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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-04-01, Page 23Visiting home economist Karen Campbell prepared hot potato salad and a variety of other dishes at the recent seminar, Parties to Please Your Purse. Sponsored by the ministry ofagriculture and food, - she and Huron home economist Jane Muegge demonstrated economical yet attractive menus for a successful dinner party. (Shelley Mc hhee piroiu ' Ministry -helps homemakers with wide range of seminars By Shelley McPhee The ministry of agriculture and food not only serves the farmers in Huron County, but also offers a wide range of seminars and information material for homemakers and hobbists. Under the home economics branch of the ministry, the courses have allowed Huron County residents to increase their knowledge of purchasing, preparing and preserving on a variety of topics, covering everything from food to furniture. . The ministry is offering over 29 half and one -day courses available for study under three sections, clothing and textiles, crafts, and' food and niutrition. However, the seminars take time and money to research and develop, and Huron's home economists Lorelei Marshall and Jane Muegge are conducting a survey to learn what programs people are most interested in taking. Under the clothing and textile division,' possible courses for study ,include: comforters and quilts; decorating with fabric (sheets) ; household textiles; buymanship and care; laundry and laundry products update; making curtains and drapes; sewing for warmth and comfort i winter and summer clothes; sewing lingerie, sewing sports clothes; stain removal and tie dying. Presently, the home economists are teaching a,crewel embroidery -course and the seminar was held in Clinton on April 1. Other available courses, under the Craft program are: bargello; black work em- broidery (solid and open stitching in black thread); cross stitch embroidery; ethnic embroidery; needlepoint; rug booking; smocking and weaving on small frames. Another recently held course, Parties to Please Your Purse, was attended by over 75 people in the county and the food and nutrition division includes a variety of topics. Cooking With Ontario Fruits; Energy Conservation With Small Kitchen Appliances; Freeze -Ahead Foods; Make Your Own Jams And Jellies; Meals And Snacks "For Preschoolers; New Ways With Vegetables; Pickle Recipes - Tried and True; . Quick, Nutritious Meals For Busy People and Soup's On are the 11 courses offered by the branch. . If you have a spe ial interest in any of the courses and would like to learn more about a particular subject .the home economists would like to hear from you. They may be contacted at the ministry of agriculture and food offices in Clinton, at 482.3428. Assistant post master arrives There is a new face at the Goderich post office. " Joseph Kokanie began working as Goderich's new assistant post master on Monday this week. He is replacing Bert McCreath who retired December 30. As assistant to post master Mel Farn- sworth, Mr. Kokanie will act in a super- visory capacity. He started his career with the post office 12 years ago as a postal clerk and supervisor of operations in Windsor. For the last four years, he has been working as a shift superintendent in the Burlington post office. His transfer to Goderich as assistant post master represents a promotion. Mr. Kokanie's wife Jerilou and two children, Kenneth, 8 and Sharla, 6 will be taking up residence in Goderich in July. Moving from the city to a small town is a change the family is looking forward to, he says. Joseph •Kokanip Dinner parties can be successful with planning By Shelley McPhee Your dinner party doesn't have to be expensive to plan or hectic to prepare. You don't have to worry about finding an unique theme, last minute confusion in the kitchen, or taking chances with first time recipes. You don't have to hope for a miracle to pull you through, and a dinner party does not have to leave the hostess exhausted and, flat broke. Instead, bV simply using early planning and organized preparation, a dinner party can be a treat for you and your guests. Huron County Home Economist Jane Muegge and visiting home economist Karen Campbell showed over 55 women how to prepare and organize an attractive dinner party at, a recent seminar, Parties to Please Your Purse. Sponsored by the ministry of agriculture and food, the PVPninu aescinn held in Clinton on March '24, showed various ways to present a dinner party that are not only nutritionally balanced, but attractive, delicious, and economically feasible to prepare. While a similar seminar in Exeter was only attended by 17 people and in Wingham the course was cancelled due to stormy weather, the Clinton presentation was a great success and those present learned, that dinner .parties can be successfully'` held without the aid of three cooks, a maid, and an endless budget. To appeal to all tastes, four different party menus were studied, including a backyard barbeque for eight, a sum- mertime luncheon buffet for six guests, a winter luncheon for eight, an Easter buffet for12. The home economists prepared a number of the suggested dishes in their 'cooking demonstration, offered hints for games and party themes, and handed out the derich pamphlets including the recipes and a Master Party Planner chart. Other dishes were prepared beforehand and the results of the four menus were displayed for a taste testing session. The menus included an appetizing variety of foods such as rhubarb punch, shish kabobs; oriental chicken casserole, cheesecake,: vichyssoise and whole wheat biscuits. They stressed elegance but economy, and allused a variety of foods that would be in season. The home economists suggested that when .planning a dinner party, tested recipes should be used to ensure perfect results and to allow the hostess time away from the kitchen to enjoy the company of her guests. They stressed that a hostess should begin planking for the party at least the) day before with the aid of the Master Party Planner. The Planner aids the hostess with the initial organization of the party. It offers guidelines for theme, the date and time of the p arty, and the guest list. In the early preparation, the hostess should consider her budget, the time needed to prepare the food and complete housework, and any decorations that may be needed. Next a menu should be selec- ted, electted, the number of servings should be established and a grocery list should be prepared. With the beginning stages of a dinner party well organized, through the aid of the Master Party Planner, dependable recipes, some imagination and a detailed work plan, an unique feast of culinary delight can be'created. It doesn't have to be a major undertaking, and by using the guidelines suggested in Parties to Please Your Purse, even the most inexperienced hostess can hold a dinner party that everyone will enjoy. GNAL STAR 132 YEAR -13 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1,1981 SEC .NDSECTION GLT gets another professional BY JOANNE BUCHANAN A play has been selected. The per- formance dates have been set. The cast has been chosen. And a professional director has been hired to put it all ' together. Goderich Little Theatre's final production of the season is underway! The play is a comedy farce entitled 'How the Other Half Loves'..It will run from Tuesday, April 28 to Saturday, May 2. The cast includes Pat King, Allison Hollingworth, Dan Mason, Eveleen McDonagh, James Thompson •and Maureen Penn. And the professional director guiding this cast is Patricia Carroll Brown from Toronto. "We're off to a very good start," says Patricia and as an actress for over 20 . years and a professional director for about 18 years, she should know. She suggested 'How the.. Other Half Loves' as GLT's final production because she says she likes plays with some literary merit. 'The Other Half' was written by Alan Ayckbourn - in 1970. Patricia says Ayckbourn is the Neil Simon of British comedy and his play is full of clever, funny writing. Although it is set in England, she will set the GLT production in London, Ontario. Patricia held auditions for the play in Goderich on March 11 and 12. She then returned to Goderich on March 22 and is settled here until the play is over. She will also hold an acting and directing workshop `on April 3 and 4 and 10 and 11. Her services have been obtained by GLT with the help of a Theatre Ontario grant. GLT's Colleen Maguire will serve as her assistant director. This is the first time Patricia has directed 'The Other Half' but she is no stranger to stage productions. • " Born and raised .in Toronto, she began appearing in university productions while studying as an English major at Columbia University in New York. For two years while she was still a university student, she played small parts and worked behind - the -scenes in professional summer stock in Port Carling and Gravenhurst, Ontario. After university, she spent one year with the Canadian Repertory Theatre in Ottawa, a winter stock theatre that no longer exists. It was then that she decided she needed • more experience. So, she 'entvlied in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in England where she stayed for two years. She then returned to Toronto and began doing summer stock again. Her time off was filled in with whatever work she could obtain at CBC T. V.. and radio. She still does work for CBC and most recently portrayed a nasty secretary in the television show 'War Brides'. Patricia soon learned that the -only way to become a professional director is to become either a good stage manager or well-known actress first. Another way though is to create your own opportunities. In other words, get some money together, put on your own show and prove yourself. ('very few people will invest money in a first-time director,' she explains). Patricia chose. this latter method as a way to break into directing. She formed a summer stock company known as The Red Barn at Jackson's Point, located on the south shore of Lake Simcoe near Toronto, 'and • served as artistic director there for five years. The company still exists. Patricia has directed several plays for Factory Theatre and Taragon Theatre in Toronto. She has also directed at professional theatres in Sudbury and Thunder Bay and at numerous Little Theatres like Goderich's. She has given many workshops and continues to act. She likes directing better than acting but says the opportunities for directing are more limited. She has also found that one has to be flexible enough to look for work outside Toronto. There are a lot of theatres in Toronto but there is also a multitude of actors and directors living there. Patricia spent three summers in a row as a guest director at the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend. "I was there during the last year of the tent and the first two years of the barn,' she says. While at the Playhouse she directed such productions as 'Irma La Douce', 'I Do, I Do', 'Mary, Mary', 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers', 'Luv' and 'Marriage -Go -Round'. She also played the role of Marilla in the Playhouse's production of 'Anne of Green Gables'. She remembers passing through Goderich several times while touring the area with this production. Patricia isfrot-sure what she will do -alter finishing her work in Goderich but with her credentials, she will doubtless find numerous jobs in the theatre business, •While" • here, her experience Ant—it professionalsim will rub off on a GLT that - is becoming more polished all the time. Patricia Carroll Brown, a professional director from Toronto, will direct the next Goderich tattle Theatre production, 'How the Other Half Loves', a comedy farce by Alan Ayckbourn. Here, she looks over a copy of the script. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Season is artistically successful Little Theatre needs more volunteer help BY JOANNE BUCHANAN Goderich Little Theatre wants YOU! "There must be some people out there who . would enjoy acting in a play or working behind the scenes," says GI,T president Mike Scott. It bothers him that some people think of GLT as a 'clique' or closed group of people and he is out to destroy this unfounded and unfair image. "It's crazy," he says. 'GLT is open to EVERYBODY. Our auditions are always announced in the paper and are open to all. In fact, our last play featured two or three newcomers who had never been in plays before. Our theatre workshops are open to thepublic as well." Ruth Leonard, a GI,T past president who has been involved with the group for many years, agrees with Mike about the 'clique' image. "1 don't know how we got that image. When I joined Little Theatre, I was new to town. Why is it that people think just because you're 'arty' that you're not human. We have lots of fun (at GI,T). It's becoming more of a social group all the time," she says. • IT'S COME A LONG WAY e7, Goderich had a drama club in the 1950s which put on one -act plays and entered drama competitions. But it wasn't until 1960 when Ken Basquette of London Little Theatre came to Goderich that this drama. club was reorganized into the GLT as local peoplie know it today. Basquette came up with the idea of selling subscriptions or season's tickets rather than selling tickets at the door. Today, GLT boasts a membership of about 800 (a member is anyone who holds a subscription). Last year it experienced one of its most financially successful seasons ever. And this year, it is ex- periencing one of its most artistically successful seasons, says Mike. Two professional directors were hired with the help of government grants; a well - attended actors' and directors' workshop was held and another is in the offing. "Our standards have risen so much that our last play was even reviewed in the London Free Press," says Mike who feels the casts have benefitted immensely from working with professional directors. However, he emphasizes that GLT remains a group of amateurs and he doesn't want newcomers to be put off by thinking their abilities aren't professional enough. He also emphasizes the fun aspects of belonging to GI,T. "You don't realize how much fun it is until you get involved. Most people get talked into taking part in their first play but after that they volunteer," he says. Mike feels that live theatre is much more exciting than television or film because it's fji11 of surprises. Anything can go wrong and it usually does. "In Private Lives. the legs on the couch broke die night while the actors were supposed to be doing a love scene on it. And when I played an ugly step -sister in Cinderella, my skirt kept falling off. That got the biggest laugh of all so we left it in for the other perfornmances," he recalls. He admits that there is a lot of work involved in putting together a production. There are about five weeks of rehearsals for each one. But the actual week of production is fun. "We put on the play each night and then get together afterwards. At the end of the run. we have a big party. You get really close to the people you have worked with beca use. you 're dependent on them for cues and lines..A lot of ad libing goes on. Also. being involved with GLT is a good outlet. It's something totally different from your regular job and it's nice being recognized by the audience for what you do." he ex- plains. GLT puts on three plays per season The season lasts from October to April or May. The directors choose which plays they want to stage, subject to the approval of the GLT executive. The purpose of putting on the plays is to entertain. not to be controversial, explains Mike. Comedies Turn topage 2A+