Winter Perfomance Series 2008-09
Our Winter Performance Series is scheduled for the months of November, January, February, March and April. Information will be available pending funding announcements in August 2008.
Mercury Theatre, St. Marys (photo courtesy of Louis Vermond)
Winter Performance Series 2007-08
St Marys Storytelling Inc. presents the 2nd Annual Winter Performance Series
After the second year of our St. Marys Storytelling Festival, we were eligible to apply for Ontario and Canada arts grants. We discovered we could also apply for funding for a performance series. When Canada Council for the Arts awarded us a grant for a performance series last winter, we were pleased to be able to bring excellent storytellers and one-person performances to St. Marys year round and not just for a weekend in September. And, serendipitously, the Mercury Theatre, an intimate performance space with incredible acoustics right in our downtown, was available and willing to work with us. January 2007 saw the opening of our first performance series with a full house. People returned for all four performances. We were on to something: exciting and innovative - live entertainment in the heart of St Marys.
This year, we have five performances by professional storytellers/performers planned between November and April (no performance in December). All happen on the second Saturday of the month. People in this community appreciate a good tale well told, and winter is the traditional time to sit around the storyteller’s fire. While being told, the story happens in the imagination of each listener. So come, sit back, relax, listen, and let yourself be transported, with others, to another time and place.
November 10th
Ron Baker presents “A Carousel of Stories” and “The Snow Goose”.
Ron Baker, one of the most respected elders of the Canadian storytelling community, hails from Miller Lake in the Bruce Peninsula. He will tell a “Carousel of Stories” on November 10th, including The Snow Goose, a critically acclaimed short story by author Paul Gallico set in England in the early years of World War II. Ron and his wife and three children emigrated from England in 1964. He has been an actor, director, mime, clown, and comedian. It was while at a children’s camp in 1986 that he became a storyteller. All of the other skills and arts he had learned along the way blended seamlessly into this new and ancient art form. Ron’s stories, told with gentle humour and compassion, cover the gamut of human emotion, and are an experience not to be missed.
January 12th
Wanda Carroll “The Road Less Gravelled”
Wanda Carroll was born and raised in Northern Newfoundland in the 1970’s. This was a time of great change in her small fishing outport of Conche. Wanda’s one woman show “The Road less Gravelled” is a collection of stories that reflect a unique time in Newfoundland history. With tales like, My First Bat’ room, The Protestant Pineapple, and The Wart Story, Wanda is sure to keep you laughing. “The Road” also tells the story of a curious little girl named Wanda growing up in this isolated place in those changing times. As one world is lost to her another is just beyond her reach.
February 9th
“The Incredible Journey” presented by Jan Andrews, Jennifer Cayley, and Ellis-Lynn Duchesnes
Sheila Burnford's classic Canadian animal adventure is retold by veteran storytellers Jan Andrews, Jennifer Cayley and Ellis Lynn Duschenes from the Ottawa Storytellers. Together they weave this tale of adventure, hardship and hope. The evening is recommended for adults and children 10 and up who love animals and a good story. Storyteller/Children’s Writer JAN ANDREWS is known across the country for the depth and power of her performances. The first National Coordinator of Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada, she is a mover and shaker in the storytelling world. She grew up with bull terriers, and knows them and loves them and tells The Incredible Journey with particular delight. JENNIFER CAYLEY was born with a consuming passion for stories of all kinds. An arts administrator as well as a storyteller, she has made a strong contribution to storytelling’s development throughout the land. As a child, she longed for a Siamese cat. For her, telling The Incredible Journey is like touching that dream. A teacher in her other life, ELLIS LYNN DUSCHENES tells with a quiet but compelling authority that leaves her listeners space for their own imagining. As a founder member of Ottawa Storytellers she has performed at festivals and in concerts for over twenty years. She comes to The Incredible Journey with fond memories of the duck tolling retriever who led her family into adventures of all sorts.
March 8th
Leslie McCurdy “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman”
On a barren stage with only a trunk of costumes, "The Spirit of Harriet Tubman" uses Harriet's own words in telling the story of her life from her earliest experiences as a slave, through her work on the underground railroad, to her continued commitment to others in her later years. Leslie McCurdy has been performing for many years in Southwestern Ontario and the Mid-Western United States as an Actor, Dancer/Choreographer, and Singer. Also a teacher, Leslie has been instrumental in creating programs which provide opportunities for children and youth, particularly from disadvantaged circumstances, to participate in high quality performing arts activities.
April 12th
Charly Chiarelli’s “Mangiacake”
Back by popular demand! Charly Chiarelli's one-man shows are a humorous and touching account of his loving Sicilian family as they struggled to adapt to a new life in Canada. As a follow-up to his enormous hit, Cu’Fu, Charly Chiarelli once again weaves his Sicilian storytelling magic and blues harmonica. Mangiacake is a term used in Charly’s Hamilton Italian neighbourhood to refer to non-Italians. Charly points the finger at himself and asks, "Have I become a Mangiacake?" The theatrical and television productions of Cu’Fu and Mangiacake have received rave reviews from a variety of newspapers and magazines throughout the country.
