The Citizen-Blyth Festival 2002, 2002-06-05, Page 20benefits as well. He says of the
participants, "Their summer is filled
with structure and a stimulating
social world that creates self-esteem
and discipline."
With the Young Company, the
Blyth Festival has created in a
village of approximately 1,000
people, a cultural experience many
'city' kids would envy.
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Starting Young
Cappy Onn (left) is one of a large number of your actors who have come up through the ranks
of the Young Company to take their place on the Blyth Festival stage and other stages around
the country. This year she'll appear in The Outdoor Donnellys with Kelly McIntosh. — photo by
Off Broadway Photography.
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PAGE 20. BLYTH FESTIVAL SALUTE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002.
Young Company brings students from all over region
By David Blaney
The Citizen
At 26 Blyth Festival's Young
Company is still going strong. What
began as a two week experiment
with children as young as five
creating plays with paper bag and
sock puppets. has become a
company of young people 14 to 22
intensively involved in creating
theatre (as well as a short program
for younger students).
Severn Thompson, a Shaw
Festival actress who began her
career as an actress with the Blyth
Festival, recalls those early years
fondly. She remembers the company
growing during the early years until
it was a six:week session with
lessons in everything from stage
fighting to voice, movement and
improvisation.
She says, "The Young Company
has offered invaluable opportunities
to youpg people of Huron County,
exposing them to new ideas and
forms of expression that would
otherwise have been unavailable."
Thompson describes, "a unique
experience that brings the farming
and theatre communities together in
such an intimate, entertaining and
inspiring way."
Every year the participants work
on projects of a different nature.
There have been children's shows
such as Dennis Lee's Alligator Pie
and a modified production of The
Outdoor Donnellys.
Last year the company worked
with Japanese physical theatre artist
Nanao Kobyashi to adapt a Japanese
fairy tale, Funny Face Ogre. In
previous years they have done Cue
O
for Treason and 1837 - The Farmers
Revolt.
The company has always had a
professional leader or director and
this year the director is Gil Garratt,
as it was last year. Among his
predecessors have been such Festival
luminaries as Paul Thompson, Janet
Amos and Eric Coates.
The leaders have always been
aided by musicians, artists and
writers from the area. Especially
important for the participants'
understanding of the theatrical
experience has been the generous
amounts of time the Festival's
Equity company contributes.
This year's director Gil Garratt is a
graduate of the National Theatre
School's playwriting program. He
has had several works produced and
was the playwright-in-residence for
Theatre Direct Canada in 2001.
His directing credits are supple-
mented by a lengthy résumé as an
actor. This year he will be returning
to his role as Robert Donnelly in the
Festival's, The Outdoor Donnellys.
This year Garratt intends to build
on last year's exploration of the
physicality of theatre by adding the
element of the collective creation.
Participants will investigate the
process of creating a script while
developing a production called Free
Quincy.
A typical day for this summer's
participants will involve physical
warm-ups, vocal work, exploration
of the potential of movement and
singing. As the process nears the
final week and the performance, the
actors will be involved in writing
and discussions based on their own
experiences to create the play.
0
Layne Coleman, artistic director
of Theatre Passe Muraille, whose
daughter Charlotte has attended the
Young Company in summers while
he worked at the Festival, says "It's
now a sophisticated training ground
for youths as well as a job
opportunity for some."
The Blyth Festival prides itself on
the number of the participants in the
company that have gone on to work
in the arts. A survey conducted for
the 25th anniversary revealed that
over 40 per cent of the Young
Company's alumni had gone on to
arts related careers.
Coleman believes there are other
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