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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSetting The Stage, 1998-06-24, Page 33Jerry Franken: both acting and directing in 1998 Blyth season. SUMMER CLEARANCE DRESS SHOPPE-SEAFORTH 5 0,0 ON ALL SUMMER FASHIONS SPECIAL SALE RACKS THROUGHOUT THE STORE Now Open Sundays 12 to 5 PM SETTING THE STAGE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1998. PAGE 9. THE aps SHOP CLOTHING FROM TOTS TO TEENS Jerry Franken has helped shape theatre all across Canada Having spent •I I summers in Blyth, Jerry Franken feels a part of the community. Audiences will remember him from such shows as, Jake's Place, He Won't Come In From the Barn and last season's Quiet in the Land and There's Nothing in the Paper. He likes to tell the story of the time a man stopped him on the street and said, "You know what I like about this place? Last year we saw you and you were a nice guy, this year you have a pickle up your arse." Primarily an actor, Jerry is also a director. This season he has been named honorary artist at the festival. He'll be acting in Yesteryear by Joanna McClelland Glass, and directing Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! by Keith Roulston. "I have always believed that it is better to have a director that has been an actor." Born in Edmonton, Jerry studied Continued from pg. 8 Glenn. The contemporary play takes place on the front porch of a cottage by the Atlantic Ocean, the clothing is what you'd expect to wear at the cottage. "If I'm doing my job right, people won't notice the clothes." The set Glenn is designing is on a sloped stage to make it easier for audiences to see. In order to save money and keep the set light, he will make the shingles on the roof of the cottage out of cardboard and theatre in San Francisco. He worked for three years in what they need." Born in Montreal, Glenn grew up in Ottawa and later studied acting at Ottawa University. He moved to Toronto when he was 22 and has lived there ever since. In 1982, he started teaching theatre production at the University of Toronto. From there he fell into set design and gave up acting. Since then he has designed. for both big and small theatres across the country. This winter Glenn toured with Crows Theatre and Winnipeg at the Manitoba Theatre Centre before moving to Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, Jerry lived in an old house just outside of Halifax for five years. The house had no running water and was heated by a wood stove. Despite the hard winters Jerry loved the East Coast. From Halifax Jerry moved to Toronto. In Toronto he and a group of friends from Halifax started a theatre company called NDWT (the initials don't stand for anything in particular). For four years, Jerry and the company toured Northern Ontario in the winter performing with natives on their reserves. NDWT attracted some actors who have gone on to successful careers like Graeme Green and Thompson Highway. When the theatre company fell a part after the Ontario Arts Council cut its funding, Jerry went back to Toronto. Aside from stage acting Jerry has made a few appearances on television series. He recently played a minister on Traders. This past winter he appreared in Young People's Theatre's production of Anne in Toronto and Sago in Picasso at the Lapin Agile for Centaur Theatre in Montreal. Jerry and his wife have lived in Stratford for the past 12 years. They have three children. Festival- Fact: While Memorial J-Q' Hall was almost unused, Festival events throughout the year now draw about 50,000 people. Acting career gave way to designing for Davidson HAMM'S CAR SALES would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone visiting Blyth this summer Congratulations & Best Wishes to the Blyth Festival as they open for another season BLYTH SALES 523-4342 SERVICE 523-9581 0 411%C° 4(1 4-rickets Non-Fiction 0V:4° Se° .4 440 split 596 Campbell Street Lucknow (519) 528-3341 ?atm mein. - -...---„,..., .......... ............... Pianist, Alan Moon will also be Theatre Company with his wife, ;haring the stage. He'll be sitting Bonnie Beecher, the lighting )ehind a screen door at a six-foot designer for this year's production ;rand piano. of Yesteryear at Blyth. Glenn started his career as an "Working with Bonnie is great," actor. "Being an actor has helped he said. "It helps that I think she is me. I understand the needs of the a tremendous designer." ctor, how I can give the actor Glenn and Bonnie live with their strength or weakness, depending on teenage son in Toronto. The first opened --- 10.1 i ;l Blyth Festival July 9, 1975 LET'S GO „-- Isri elcopink gill ' 'IL,. 0:144.1 11. 4,„ TERRIFICIIIIIIII° $2.5o TUESDAYS shoes FREE 1-4 pm 7-11 pm dleph oNb- '2.50 per game 8 1 pm - 4 WHEN CATS 17 Other times available reservation Fridays... pm -12:30 Saturdays pm & 7 Sundays 1 pm - PLUS... IT'S & pm pm by j. 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