HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2013-09-05, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2013.Playwright events well received by community
Breakfasts kick off
Threshers’ weekend
Continued from page 1
auditorium of the Blyth and District
Community Centre, while there will
be a jam session in the tent from
8:30 p.m. to midnight.
Saturday’s events begin with a
pancake breakfast hosted by the Fire
Department of North Huron at the
Emergency Services Training Centre
just south of Blyth. The breakfast
will begin at 7:30 a.m., as it will on
Sunday as well.
Once again the doors to the
reunion grounds open at 8 a.m. with
displays, crafts, working displays,
the Lifestyles program and Papa’s
Petting Zoo all get underway at 9
a.m.
At 9:30 a.m. there will be a sheep
shearing demonstration. The
demonstration will take place at 11
a.m. on Sunday.
The tractor pull will commence at
10 a.m., along with the horse
demonstration that will also start at
10 a.m.
The threshing demonstrations will
take place at 10:15 a.m. and at 1:15,
taking place again on Sunday at 11
a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
At 11 a.m. registration opens for
the event’s annual fiddle
competition, which begins at 12:30
p.m.
Pierce’s Orchestra will take to the
stage at noon, just before clowns and
face-painting begin at 12:30 p.m.
At 1 p.m. the special events
commence, as well as the tractor pull
and the children’s pedal tractor pull.
The garden tractor pull will follow.
At 6 p.m. the Twilight Serenaders
will take to the stage once again,
followed by Crippled Duck in the
community centre auditorium from 8
p.m. to midnight and Pierce’s
Orchestra, which will play the tent
from 8:30 p.m. to midnight.
The gates for Sunday’s events
open at 8 a.m. with displays, crafts
and Papa’s Petting Zoo opening to
the public at 9 a.m.
The reunion’s annual church
service begins at 9:30 a.m. in Shed 3.
The tractor pull and the garden
tractor pull will begin at 11 a.m. and
the Country Versatiles will begin
their set at noon.
At 12:30 p.m. the step dancing
competition will begin at the same
time as clowns and face-painting.
Special events, the Lifestyles
program and the children’s pedal
tractor pull will all begin at 1 p.m.
After the threshing demonstration
at 1:15 p.m. and the parade at 4 p.m.,
this year’s reunion will wrap up with
a jam session in Shed 3 from 6 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
For more information on this year’s
reunion, visit the website at
www.blythsteamshow.on.ca.
While attendance at the Coffeewith a Playwright events hosted bythe Blyth Festival at both the QueensBakery and Memorial Hall have seenmore interest from those involvedwith the theatre than from thegeneral public, Blyth Festival
Artistic Director Marion de Vries
says the events are worthwhile
experiences and exercises.
The five events are part of de
Vries’ plan to further increase public
involvement with the Blyth Festival
and the people of the community as
well as expand new play
development.
“When I first got here, this is
something I wanted to pursue,” de
Vries said. “I got in touch with some
playwrights we had commissioned
plays from and some playwright-in-
residences we’ve had and asked
them what they thought of it.
“We decided that, since the
playwrights were in town, we should
do something public,” she said. “We
went to the [Queens] Bakery and set
it up.”
While there were some members
of the public involved in the events at
the coffee shop, including numerous
people who just happened to be
passing through and loved what they
heard, according to de Vries, a lot of
staff, crew and cast from the Festival
attended.
“It’s a valuable experience
regardless of who attends,” she said.
“It’s a great way for the Festival to
connect with the community.”
The events were created to follow
or precede workshops with the
Festival which she said are an
important part of the process in the
creation of a play.
The idea of first doing the
workshop, which included readings
done by actors who were on hand for
other plays, was a big hit with the
playwrights according to de Vries.
“All of them said they would love
to hear the actors read their play,”
she said. “They get to see what
works, what doesn’t and getimmediate feedback. It’s veryhelpful to the playwrights.”She said, as a playwright herself,she knows it’s a very important step.The entire project worked wellbecause, when Blyth FestivalGeneral Manager Deb Sholdice drewup contracts for the actors at thetheatre company, riders were
included for the actors to be a part of
the program.
The workshops, paired with the
community involvement of the
coffee shop discussions, are an
important part of local play creation
according to de Vries.
“We’re almost 40 years into the
Blyth Festival’s tenure and it was
one of the first to take on the
mandate of creating Canadian
content,” she said. “We’re not just
doing any plays here, we’re doing
plays inspired by country life, by
histories and stories of Blyth, Huron
County, Southwestern Ontario and
rural Canada.”
She said the realization at the
Festival that success comes from
community plays and plays about
issues the community understands
became familiar from the very first
season of the Festival in 1975 when
theatregoers chose to go to Mostly in
Clover, a very close to home story,
over Agatha Christie’s The
Mousetrap.
“Since then, the Festival has stuck
to that mandate,” she said. “Now
there are all sorts of theatres across
Canada focusing on Canadian
content but we were one of the first
and I think that it’s important to
remember and recognize what put us
there.”
Being in Blyth, both for the
workshop and to meet people, is a
special experience for writers
according to de Vries, who said there
is something almost magical about
the village that inspires people to
create.
She said she definitely plans on
continuing the events and is
considering starting them before
next year’s season as a way to give
people a sneak preview of the plays that will be debuting on thestage.The feedback, both from theplaywrights and from thecommunity members and visitors de Vries spoke to, said the events werefantastic experiences.Regarding specific events, she saidthat Anusree Roy, the second of thefour playwrights scheduled, reallygot into her book, Gil Garratt provided some great entertainmentand Leanna Brodie, who paired herspeech with the launch of The Bookof Esther, provided great insight intothe creative practice of the authors.
Brussels
519-887-9114
The Citizen
Blyth
519-523-4792
Drop in today!
CHICKEN COOPS
Whether you’re looking for a
project for the kids for the
summer or want to grow more of
your own food, this book provides
plenty of ideas for housing
chickens. 45 building plans for
everything from a backyard coop
to pastured flocks. $24.95
CHICK DAYS
Raising Chickens from Hatchlings to
Laying Hens
Here’s “an absolute beginners guide” for all
the steps from keeping new chicks warm to
collecting eggs. Information on different
breeds, housing, feed and stages of growth.
$18.95
DEERPROOFING YOUR
YARD AND GARDEN
Deer are beautiful creatures
but they can be destructive
in your yard and garden.
This book provides nearly
200 pages of information
including plants that deer
truly hate, innovative fencing
and homemade deterrents.
$16.95
COLD-CLIMATE GARDENING:
More than 300 pages of tips on “how to extend
your growing season by at least 30 days”.
Information for food plants, landscaping
techniques to protect vulnerable plantings and
how to warm the soil earlier. $22.95
Rural Reading
CHOOSING AND
KEEPING PIGS
A great introduction to the
world keeping pigs as a
hobby, this book deals with
housing, feeding, disease
prevention and much more.
As well, you’ll learn about
breeds even seasoned
pork farmers may not have
heard of. $19.95WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
Arnold Mathers, one of the
favourite writers in The Rural
Voice with his humorous stories
of growing up on a Huron County
farm, has collected the stories in
book form – and added other
stories and photographs. $22.00
Directing: A Wake
Falling: A Wake playwright Gary Kirkham, left, and director Peter Smith, right, took part in a
book launch for Kirkham’s play that featured a question-and-answer period with the pair. This
topped off a series of playwright events in Blyth that featured Gil Garratt and Leanna Brodie
last week.(Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Denny ScottThe Citizen