancy Templ-
eman.
Christine Scherbarth, Born-
holm was a weekend guest of
Jane Ross.
Mr. and Mrs. John Templeman
returned home Tuesday from a
motor trip to the Atlantic Prov-
inces. (Intended for last week)
HEADQUARTERS
1.99 for 24 Bottles Plus .
deposit
SWEET CORN
Fresh Locally Grown
65c Dozen
ARCHIE'S SUNOCO
The
pop
Shoppe
(Staff photo)
Summer Shoe Sale
Continues
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