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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-03-01, Page 33THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1989. PAGE 33. Entertainment Festival still must A lighter moment at the press conference announcing the provincial government’s $900,000 grant to the Blyth Festival’s expansion program was provided when Huron M.P.P. Jack Riddell noted that when the federal government announced its grant, his counterpart Murray Cardiff was pictured on the front page of The Citizen being kissed by two ladies. When he wondered who would kiss him he was rushed by [left to right] Marian Doucette, past president of the Festival; Lily Munro, Minister of Culture and Communications; Sheila Richards, a past president and Katharine Kaszas, Festival Artistic Director. raise $200,000 Continued from page 1 fundraising task ahead of it as it seeks to complete the project. Jane Garnder, Festival director of Com­ munications said Monday that $200,000 still must be raised from private sources to pay all the bills for the expansion which is sche­ duled to be completed by the spring of 1990. Following completion of the Din- sley Street shop complex this spring, the next major step will be construction of an addition to the south side of Memorial Hall to begin this fall, which will link the Hall to the Festival’s offices in the old Bank of Commerce building. Included in the wing will be more wing space, a new box office and art gallery, better facilities for the handicapped, new washrooms for the public and more ' dressing rooms. Mr. Riddell said the expansion is extremely important to the future of the Festival, allowing ‘‘this unique institution to continue to grow and prosper. Benefits of this project will fall upon every member and organization in Huron County and Southwestern Ontario.” Sheila Richards, a past board president of the Festival thanked the two ministers for their support saying that like an industry that must have a good plant to turn out a good product, the Festival need­ ed good facilities to turn out good plays. Mr. Riddell provided a lighter moment when said he had noted that when the federal government had announced its grant, his feder­ al counterpart Murray Cardiff was pictured on the front page of The Citizen getting a kiss from Artistic Director Katherine Kaszas and Mrs. Richards. He was waiting to see who would kiss him. Ms. Kaszas, Mrs. Richards, Dr. Oddie Munro and Marian Doucette, past president of the Festival, all jump­ ed up to kiss him. Later Dr. Oddie Munro and Mr. Riddell were taken on a short tour of the shop complex under con­ struction behind the Festival’s “garage” on Dinsley Street. Ms. Doucette explained that because of the year-round facilities the Festi­ val will now have, there have been enquiries from some Toronto thea­ tres about having the Festival build their sets for them. Drive off with A Bargain in the Classified Section. Play shows effect of divorce included Year” in explained Manager ‘‘Two Weeks the childrens’ Joel Harris, of the Blyth Vancouver’s award-winning Green Thumb Theatre performs its children’s play, “Two Weeks Twice A Year” at Blyth Memorial Hall on Saturday, March 18 at 2 p.m. Written by Colin Thomas, the play was commissioned to deal dramatically with the effect of separation and divorce on children. “We’ve Twice A series”, General Centre for the Arts, “first, because it is excellent theatre for children done by one of Canada’s finest children’s theatre companies and second, because divorce effects children in ways adults are only beginning to understand. It may be directly in their immediate family or indirectly in their friends’ fami­ lies. Suddenly, someone who has always been there, isn’t there any more. It’s all very confusing for children to cope.” Twelve year old Joe tries to “stay cool” in the face of a visit from the father he never sees. This sensitive and humourous play deals delicately with the subject of young children and effect of divorce on their lives from their point of view. There are four characters in the play, “Two Weeks Twice A Year” - Joe, Cogo (6 years old) and their parents, Sally and Mark. The play uses an unusual theatrical device: the characters Joe and Gogo are actually the same kid at two different stages in his life. As Joe puts it, “I don’t know how it happened. I was just going through some of my old toys at the back of my closet -1 was gonna throw some of them out - and, all of a sudden, there was another kid sitting beside me, playing with this stuff - and I recognized him because he was me, only younger.” “Two Weeks Twice A Year” is suitable for interested adults and children 6 to 12 years old. Green Thumb Theatre for Young People was founded in 1975 with the mandate to develop and pro­ duce new Canadian plays for young children. “By focusing on topics that are of direct and immediate concern to today’s children”, says Green Thumb Artistic Director, Patrick McDonald, “we hope to offer some tools to help them cope with the challenges of modem life. Equally imporant, we want to show young people the excitement of live theatre.” Green Thumb’s works have been produced by 53 compan­ ies, in five different countries and have, so far, been translated into French, Spanish and Japanese. New works created by Green Thumb Theatre include “One “Thousand Cranes”, “New Cana­ dian Kid”, “Liars and Night Light”, to name a few. Green Thumb Theatre annual performs to an average of 180,000 young people, their families and teachers. They’ve performed around the world, from Hong Kong to Stockholm, Montreal to New Zealand, and Whitehorse to Flori- da. “Two Weeks Twice A Year” has been touring to schools and theatres throughout Canada since September, 1988. For more infor­ mation about tickets and their performance at Blyth Memorial Hall on March 16th, call Blyth Festival Box Office, (519) 523- 9300/9225. “Stvu&l" Thank you I would like to thank all of our skaters for their excellent performances on Saturday night making our carnival the best ever. Thanks to all the parents who helped out in anyway, especially the decorating committee who outdid themselves. Club President Debbie Seili hot on CENTRAL AIR BLYTH CHILDREN’S = FESTIVAL OF ENTERTAINMENT FESTIVAL ON SALE NOW Vancouver's award winning GREEN THUMB THEATRE presents TWO WEEKS TWICE A YEAR Saturday, March 18, 2pm at Blyth Memorial Hall Tickets $6 00 At the Door $7 50 CALL BOX OFFICE 523 9300/9225 From: “The Gang’’ PURCHASE YOUR CENTRAL AIR SYSTEM BY MARCH 31, 1989 & GET 10% OFF Efficient Add-On Units for your Oil, Gas or Electric Systems. We can also accommodate those who currently have no forced air system! CALL US TODAY B. & G. ELECTRIC BRUSSELS PLUMBING, HEATING & ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR