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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-06-28, Page 2See us today for... • Picnic tables • Spruce & Cedar • Trex Decking • Lattice • Regal aluminum railing • Shovels & rakes • Mini ties • Patio stones • Hardware • Peat moss • Garden Sheds • Bottled water refill centre • Barbecue Propane Exchange Centre worr oselitiO \ )1 H 33eAt geJtivat McDonald Home Hardware Building Centre ^Wetie Got Your Lumber" Free estimates & delivery available Brussels 887-6277 1-800-881-0030 f KRAEMER CONCRETE LTD. Jim Kraemer Paul Kraemer R.R. #1 Brunner, ON 220 Industrial Park Drive 519-595-2343 Brussels, ON 888-746-4525 519-887-8763 "Do It In Concrete" CONGRATULATIONS BLYTH FESTIVAL on your 32nd season ALL INSTRUMENTS, Repairs, Lessons, Recording Studio, Cool place... Ph: 291-5566 208 Main St.W. Listowel Coggio".041460 to the Blyth Festival on your 32nd Season Your local office product specialist • Computers • Stationery • Photocopiers • Cellular Phones • Furniture (Home & office design available) • Phone Systems & Voice mail • Network & IT Solutions • Fax Machines • Service Dept. for printers, copiers, fax machines & computers Ask about our / new Ink Jet refill service A+ Certified Technicians Upgrade Installations On-Site and Carry-In Services 223 Huron Rd., Goderich 214 Josephine St., Wingham Tel. (519) 524-9863 Tel. (519) 357-1554 www.microagebasics.com PAGE 2. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28/29, 2006. 1 New Canadian Plays Marking 100 world premieres With 4 more world premieres this year the Blyth Festival reaches rare milestone of 100 plays seen first on the Blyth Memorial Hall stage Back in 1975 when James Roy founded the Blyth Festival, he had a vision of producing plays that spoke to the small town and rural people of the region. There was only one problem: there were no plays that spoke specifically to the rural experience. The solution was to write the required plays. As a result, the Blyth Festival has become renowned as a producer of original plays, but not just for that local audience. Some of those plays have touched people on a much wider basis and have gone around the world to Japan, England, Australia, Romania and various parts of the United States. In 2006 the Festival will post an incredible landmark with its 100th world premiere. To understand the significance one has to realize that when the Festival began, one would be hard pressed to find 100 Canadians plays in total. Artistic Director Eric Coates has programmed four premieres in this, the 32nd season of the Festival starting with the biography of Canadian music icon Stompin' Tom Connors. The Ballad of Stompin' Tom London playwright (and Seaforth native) David Scott delves into the colourful and moving past of the singer-songwriter in The Ballad of Stompin' Tom. One of Canada's most admired actors, Randy Hughson, portrays Tom Connors from his lonely childhood to his triumphs on stage. The Ballad of Stompin' Tom, directed by Coates, previews June 27 with the gala opening June 29. It runs in repertory until Aug. 8. Lost Heir Sean Dixon's Lost Heir, is a wide-ranging story in which there are repercussions when a young Mennonite woman accepts an invitation to join a small summer theatre company against her stern father's consent. Along the way a petty thief falls in love with her, he turns to a local mystic to seek guidance on how to woo her and a group of local ruffians threatens to sabotage the theatre company's production. Directed by a legendary director, Listowel-area native Paul Thompson, Lost Heir begins previews July 5, opens July 7 and plays in repertory until Aug. 8. Another Season's Harvest In 1986 two of Blyth Festival's co-founders Anne Chislett and Keith Roulston, both playwrights, joined forces to create Another Season's Promise, a powerful story of the Purves family's fight to save their historic family farm in the face of the high-interest crisis of the 1980s. The play was a smash hit, was brought back for a second season and toured nationally. In 2006 Chislett and Roulston return with Another Season's Harvest, dealing with the efforts of a new generation of the Purves clan to survive the BSE crisis that strikes at the heart of their successful beef operation. Another Season's Harvest stars popular Festival stalwarts Jerry Franken and Hughson as two generations of the Purves family and their differing views on the future of producing food, our most precious resource. Directed by Gil Garratt, it previews Aug. 2 and opens Aug. 4, then plays in repertory until Sept. 2. Schoolhouse The celebrated 100th premiere will be Leanna Brodie's bittersweet look at the life of an old-time schoolteacher: Schoolhouse. Miss Linton is only 18 years old when she becomes the new teacher in a schoolhouse full of eager youngsters and underachieving "big boys" in 1937. A training school boy joins the class, adding tension to the mix. Miss Linton must decide if she should bow to local pressure and allow the former delinquent to be run out of town or heed her own instincts and foster his remarkable creativity. First Festival world premiere: Mostly in Clover, July 9, 1975 Schoolhouse, directed by Coates, previews Aug. 9 with a gala opening and celebration of the 100th world premiere on August 11. It plays in repertory until Sept. 2. Because the Festival uses a repertory system, it's possible to attend one Bonanza Weekend, Aug. 11-13 and see all four plays in three days.