The Citizen, 1987-09-23, Page 30PAGE 30. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1987.
'Superwomen' flies again for local authors
Superwomen, the locally-produced play about the problems of modern women who feel they must do
everything and do it well, will be performed again in Wingham and Listowel next month. Starring in the
musical-comedy review are: [left to right] June Coleman and co-authors Arlene Dunbar and Carol Oriold.
photo by B.A. Acres.
“Superwomen”, a play written,
directed and performed by local
people will fly again next month
when it is brought back for more
performances in the area.
Superwomen, which will be
performed Oct. 2 in Wingham town
hall and Oct. 3 and 4 at the Listowel
District Secondary School, made
its first appearance at Grey Central
School in Ethel in the spring of
1985.
The play centres on the theme of
theoften hectic humourous and
confusing roles modern women
have, focussing on the present
lives of three women who were
once close friends at a rural high
school.
The show is full of music, a blend
of pop and country and western,
simply orchestrated using guitar,
bass and violin. The blend of
comedy and tragedy is conveyed
cleverly by songs such as the lively,
humourous “Job-Juggling Song”
performed by all three women; by
the self-doubt in “The Farm
Wife’s Lament” and by the quiet
beauty of “Duncan’s Lullaby”,
sung by the successful career
woman who worries about the
effect of her frequent absences on
her young baby.
Belgrave-area director Joan
Chandler explains the show gives
us snippets of the daily activity of
the three women: one a farm wife,
one a school teacher and one
abusinessexecutive. Each, she
said, had made a promise back in
school to do better than her mother
did and now, years later, they
wonder if they have succeeded.
The show is written by Arlene
Dunbar of Ethel and Carol Oriold of
Listowel who also wrote the music.
Thepairgottogether, Arlene
Dunbar recalls, after she had acted
in a show with the Grey Central
School and Carol Oriold had been
in the audience. Carol talked to
Arlene after the performance and
they began to think about doing a
show together. They hadn’t really
come to a decision on what to do
when their husbands suggested
they write something together.
Finally they sat down at a table
and brainstormed. The problem of
women having to do everything
and do it well seemed to be an issue
at the time and one they could
relate to so they struck on that.
After they talked for a while, each
went home and wrote a scene. As a
result of this separate writing
pattern, the initial version of the
script was a series of vignettes with
very little story line. In the spring of
1985 that show played in Ethel and
again in Blyth, Listowel, Tees-
water and Stratford and was
revived for another run in Clifford
and Stratford.
The show is surfacing again
through the work of Joan Chand
ler, Arlene says. Joan had sug
gested some rewriting and then
sent the script to the organizers of a
Theatre Festival in Toronto called
“From the Ground Up”. The
Festival accepted the show, along
with other plays from Theatre
New Brunswick, Manitoba Thea
tre Centre and Theatre Passe
Murraille. With those dates of Oct.
2 to 11 in Toronto in mind the show
was rewritten, rehearsed and local
dates were set up. Then the
funding for the Toronto Festival
fell through (although it’s hoped to
get it on the go again next year) so
they decided to hold the local
performances anyway.
The new version of the show
features three women, not four and
the story line is a lot stronger,
Arlene says. The authors sat down
together tor the rewriting of the
script and the result is a more
unified plot with characters that
are more fully developed, she says.
The old version involved a child but
the child was written out in the new
version in favour of a baby who can
be conveniently wrapped in blan
kets.
There are three women in the
show: Arlene and Carol and
Stratford actress June Coleman.
Dennis Nuhn of Listowel plays all
the male roles.
The show is backed up by a
three-piece band led by the show’s
musical arranger, Gerald Simpson
of Listowel who also plays lead
guitar, Jim Willis of Stratford who
plays fiddle and Dave McIntosh of
Listowel on bass.
The two authors have discussed
other possible future projects but
haven’t sat down to decide on
anything yet. Arlene says she
doesn’t feel Superwomen is dead
yet and it may have another life in
the future. The rewriting process
has helped them a great deal in
learning about writing she says.
She doesn’t think they were ready
to do the rewriting after the show as
first produced.
Director Joan Chandler says the
show is suitable for the whole
family and as such there’s a $4
ticketfor children as well as the
regular $6 for adults and $4 for
seniors. Tickets are available at the
Doug Evans Hardware in Ethel, at
the Wingham Advance-Times, in
Wingham; The Listowel Banner
and Turbitt Pharmacy, in Listowel
and at the Clinton News Record
and Bartliff’s Restaurant in Clin
ton or at the door.
Paul Thompson heads NTS
Paul Thompson, well known in
the area for his theatre work,
particularly with “The Farm
Show’ ’, and a part-time resident of
East Wawanosh, has been named
as director-general of the National
Theatre School (NTS) in Montreal.
The native of Atwood takes over
the prestigious position on Oct. 1,
succeeding actor-director Louis
Roux.
The final selection process was
still going on last month when the
board of directors of the NTS
visited the Blyth Festival and
stayed at the Benmiller Inn. He
went through bilingual interviews
with members of the board in
Benmiller, he said. In all there
were 40 applicants for the job.
National Theatre School is an
advanced theatre training centre in
Canada. Among its graduates are
someofthe best known actors in
Canada like Martha Henry and
Kenneth Welsh and many actors
Performance
for hearing impaired
The Stratford Festival will be
presenting a sign-interpreted per
formance for the hearing handi
capped. This will mark the seventh
time the Festival has presented a
special signed performance.
The production is “Much Ado
About Nothing”, Shakespeare’s
classic comedy. The signed per
formance will take place Septem
ber 30 at 2 p. m. and is sponsored by
the Telephone Pioneers of America
and signed through the Interpreta-
er Services of the Canadian
Hearing Society.
Tickets for this performance are
available now at specially reduced
prices. Tobook tickets, call the
Stratford Festival Box Office at
(519) 273-1600; or, from Toronto,
at (416) 363-4471, or, from Detroit,
who have performed in Blyth over
the years such as Kate Trotter,
Keith Thomas and this year, Kevin
Bundy.
TheThompsonfamily (Paul’s
wife actress Anne Anglin and
daughters Severn and Rachel who
took part in the young theatre
workshop at the Festival) spent the
summer in the county while he
worked with actor-director Miles
Potter on a show they are planning
for the 1988 Olympic Winter
Games in Calgary. With Paul in
Belgrave and Miles in Stratford
they compromised and rehearsed
in Donegal.
Paul Thompson first became
well known in Huron county in 1972
when he brought a bunch of actors
(including Miles Potter, Janet
Amos, later artistic director at the
Blyth Festival, and David Fox) to a
Holmesville area farm to research
and rehearse a play on farm life
which became The Farm Show.
The show toured the area, playing
in both Blyth and Brussels and
later toured in the United States
and to Great Britain.
Later he brought such shows as
“1837, The Farmers’ Revolt”,
“The Horsburgh Scandal” (pre
miered in Blyth); and “18
wheels”.
He brought “He Won’t Come In
From The Barn” and “Them
Donnellys” to the Blyth Festival.
at (313) 964-4668.
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Saturday, September 26th
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Oliver Button Is a Sissy
Based on popular book by: Tomie de Paola
Saturday, September 26th
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Phone: 523-9300 or 523-9225_