HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1981-07-01, Page 24Who's
Continued from page S.
KEITH THOMAS
Keith, who comes or-
iginally from Edmonton.
Alberta. is a recent grathiate
of the National Theatre'
School.
In addition to his work at
NTS. Ile has appeared at the
-Banff Festival,' at. City 'Stage
in Vancouver. and at the ,
Walterdale Theatre in
Edmonton.
in the Land and Fire on ice,
this year.
KATE TROTTER
Kate is a familiar face at
Blyth for her appearances in
the 1977, 1978 and' 1980
season in several plays,
including I'll Be Back For
You Before Midnight. Child, -
His Own Boss and. Two Miles
Off.
In the past year; Kate has
appeared in The Tempest at
Theater Calgary, in The
Tomorrow Box at Centaur,
Theatre, in the CBC drama
series and in the Judge.
"Sttike for ,Liberty".
Kate will appear in Quiet
in the Land and' The
Tomorrow Box this year.
"PATRICIA VANSTONE
Patricia hails from New
Brunswick, and appeared at
Theatre New Brunswick and
Dalhousie Theatre while on
the East coast.
Mere recently, she has
appeared in Rumours of our
Death, 'and Teacup
Entertainments in Toronto at
Factory Theatre Lab and in
the Improvisation Olympics
with HomeMade Theatre.
Patricia recently went to
Regina to appear in A
.Thousand Clowns at Stage
West.
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BY USE GUNBY
Keith Roulston can not
only recite the history of the
Blyth Summer Festival
Theatre, he also played an
important role in making it
happen.
Keith. former publisher
and editor of the Village
Squire magazine, who's now
the theatre's., administrative
director says he can't
remember deciding con-
sciously that it.would be nice
to have a theatre in Blyth..
But he remembers the' first
time he saw Memorial Hall
when he was reporter, photo-
grapher, and editor and
publisher of the Blyth
Standard covering the Lions
Club Variety Night there,
remembers thinking that it
should be put to use.
It was' Keith and Helen
Gowing, then president of
the Board of Trade, who first
organized a crew of
volunteers to helprestore the
with Keith promoting
the 'project through the
paper.
"Helen thought we could
`use Memorial Hall." says
Keith, who was president of
the Blyth Centre for the Arts
Board of Directors from 1975
to 1978.
Keith was born just north
of Luelmow. 'about 20 miles
from Myth, where he spent
his, school years.
"I didn't really know that
1 wanted to write until I was
in high school" says Keith,
who had either teaching
history or flying in mind for
the future.
In Grade 13, he discarded
his air force ambitions and
decided to take journalism ,
thereby avoiding the science
courses he would have had to
catch up on and didn't really
like anyway.
He went from Lucknow to
Ryerson in Toronto. where
he studied journalisni and
saw a student production
:that first sparked his interest
in theatre.
"MI my wilting tends to
be on the role of the in-
dividual in society," he says,
and the difficulty the in-
dividual has with dealing
With things that get too big.
He writes about both the
rights of and the re-
sponsibilities of the
individual. We tend to, talk'
about the rights and don't
concentrate enough on the
responsibilities, he says.
The Shortest Distance
Between Two Points was
performed at the end of the
1977 Blyth Summer Festival
Season.
His second play, produced
at the Festival in 1978, was
His Own Boss, a story about
the frustrations of being
self-employed.
The third, Remember
When. was written for the
Wingharn Centennial.
Keith long chronic led the
adventures of McGillicuddy,
a small town police chief. in
the Village Squire.
In 1979, Keith's play
based on that column
opened.
His research on Howie
Morenz resulted in • this
summer's play Fire on Ice.
In addition to running the
theatre's administrative side,
Keith writes a weekly column
for the !Myth, Brussels and
Seaforth papers and for the
Rural Voice.
"I've learned discipline, I
guess," he says when asked.
"I didn't used to be...1 was,
disciplined too much in a
way." Keith would work six
or severLdays-a week for ten
to 12 hours a day.
-• -He needs the discipline to
relax now, he says.
Anyone in the area would
find it hard to miss both the
'quality and the quantity
Keith's work. To keep
, abreast of the spectrum he
writes about, he regularly
reads three daily newspapers
plus weeklies and
magazines.
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527-0180
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CLINTON"
28 Huron St.
482-3924
EXETER
27'7 Main St.
235-2144
Ample
Parking
Before the play After the play
or Playing around
Have a Pizza
EAT IN OR TAKE OUT'
SEAFORTH
22 Goderich St. W.
527_4/180
Friday & Saturday 1,1 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Sunday titre ursday 11 a.m. - 12 midnight
WINGHA5171'• -
.317 •Josephine St.
• 35 7-3660
GODERICH
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Air
Conditioned
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BE A
MEMBER
OF THE
Blyth
Centre
for the
Arts
Inquire at
the box office
Keith Roulston helped make Festival happen
SEE THE STARS
AT 'THE CENTRE .
'Next Fall and Winter
MUSIC SERIES
JAN RUBES -
Oct. 25, 2 p.m.
TAFELMUSIK -
The Messiah
' Dec. 13, 2 P.M.
LIONA BOYD -
April 14, 8 p.m.
JOHN ARPIN -
May 9, 2 p.m.
ALL 4 ONLY S18;00 -- SAVE 1/3
A THEATRE SERIES
BETH ANN COLE-
Songs From' the_
Theatre
Oct. 7, 8 p.m.
SLEUTH -
With Barry Morse .
March 2, 8 p.m.
LEACOCK AT LEISURE
RTC' Weil viabd
May. 21, 8.p.m.
ALL 3 ONLY SAVE 30%
A CHILDRENS 8ERI'ES
CAMERATA -
Little Red Riding
HOC4,
Sal; ;Oct. 11-- 2 p.m.
EREWHQN THEATRE-.
ipharlotWe Web
Sat., 'March 13, 2 p.rri,
FROG PRINT THEATRE
Moments Mouse-leal,
Slit., May 8, g p.m.
ALL 3 ONLY $6—SAVE 30%
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Write Myth gentrelor the Arts
Box 291, Blyth
Or Call 523-9300
or 523,9225
HURRY' TO GET
BEST SEAT SELECTION
o \
-7
WATCH THOSE PINS-Diana Beishaw loOkS some what worried but she
isTh capable hands during fitting for this costume:
Tony Abrams (left) designer, sketches 'and Kerry hackett work from
Sketches and swatches to cut and fit the costumes. This outfit is a rich red
with brocaded hip belt and will be worn by the character Theresa in
"Love or Money". (Photo by Hamilton)
Keith remembers that first
Festival year. "It.- was a
really magic thing that first
summer,", he says, On
opening night, there was
"electricity in the air".
"You couldn't say why,
but you just knew the theatre
was going
somewhere.'
Every opening night now
is fun, he says, but that very
first opening night was a
"once in a lifetime thing."
The town of Blyth has,
"for the most part. re-
mained the same." says
Keith, but the attitude
toward the theatre has
changed.
At first, people were a
little "leery" of having new
people coming to town. But' it
wasn't very long after the
actors were here, says Keith,
that they were accepted by a
lot of people, invited to stay
in their homes, presented
with homemade pies. James
Roy was instrumental in this
process, Keith says, he
"brought in really nice ,
people" to work in' the
Festival.
"Every year there is more
support from the town,"
Keith says. Blyth residents
start looking' forward to the
actors coming back. and
when they go, it's as if
"something has been sort of
taken away."
One of the actors from two
seasons ago came back to
visit and talk to the people he
met while in Blyth, says
Keith. He was treated "like
one of the local boys come
home."
Keith Roulston is also very
much a "local boy". Though
as a journalist; he often plays'
the role of critic, he says that
"if you show you have the
interests of the community at
heart and turn around and
criticize, then they'll under-
stand."
updated from the 1979
Blyth Standard
Frotn sketche8 to costume
"Theresa"
Diana Belhaw in the Blyth
production of Love or Money
0 BOTH $1.110040A f0STIYA
to go