HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-06-28, Page 9•4\
Curtis te Brinke: plays
Stompin' Tom from 8-12.
Congratulations to the
Blyth Festival
on providing
32 seasons of quality
entertainment to
Huron and Bruce
Counties.
Carol Mitchell,
MPP for
Huron-Bruce
Clinton office is open Monday to Friday
482-5630 (1-800-668-9320)
and
Kincardine is open Tuesday and Thursday
396-3007 (1-866-396-3007)
www.carolmitchell.ca
Tatum Bedard: back on stage
in Stompin' Tom.
her time between school and
rehearsals.
But acting has drawbacks. Bedard
will be missing her cousin's wedding
because she will be in the closing
performance of Stompin' Tom.
Bedard states that she wants to
stay involved in the theatre.
Currently she is taking ballet, Irish
dancing and violin lessons. She is
considering adding voice and jazz to
the mix.
She says that she might be an
actor when she is an adult, or maybe
a dentist.
If she could be -any actor, Bedard
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BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28/29, 2006. PAGE 9.
Learning life's hard facts, on stage
Young Clinton actor learns from the
hard life of Stompin' Tom's youth
By Carol Burns
Citizen staff
At 11, Curtis te Brinke handles the
interview with an aplomb that belies
his age. He is careful to ensure that
the spelling of his name is correct,
with a polite but insistent manner.
He had spent the time awaiting the
interview reading one of the
biographies of Stompin' Tom.
Te Brinke plays Stompin' Tom
from the ages of about eight to 12 in
this season's The Ballad of Stompin'
Tom.
"I was scared at first about
portraying what he (Stompin' Tom)
went through, but it is a well written
script," te Brinke said.
"He was taken from his mother at
the age of seven or eight, and then
put in the orphanage, beaten by the
nuns and the other kids."
"Before I began working on this
play, I took home for granted," te
Brinke continues, "I didn't know
what it could be like for some kids
like Stompin' Tom. My home is
nothing like Stompin' Tom's was."
Living with his family in Clinton
where he attends Clinton Public
School, te Brinke talks over some of
what happens to his character in the
play with his mother.
Te Brinke says that the play
requires him to portray a lot of
emotions he's never felt before.
Reading the autobiographies has
helped. So has analyzing the script
so that he can figure out what
Stompin' Tom was feeling at the
time, and identifying the emotions. •
"I just think about it and try to
figure out how to play it," te Brinke
continues. "I have almost every
other line in the first three scenes."
Speaking about acting in general,
te Brinke says that the theatre
provides him with the opportunity to
.become a different person and to
behave in ways that he normally
can't.
"School is very structured, but
theatre gives me the freedom to
express myself," te Brinke stated.
When asked how his friends
respond to his acting, te Brinke said,
"My friend Hailley freaked when I
told her I got the part. My brother
doesn't care. He is busy with
hockey, but I think that he was a bit
jealous I get out of school so much."
Te Brinke will be keeping up with
his school work by attending school
one day a week, and doing
schoolwork during the periods he is
not needed on the set.
One of the benefits of working on
Stompin' Tom will be the opportunity
to spend time with some of the
young actors he met last summer
while working on The Thirteenth
One.
When not acting, te Brinke says that
he enjoys reading, writing and playing
his guitar.
Like many Grade 5 girl's, Tatum
Bedard enjoys swimming in the pool
with her friends and shopping at the
mall.
Unlike most Grade 5 students,
Bedard spent last summer acting in
The Thirteenth One She will be
spending this summer on stage in the
Ballad of Stompin' Tom at the Blyth
Festival.
"Acting is one of my favourite
things to do," said Bedard. "I'm
honoured to be part of the play."
Bedard says that last year was a bit
easier because there were other
actors with whom she could carpool.
This year her mother has to drive her
to rehearsal and pick her up
afterwards.
Bedard, a French immersion
student at St. Mary's school in
Goderich, has an older sister 13, who
wishes she could miss school like
her younger sister. For the rest of the
school year Bedard will be dividing
Tatum Bedard takes
on her second role on
a professional
stage— and she's
still in Grade 5
Goderich actress outdoes mom, grandmother
By Carol Burns
Citizen staff
would choose to be Reese
Witherspoon.
"She plays so many different roles.
She can be crazy, calm, natural or
country," Bedard states.
"Every production is exciting.
You meet new people, but it is good
when you know some people too,"
Bedard explains.
In Stompin' Tom, she shares the
stage with two young actors from
last year's production Carlene
Bremner and Curtis te Brinke.
In discussing her responses to
auditions, Bedard stated that if she
does not get a part she is
disappointed, but then she
remembers that there will be another
role to try for later.
"If I get the role I am excited and
jump up and down," Bedard
reflected, "Last year when I got the
role of Terese, I went really crazy. It
was my first experience in Blyth."
"My mom and grandmother are
both actors," Bedard shares. "Mom
says I've outdone them because I'm
in my second professional
production."
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