HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-07-12, Page 19The view from here
Dear David:
I'm full. I feel like I've had a big meal; five hours of
rehearsal for Jake's Place followed by a performance
of the musical. And just as the worst thing you can do
after a big meal is lie down, I can't go to bed just yet.
So I'm writing.
Last time I was in the city we talked about me
living in Blyth, about how I couldn't put my finger on
why it's a bit odd to be a temporary resident here. I
still don't think I've figured it out, but here are some
more thoughts on the subject:
It's not the size of the place. After all, I come from the village called the
Toronto theatre community, where your every move is scrutinized, and
privacy is nothing more than a quaint notion.
On the first page of the Blyth Festival Actor's Survival Guide, we are
warned "Population of Blyth: 1,000. Population of the Festival: 100. YOU
WILL BE NOTICED!"
My first thought was maybe people will notice me, but at least they
won't be whispering about how my agent is about to dump me because the
last three plays I did bombed.
The more time I spend here, the more my thinking is being influenced
by the place. I went for a drive the other night and spent at least a half an
hour trying to figure out why cows give milk all the time, while female
human beings only produce it when they have kids. (I've since learned the
answer, and it reveals I possess a profound ignorance not just about cows,.
but about women as well).
I think the answer to why I feel odd has nothing to do with living in
Toronto or living in Blyth. I think it has to do with what I do. People who
live here do very practical things. They make things or grow things. Real
actual things. I mean, a consultant would starve in Blyth.
And I make something invisible. Along with a bunch of other people, I
do something that disappears every night at eleven o'clock, something that
only has value for the people who watched it as it happened.
I think that's the only difference between me and your average Blythite
(Blythian? Blyther?): the shelf life of the produce I produce.
Yours,
Michael.
Michael Healey is a member of the Blyth Festival Company. His tongue-
in-cheek letters home will be featured weekly throughout the season.
Grand subscriptions on sale
E ntertainment
Findley play at Stratford
FORTHCOMING
MARRIAGE
Ben and Chris TenPas of
Brussels are pleased to
announce the forthcoming
marriage of their daughter,
Dawn Michelle to Donald
Robert, son of Dave and
Karen Hastings of Brussels.
The wedding will take place
on Saturday, July 15, 1995
at 3:30 o'clock at Melville
Presbyterian Church,
Brussels, Ontario.
25th
ANNIVERSARY
JIM & LORRAINE
Laura, Shannon, Patrick,
Jamie & Ryan
request the honour of your
presence to celebrate
our parents'
Jim & Lorraine Hallahan
(nee Schurter)
25th Wedding Anniversary
on Saturday, July 15,
at the Farm
Open Reception at 8:00 p.m.
No Gifts Please.
Your presence is your gift.
TWO OECROES RGO
SCIENTISTS SENT R MESSAGE 10 SPREE.
THIS... IS THE REPlY.
OUR TIME Is UP
Fri. - Thurs. Fri. & Sat. 7 & 9 pm 0 T-T"'"".';
July 14 - 20 Sun. - Thurs. 8 pm
LONG DISTANCE? CALL 1-800-265-3438 FOR TOLL FREE MOVIE INFO
Love, Anne, your
kids & grandkids
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1995. PAGE 19.
Subscriptions are now on sale for
The Grand Theatre's 1995-96
season, the first with Michael
Shamata, the theatre's new Artistic
Director. Mr. Shamata says, "This
season has been designed to
entertain and, at the same time,
reflect who we are, both as
individuals and as members of this
community."
The Mainstage Season includes
the Canadian Premiere of A.R.
Gurney's Later Life, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning American classic
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by
TenneSsee Williams, the World
Premiere of a new adaptation of
Bram Stoker's Dracula, If We Are
Women by Joanna McClelland
Glass, Ann-Marie MacDonald's
Governor General's Award-winner
Goodnight Desdemona (Good
Morning Juliet), and the Tony
Award-winning musical A Little
Night Music by Stephen Sondheim
and Hugh Wheeler.
The McManus season opens on
Oct. 2 with Poking Fun, written
and performed by Sensible
Footwear who played to sold-out
houses last year. Poking Fun
continues where Close to the Bone
left off - there are no sacred cows
and no one is safe from Sensible
Footwear's caustic gaze. They poke
fun at everyone and everything,
including themselves. As new
Canadians, the compare their new
home with their native Britain, and
the rich comedic territory those
contrasts create. What are British
men really like? What does the
Queen carry in her handbag? And
what happened when Sensible
Footwear drove through the
Rockies? Poking Fun runs until
Oct. 21.
Toronto at Dreamer's Rcck, the
first production for young
audiences, opens in the McManus
on Nov. 15. This Chalmers-Award-
winning play by Ojibway play-
wright Drew Hayden Taylor tells
the story of three young people
from different times who are
magically brought together at a
sacred site, Dreamer's Rock - a
place of visions and dreams.
Together they struggle to
understand the past in the hope of
appreciating the future.
Originally commissioned and
produced by De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig
Theatre Group, this production
from Theatre Direct Canada is
recommended for Grade 7 through
OAC. Toronto at Dreamer's Rock
runs until Dec. 2.
The second theatre for young
audience production is A Promise
is a Promise adapted by Barbara
Poggemiller from the popular story
by Robert Munsch and Michael
Kusugak. Allashua, a 10-year-old
Inuit girl, has been warned by her
parents to stay away from the
cracks in the sea ice because
underneath live the Qallupilluit,
who prey on children who venture
too near the sea without their
parents. But Allashua has a mind of
her own.
Adapted from an Inuit legend, A
Promise is a Promise is a lyrical
and powerfully imagistic piece
using storytelling, masks, puppets,
music, dance and some audience
participation.
This Carousel Players production
is recommended for children (and
their families) in junior kinder-
garten through Grade 4. A Promise
is a Promise runs from Dec. 12 to
Jan. 10.
On Jan. 31 Gloria Montero's
Frida K, a vivid portrait of Frida
Kahlo, opens. This one-woman
show from Tarragon Theatre stars
Allegra Fulton as the Mexican
painter whose turbulent life, bold
art-works and personal struggles
have made her a cultural and
feminist icon of the 20th century.
Performances run until Feb. 10.
The final presentation in the
1995-96 McManus Season is Not
Spain by Richard Sanger. In a war-
torn country a journalist looking for
news and a survivor meet. Through
the encounter Sophie and Andrei
confront the assumptions that West
and East make about each other.
Not Spain, from Theatre Passe
Muraille, runs from Feb. 20 until
March 9.
• Canadian children are not evenly
distributed across the country.
According to 1990 population
estimates, Ontario, Quebec, and
British Columbia have the most
children and youth.
Opening Friday, Aug. 4, at the
Tom Patterson Theatre is Canadian
playwright Timothy Findley's The
Stillborn Lover.
Directed by Peter Moss, this
production is designed by Astrid
Janson with music by Boko Suzuki.
The cast features James Blendick
as Michael Riordan, Martha Burns
as Diana Marsden, Patricia Collins
as Juliet Riordan, Peter Donaldson
as Superintendent Jackman, Martha
Henry as Marian Raymond and
William Hutt as Harry Raymond.
Preview performances begin Sun-
day, July 30 and run until Saturday,
A first-time member of the Blyth
Festival Theatre family, M.J. Kang
provides her writings of her Korean
homeland to the talents of the
Young Company, this season.
The production of HEE HEE
Tales from White Diamond, which
depicts fairytales and legends
through music, story, mask and
Gondoliers
at Avon
The Gilbert and Sullivan musical
The Gomioliers opened Thursday,
June 1, at the Avon Theatre. The
Gondoliers is directed and
choreographed by Brian
Macdonald with musical direction
and additional arrangements by
Berthold, Carriere, designed by
Susan Benson, lighting design by
Michael J. Whitfield and sound
design by Keith Handegord.
The news that one of two newly
married brothers may not be a
humble gondolier after all, but the
heir to a throne - and also an
unwitting bigamist - places the
happiness of more than one couple
in jeopardy; but needless to say, an
unexpected twist brings about a
happy ending to this light-hearted
operetta last performed in 1984 at
the Avon Theatre.
The Gondoliers has previously
been staged three times at the
Stratford Festival. This production,
marks the sixth time Brian
Macdonald, Susan Benson and
Berthold Carriere have collaborated
on a Gilbert and Sullivan musical at
Stratford.
Sept. 16.
Combining elements of political
thriller, murder mystery and
memory play, The Stillborn Lover
is a moving tribute to the endurance
of loyalty and love in the world of
international diplomacy: a world
where political betrayal is routine
and human lives are locked into a
harsh and irrevocable destiny.
Originally written for William
Hutt and Martha Henry, The
Stillborn Lover was first staged at
the Grand Theatre in 1993 before
touring to the National Arts Centre
in Ottawa. A former actor,
Canadian author Timothy Findley
movement, will be directed by
James Simon, who has worked with
youth in Edmonton and Toronto.
The artistic creations required for
the play will be brought to life by
the members of the company, under
the guidance of Vrenia Ivonoffski,
a well-known Toronto mask maker
who has taught at George Brown
College Theatre School and Ryer-
son Theatre School.
The production will run from
Aug. 15 through 19, at The Garage
in Blyth.
Information may be obtained by
calling the Blyth Festival Theatre
Box Office at 519-523-4345.
was a member of the Stratford
Festival's 1953 inaugural season.
His award-winning novels
include Famous 'Last Words
(1981), Not Wanted on the Voyage
(1984) and The Telling of Lies
(1989). Mr. Findley will be
participating in the Celebrated
Writers Series, for the second
consecutive year, on Sunday, July
30, at the Avon Theatre.
Leonard & Marie Phillips
and their family wish
to invite you to
A Come & Go Tea
at St. Andrew's Presbyterian
Church, Wingham
on Saturday, July 22, 1995
from 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
to celebrate their
50th Wedding Anniversary.
Blyth's Young Co.
to do Korean tales