HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-07-04, Page 31THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013. PAGE 31.Entertainment Londesborough ON.............................................www.seedforwildbirds.comnaturesnest@tcc.on.ca StopsStopsStopsStopsStopsalong the wayalongthewayA VISITORS’ GUIDE TO HURON COUNTYstopsalonglakehuron.comLook for entertainment ideas on our Stops Along the Waywebsite at...
Aaron Gross, son of Steven and
Shirley Gross of Blyth, graduated June
13, 2013 from the University of
Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Honours Biomedical
Sciences on the Dean’s Honour List.
Aaron will be attending the University
of Western Ontario in September in
the Doctor of Medicine program.
Congratulations Aaron on your hard
work and achievements! We are very
proud of you. May God bless you in
your future studies.
Love, your family.
Happy 50th
Birthday
Kevin
July 5
From the family
Incoming artistic director looks ahead to 40th
Incoming Blyth Festival Artistic
Director Marion de Vries officially
starts with the Festival in August,
which doesn’t mean she hasn’t
already started working.
De Vries was named artistic
director in March and at that time
she had already begun looking
forward to 2014, which will be her
first season with the Festival. It will
also be the Festival’s 40th
anniversary.
With big things in the works for
that special year, de Vries says that
there has been pressure, but also
excitement at the prospect of being
involved in something so important
to the Festival and its surrounding
community.
“Right after the announcement,”
de Vries said in an interview with
The Citizen, “I had so many artists
calling to congratulate me, but they
were also hoping to work with the
Festival next year.”
While de Vries is still in Toronto,
she is looking forward to making
Blyth her home shortly. In the
meantime, she has been talking
extensively with interim Artistic
Director Peter Smith and keeping up
with back issues of The Citizen to
know what’s happening in Blyth and
its surrounding community.
“I want to get a sense of what the
issues are [in Blyth],” de Vries said.
While she had just finished
directing a student production, de
Vries said she was looking forward
to being in Blyth for the opening of
Dear Johnny Deere in June and then
again for the Festival’s opening
night on June 28, for the world
premiere of Beyond The Farm Show.
She then plans on being in Blyth
for the opening of Yorkville: The
Musical on Friday, July 5 before
moving to Blyth in August, when
she will be taking in the Festival’s
remaining premieres once she has
set up shop in the village.
“I’ve been spending time musing
about the 40th anniversary and even
years beyond that,” she said. “I’ve
been thinking about what kind of
work I want to do and to build on the
Festival’s successful history.”
She says the anniversary season
would be an important benchmark
for any theatre, but in Blyth it is
important not only for the Festival,
but for the Blyth and Huron County
communities as well. De Vries says
that the Festival has made a name for
itself by presenting “the heartbeat of
Huron County” on stage, which
is a tradition she hopes to
continue.
And while many of the Festival’s
tell stories from around Huron
County, de Vries says the beauty of
the Festival is how those stories
translate to people from all over
Ontario, Canada and the world.
De Vries first gained an
appreciation for the Festival and
Blyth community when she worked
as an assistant director on 1991’s
The Stone Angel before returning to
direct Wilbur County Blues in 1998.
Then, in 1999, de Vries acted as
the Festival’s playwright in
residence for the first time. She
would return again to the position in
2011.
De Vries says the playwright in
residence position was particularly
helpful to her professionally now as
artistic director because it got her
out of the rehearsal hall and into the
community.
She says that Blyth’s relationship
with the Festival is unique because
the community has so much input
into the theatre and its plays and
similarly the Festival shapes the
community around it.
De Vries says that kind of
connection between a theatre and its
immediate geographic area is
something that every urban theatre
company strives for.
“Blyth was one of the first theatres
to do that,” de Vries said.
She also cited other branches of
the Blyth Centre for the Arts like the
Blyth Festival Singers, the Blyth
Festival Orchestra and the Festival’s
art gallery as examples of the
Festival doing a great job of
attracting and retaining its local
audience.
While spending time in Blyth as
playwright in residence in 2011, de
Vries continued work on her play in
development Kitchen Radio. De
Vries has been working alongside
Festival regular musician/composer
David Archibald on the play for
nearly six years, prompting her son
to recently lament that his mother
has been working on Kitchen
Radio for “half of his life”.
And while she has many irons in
the fire, de Vries has recently found
time to contribute to Kitchen Radio,
saying that she hopes to reach a
significant milestone by the time the
Festival opens with hopes of
workshopping the play in Blyth this
winter.
De Vries has spent most of her life
in the world of Canadian theatre.
She is a director, playwright,
dramaturge and producer.
She is the former artistic director
of Cahoots Theatre and the former
interim artistic director of Native
Earth Performing Arts. She has
directed award-winning productions
at Theatre Passe Muraille, the Blyth
Festival, Festival Players of Prince
Edward County, the SummerWorks
Festival, the Toronto Fringe Festival,
the Centre for Indigenous Theatre
and the Factory Theatre.
Over her years of directing,
several of de Vries’ plays have been
nominated for Dora Awards,
including The Yoko Ono Project,
Little Dragon and Jumping Mouse.
De Vries is the recipient of the
OAC Chalmers Arts Fellowship and
the Harold Award.
Moving forward
Marion de Vries, incoming artistic director for the Blyth
Festival, has already spent the majority of her days, since
being named to the position in March, looking ahead to the
2014 Blyth Festival season, which will be its 40th. She
takes over the position on Aug. 1. (Photo submitted)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Happy 50th
Anniversary
Bert & Lillian Evans
Open House
to be held on July 14
from 2-5 pm
at the Londesboro Hall
in Londesboro.
Best wishes only
Love from your family
Graduation
Madelaine Deitner graduated with
a Bachelor of Science in Nursing,
with a degree from Conestoga
College - McMaster University on
June 11, 2013.
Congratulations Mady!
Love Mom, Dad,
Anthony and Francis
Kabrina Bishop, daughter of
Kevin and Jacquie Bishop,
graduated from Georgian
College with distinction in Early
Childhood Education. Kabrina
is employed by Rural Response
for Healthy Children and on the
supply list for Avon Maitland
District School Board.
Congratulations!!
Graduation
Artisans
Streetfest July 27
Blyth