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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWingham Advance-Times, 1977-08-10, Page 14t4, The Wingham Advance -Times, August 10, 1977 CHILDREN'S WORKSHOP—These children have been working during the summer with the -Blyth Summer Festival learning the ways of the theatre. They are producing three plays, two written by Jim Schaefer, co-ordinator of the workshops and actor -writer -dir- ector with the summer festival. The third production will be created by the children. They presented "Tree" in the Wingham Town Hall Last week. From, left are Susan Hubbard (squirrel), Catherine Bettye (tree ghost) Ken, Whitmore (squirrel), Kim McDougall (man) and Barb Patterson (man's wife). HUNTER-HUNTED—One of the theatre games played by the children is hunter hunted. Two children are blindfolded and spun in a circle. The hunter then seeks out the hunted. This garne helps develop listening awareness. Chilclrens' theatr workshop attracts eager participants Summer holidays can become boring for some children. After a while they tend to ask mom sev- eral times a day, "What can I do?'' One particular group of children in Blyth doesn't have that problem this summer. They are participating in theatre workshops, co-ordinated by the Blyth Summer Festival and they haven't had time to get bored. In just a little over a month they have presented- a puppet show called "The Mait- land River Mud Monster"; a play acted by themselves called "Tree" and are now working on a production created by them- selves, apparently to be a mys- tery. The workshops were coordi- nated by actor -writer -director of the Blyth Summer Festival, -Jim Schaefer. He wrote the first two scripts for 'the children. Under an Experience 77 grant. of $2,000, Mr. Schaefer interview- edmany applicants to teach the children until he found Beth Shier and Kirk Grayson.."It turns.out it was a good choice. They work really well together," he says, looking at Miss Grayson for con- firmation. She nods her head, agreeing. • The congenial leadership of the two young women shows in the attitudes of the children.' "Their level of interest is basically high," Miss Grayson says, "even when they don't have to be at a certain place, they show up any- way " Miss Grayson is a graduate .of Ryerson ' Polytechnical Institute and has shown the children make-up techniques, masks, pup- pets and improvisation exercises. Currently studying theatre production at Ryerson, Miss Shier has shown the children the 'basics of lighting, set design' and construction. Mr. Schaefer says the project is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Recreation and the Village of Blyth. He went to Larry Walsh, Blyth clerk and dis- cussed with him the possibility of a grant. • "Hopefully the pr9ject.. will •go 'on," he says. "If the village de- cides it should, they must come up with one-third of the grant money for the project to continue in future years." The children would be very dis- appointed if the project didn't continue. Several of them \have . participated in similar work- shops the previous two years. In ' 1975 Mr. Schaefer conducted the workshops himself, but found lit- tle time to spend on them. Last year he and Ron Barry, a festival actor, both helped. Mr. • Schaefer decided the way to • make the workshops a real suc• - cess was to hire two people to work specifically with the children. . Mr. Schaefer has worked with children's workshops before, in Toronto,' Vancouver and London. In fact one of the .plays he wrote for the children was presented in Rich,mond,B. C., but was entitled , "The Richmond Ditch Monster".' Miss Grayson says working ' MACHINE—"A game using imagination played by the children is called machine. Someone starts the motion''with a noise to go along with it and bit by bit, the parts are added. This machine is making rhubarb pies. From left are Catherine Battye, Kevin McDougall, Pam Bodden, Ken Whitemore and David Liebold. The front two pieces of the machine are Barb Patterson and Susan Hubbard. with children is "Working in a totally different capacity. I real- ly enjoy it. There is a tremendous amount of input from kids which stimulates my energy." The children shout suggestions when Miss Grayson indicates • they will play some theatre games. These improvisation exercises help an actor develop awareness: One of the games they play is "Hunter -Hunted" in which two people are blindfolded and spun in circles while the others shout any kind of noise they want. Then everyone, is quiet while the hunter seeks out the hunted. The game helps heighten listening aware- ness. Another game, one of con- centration, involves two and more balls, being tossed around a circle in different directions., "They learn what they have at their disposal," Miss Grayson says. "The body is an actor's in- strument really." The 17 children who joined the workshops were divided into two groups. Rehearsals take place in the Orange Hall and the show barn by the arena is used for technical aspects. While Miss Grayson has one group rehears- ing, Miss Shier shows the others the technical end of • theatre. Making the props and set design. is something Miss Shier really enjoys doing. "Kids have a lot of energy," Miss Shier says. "If you try to. control it, it can be stifled. It can be channeled. I was really amazed at their ability," she. adds. The children made the puppets for "Maitland River Mud Monster" themselves. Both feel that Blyth is a very unique town for enthusiasm and involvement. They feel it is small enough to be united and • not too large to miss out on. advantages of . being small. They said they knowyeople in towns larger than Blyth but still considered small, who are ,dying of boredom. • There may be a couple of•,chil- dren who have potential for act- ing careers• they said. But they stressed that all the children are eager and interested in the .work- shops:'' • a Miss Shier will return to Ryer- son for two more years. Miss Grayson is planning on returning West, her home country. "There is an exciting atmosphere out West in theatre," she says. "Theatre is just getting started. It might be easier to get into something new rather than beat- ing into an established theatre." The children's plays have been seen in different communities around Blyth. They have been to Clinton, Point Farms, Walkerton, Wingham, Seaforth, Jelly Stone Park and Goderich. The Blyth Summer Festival plans to request a grant next year to continue the workshops. This year they are held from July 4 until Aug. 17. In the New Testament James said "What a huge forest can be set ablaze by •the tiniest spark". LET THE Wingham Advance -Times HELP .YOU PHONE 357-2320 If youve been talking about aluminum siding, talk to yourAlcan dealer. 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