Lakeshore Advance, 2012-06-20, Page 15Wednesday, June 29, 2011 • Lakeshore AdvanCe 27
Narcisse Cantin's life on the outdoor stage
Lynda Hillman -Replay
Lakeshore Advance
Play write Paul Ciufo is about to embark on
what is considered epic outdoor theatre with
his play about Narcisse and St. Joseph.
This play directed by Duncan McGregor
runs from July 19 -30th. It is about a fascinating
guy who lived in this area named Narcisse
Cantin, his family, and his community.
Narcisse was highly ambitious; he wanted to
do something that would have a huge impact
on the world. He dreamed big and pursued his
dreams at any cost. He was born in 1870 in
"The French Settlement" between Grand Bend
and Bayfield. Raised on a farm, at the age of 19
he tnoved to Buffalo, New York and became a
successful businessman. While there he
observed the Erie Canal, and got the idea for a
canal that would connect Lake Huron and
Lake Erie, cutting from The French Settlement
to around Port Stanley. In his vision, the canal
would be the centrepiece of a Great Lakes to
Atlantic Ocean seaway via the St. Lawrence
River, Cantin returned home from Buffalo and
founded the town of St. Joseph. On speculation
the canal project would go forward Narcisse
turned the sleepy farming community into a
boomtown that boasted brickyards, factories, a
wharf, a three storey hotel with 200 rooms, etc.
Then everything fell apart.
Clufo's inspiration
"So many things inspired me," said Ciufo.
"The people at the heart of the story really
captured my imagination. What made Narcisse
tick? What drove him? Why did he take such
big risks, and persist even when everything
collapsed? His wife Josephine is also intriguing.
How did she deal with her obsessive husband
and his big schemes? The story of Narcisse's
second -born son Napoleon ("Nap") is also
remarkable. He greatly admired his father,
joined him in the St. Joseph and canal
enterprises, and then everything cane
crashing down. Nap had to face failure, anger
from the cotnmunity, his own disillusionment
with his father, and the temptation to use
alcohol as an escape. Then there is the
fascinating Brother Andre (now Saint Andre)
who betaine friends with the
Cantin family and visited St.
Joseph. Saint Andre acted in a
surprising way while performing
miracles. Apparently he joked
with sick people who came to
him for help, saying "oh you're
not sick; you're an old faker"
-and then the person would be
completely healed. Besides the
key players in the story, 1 was
also interested in the community
itself and the transformations it
went through. I'd passed through
quiet St. Joseph many times and
not given it much thought; it's a
"blink and you miss it" kind of
place. Then I heard it was a
pocket of French culture and
about all of the happenings in
the past, and I became really
curious. Why had French people
settled there? Why did someone
build a grand hotel on the corner
of Highway 21 and the road to
Zurich, and then why did it dis-
appear? Also, there's something
very poignant about big dreams
that fail. You empathize with the
heart -break the people must
have felt. You look at your own
dreams and the things you've
built and realise they are fragile;
they're not to be taken for
granted."
Ciufo interviewed members
of the Cantin family and many
others. He heard great stories.
"An elderly woman described
seeing her brother being cured
of stuttering by Brother Andre.
Another woman told me about
going to confession after having
danced at the Lakeview Casino in Grand Bend,
and the priest refused to forgive her! " Also,
says Ciufo, descendants of Narcisse Cantin and
the St, Joseph Historical Society have preserved
the history, maintained an archive of
documents and letters.
"I was able to read copies of letters from
Narcisse to his wife Josephine, to his major
business partner Oliver Cabana, to his son
Nap. This is gold to a writer. I got keen insights
into how Narcisse's mind worked, what drove
him, his values. Instead of reading someone's
opinion of him I got to go straight to the source.
Or as close as you can get when the person has
passed away. Also a key resource was Joe
Wooden's book "A Drum to Beat Upon"; it is an
excellent source of infortnation and insight."
The play is not a strict re -telling of the
history. He says it is mostly accurate but he
takes some artistic license. "I also encountered
gaps in information or conflicting opinions
and so I had to make some judgement calls.
For example some people are convinced
Narcisse was nothing but a con man while
others are convinced he was a genius, ahead of
his time. I had to gather as much information
as possible and come to my own conclusions.
This play won't be "the truth". It is one of many
perspectives on the story. However I did a lot
of homework so I'd like to think it is a well-
informed perspective."
When it came to unique challenges- this
project had a few. Ciufo says quite a few people
were concerned about how their relatives or
Paul Ciufo
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the highly regarded Saint
Andre would be portrayed.
So he felt some pressure.
"I've also felt internal
pressure: this story is
important to many people
so I want to get it right. I
feel that I've done the best
job I could do. I did the
research, listened to lots of
feedback about the script,
and made the final draft
as good and as true as
possible."
An outside play
It did not start out that way. Ciufo wrote
the script envisioning a stage production
with a relatively small cast. The director
Duncan McGregor came up with the great
idea of an outdoor production, right in the
community where the history occurred,
with a big cast -over 50 actors and
musicians. So Ciufo needed to re -write the
play with these changes in mind. "I tried to
make the play grander, more visually
compelling. For example a scene in which
Narcisse shows Josephine his plans for the
town of St. Joseph was originally set inside
their home, around the kitchen table. Now
it is much grander and involves scale
models of the town buildings. The bigger
cast adds some interesting layers to the
production. I was at a rehearsal recently and
watched as the children and adult actors
portrayed community members. They
cheered as Narcisse gave a big s}wee'h about
positive developments with the canal
project. Suddenly it hit me strongly: the
hopes and dreams of the whole community
were bound up in Narcisse's plans. The
failure didn't just devastate Narcisse and his
family; it derailed many lives, I'm really
excited about the outdoor production, I've
seen plays and operas outdoors and there is
an extra magic to them. Also, it is great that
many community members with deep ties
to the history are involved in the platy, Maur
Canon has created scala models of buildings
for the play - buildings that were actually
built 100 years ago by his great grandfather
Narcisse. Aimee Rau is acting out scenes in
which her ancestors are characters, and
bringing to life stories told to her many
times by her grandparents. It realty is theatre
of the community, by the community, for
the community," he says.
If you go:
"Narcisse" runs July 19 ;it), on the
grounds of St. Peter's Catholic Church,
Highway 21, 1.6 km north of St. Joseph,
Tickets are available at the Nlyth Festival Ilox
Office, 1 -877 -862-598.1. For more
information see: www.na reissethepluy,cont
The 18th Annual Bob Williams Charity Golf (lassie •
in support of Community Living - South Huron
$9,797.00
Special thanks and appreciation go to the followingi sponsors
of the May 22, 2011 Golf Tournanient
Dave Scatcherd, Oakwood inn Resort & Go j/'
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