I love theatre!!!!! I have shared this before, but it bears repeating, it is a rare treat that I get to the big city and enjoy a Mirvish production. The reason I only get to a Mirvish production is because the cost is prohibitive. There are no inexpensive tickets for Mirvish. I have all my life wished that I had the courage to do theatre. It has been a secret desire of mine for many years, it's on my bucket list. I get to live through my oldest daughter Grace. Grace LOVES, acting and singing. I look at my little girl, and am so proud of her, and marvel at her courage, and talent.
We are very fortunate in Tweed to have a young man named Tim Porter. Tim began his own theatre company a few years ago, producing original Canadian works of art ( yes I am using art correctly, I consider the theatre to be art. Beautiful, well crafted art), to much critical acclaim. He has partnered up with our local arts group, to bring his theatrical productions to Tweed, to the Marble Church in Actinolite to be exact. There, we people who enjoy small town (actually we live in a village) living can also be treated to the things we love about the big city, namely excellent theatre.
As I mentioned my Grace loves theatre. She gained this love of theatre through an extremely talented teacher, Tim Porter. We thought that it would be a treat for Grace to go and see one of Tim's plays. We decided on Godspell. She was really excited. I had taken her last year to see "Little House on The Prairie", staring Melissa Gilbert as Ma at one of the Mirvish Theatres ( I felt a little sorry for Melissa Gilbert, because the rest of the cast had obviously been classically trained, and while she had a nice singing voice, she could not master their sound or quality). Little House on The Prairie got Grace hooked on theatre.
When I had taken my Mother as her Mother's Day gift to see Stalkyard Hurts, we dressed up, and went a half hour early. We were apparently 20 minutes too early. When the handful of people came, they were dressed extremely casually... we were overdressed. It was the same when Tim invited me to closing night. For Godspell we arrived 10 minutes early, and were delightfully shocked to discover there was barely a parking spot to be had, and barely a seat to be had. We also discovered that this time we had really underdressed, who knew.
I feel that at this point I should share that I have never read the bible, nor to be honest, do I desire to. I've tried, but I just could not understand it. I know bits and pieces about the stories in the bible, as I do have religious family members. I went to see Godspell under the belief that the music would be amazing. I was correct!
Watching this show was like going back to school in September. There was our teacher (Tim), and all the kids that I was friends with last year (Karine Berube, Michael Collin Jones, Danielle Leger.. the class clown). I was sad that some of my friends were in a different class (Stalkyard Hurt's Justin Collette, and Tricia Black). There were also some new kids that I didn't know that first day of school, (Emilee Nimetz, Jaqueline Martin, James King, Joel MacMeekin, Samantha Marchinonda, and Sara Wilkinson). Turns out the new kids became my new friends by the end of the first day, but I still missed my old friends. I guess what I'm saying is WHAT A TALENTED CAST!!!!! I know very few bible stories, but I know that this cast is so talented. I was impressed by the way Tim made full creative use of such a small stage. I was extremely impressed by the crucifixion scene. "Oh God, I'm Bleeding", brought me to tears. James King did a beautiful job. This talented cast could easily be in any Mirvish production based on their talent. Their voices blew me away once again. They were all just so very, very talented. Michael Collin Jones was amazing AGAIN. Danielle Leger and Karine Berube had a smaller parts in this production, but they certainly made their presences known, wow. The new kids (well new to me) were amazing. It's obvious that Tim knows talent.
I was delighted to discover the night that we saw Godspell it was to a nearly sold out crowd, and that the last two shows are completely sold out. We need to show Iana our love. We need to show them that we appreciate their hard work, and extreme talent so that Tweed continues to be blessed with high quality theatre. Godspell was the last production for the Iana Theatre in Tweed this season. It will be touring the shows throughout Ontario, and if you have the chance you should treat yourself to a show.
August 22 - September 1, Iana Theatre will be performing their original "Aleck Bell" at the Stirling Festival Theatre stirlingfestivaltheatre.com. I think when I am buying the tickets to Grace's production (more to come on that, don't you worry your pretty little heads about it) of "Munsch on Stage", I should try to pick up some tickets to see "Aleck Bell".
For more information about the Iana Theatre visit their website ianatheatre.com
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