Arts
Sudbury Theatre Centre's artistic director David Savoy.
Celebrate the arts
BY VICKI GILHULA
Fall 2011 |
There's no need to leave the city to find some of the province's best music, theatre and art. We've got it all right here. Sudbury Symphony Orchestra conductor Victor Sawa promised the final performance of the 2010-2011 season would end with a bang. And it did. Audience members were given paper bags at intermission, and then coaxed by Sawa to blow them up and pop them at just the right moment during Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture where the composer originally wrote in 16 cannons to go off to celebrate Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. As a video of fireworks was shown on the overhead screens at Glad Tidings auditorium, the audience popped their bags as the orchestra reached the finale. Bang! While purists pooh-poohed the paper bags, others loved the idea. Under Sawa's direction, the SSO is working to shed symphony music's stuffy “black tie” image in an attempt to attract a larger audience. “We take our music seriously, but we want our audience to relax and enjoy the experience,” says executive director Elizabeth Aman-Hume. To make symphony music more accessible, Sawa initiated a series of educational talks at the main branch of the public library on the Wednesday prior to every performance. “Victor is such as good speaker and he is so enthusiastic,” says Aman-Hume. “The more people know about the music, the greater their experience at the concert.” Symphony musicians do outreach programs in schools and give casual concerts at Market Square or the mall in an attempt to reach new audiences. This fall, the SSO is working with the library on Tunes and Tales, a series for children and parents that will provide an opportunity for young people to listen to music and learn about instruments. Last November, the family holiday afternoon concert attracted 700 children and parents. Many were experiencing classical music and a live symphony orchestra for the first time, says Aman-Hume. The SSO has also operated a conservatory for string students of all ages since 2000. “We are looking ahead to the future (by) creating a new generation of musicians and classical music fans.” The 2011-2012 SSO season opens Saturday, Sept, 24 with Great Classics: Beethoven & Brahms, featuring Ian Parker on piano. Canadian fiddler champion Pierre Schryer and his band will perform a high energy concert with the SSO Saturday, Oct. 29. The Pierre Schryer Trio play gypsy swing, Celtic and world music. The Holiday Concert is scheduled for Saturday, Nov.19, 8 pm with a family concert at 2 pm. This concert will feature excerpts from The Nutcracker with dancers bringing the music to life. In February, the SSO will present Tune and Tales (Feb. 25). Featured works will be Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (Prelude) and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. In keeping with the SSO's focus on appealing to a larger audience, the orchestra will present The Best of the West, Saturday, March 31. The audience will recognize the themes from TV shows such as The Lone Ranger (William Tell Overture) and Bonanza. Copland's Rodeo will be featured. The final concert of the season (April 28) is a tribute to Spain. The finale is Ravel’s most famous work, Boléro. (The music became part of popular culture after the character played by Bo Derek in the 1979 movie 10 asks, "Did you ever do it to Ravel's Boléro?") At one time it was almost impossible to get last-minute tickets to an SSO performance. That changed when the symphony moved to Glad Tidings auditorium, which can accommodate more than 1,300 people. “We have a wonderful program, and we have tickets. So please call us,” says Aman Hume. The executive director has more than 20 years' experience in orchestra management and has worked in United States, Britain, and most recently in British Columbia. At a time when many symphonies are facing economic times, SSO is doing well thanks to grants from the city, the Ontario Arts Council, corporate sponsorships, and “more than 3,000 hours of volunteers' time” and a solid subscriber base of 700, she says. Aman-Hume moved to Sudbury from British Columbia last year. She is getting to know the city and what it has to offer in the arts. “I think Sudbury is very rich in cultural offerings. (But) we need to make people more aware of what is offered,” she says. In a former church that someday will become a community arts centre, Theatre Cambrian staff and volunteers are introducing a new generation of performers to the boards. The preteens are singing a song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a musical they will perform at the end of their two-week Summertime Stage program. “The kids love it and their parents love it, says executive director Mark Mannisto. He talks about the importance of introducing young people to theatre and the potential of Theatre Cambrian's “art centre,” in the former St. Eugene's Church on Eyre St. Although the community theatre group is staging shows in the former church, their vision of a 262-seat, state-of-the-art theatre, with additional space for dinner theatre productions and small concerts, is far from complete. But they have plans. Theatre Cambrian just needs to raise $2.6 million. In the meantime, on a shoestring budget and with an army of volunteers, the community theatre company produces entertaining theatre that attracts a faithful audience. Mannisto often works 18 hours a day, says Dale Pepin, president of the theatre board. “He works for us from 9 am to 5 pm, and then he volunteers. He has phoned me from the office at 10 pm. He has sent me email at 2 am.” “It's a labour of love,” says Mannisto. “With an emphasis on labour,” says Pepin. Then, they both agree. “The emphasis is on love.” Pepin, a retired teacher and a born entertainer, says he would not have had a chance to develop his singing and acting talent if there was no community theatre in the city. Theatre Cambrian has provided an opportunity to cultivate for many amateur singers, dancers, musicians, actors and theatrical technicians. Many have “real jobs,” and but love the applause. Others, such as actor Derek Hagen and stage manager Lisa Humber, have gone on to professional careers. Theatre Cambrian was established in 1985 by Cambrian College professor Jamie Bourget. He was the artistic director for 26 years and has recently retired. For its 27th season, Pepin will direct The Gin Game (Oct.14, 15, 20, 21, 22), the Pulitzer Prize winning play that originally starred Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. It is set in a nursing home and uses a card game as a metaphor for life. This dinner theatre production will be held at the Jubilee Centre. Mannisto is directing both of this season's musicals. The Best of Billboard 2, (Feb. 7-25, 2012) features the music of Kenny Rogers, Queen, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, KISS, Abba, and Bryan Adams. Happy Days (May 8-26) is based on the TV show characters, Ritchie, Fonzie, and Potzie and friends. Some of the Summertime Theatre students may return to Theatre Cambrian this December to appear in the Kids' Curtain production of Footloose (Dec. 8-17, 2011) a musical based on the popular 1980s dance movie. Next August, Theatre Cambrian will do something completely different. The company is producing its first French dinner theatre. Richard Pulsifer will direct Michel Tremblay’s comedy Le Spot Idéal. It is a ambitious season with three additional dinner theatre productions scheduled and a dinner theatre festival in January. A new community theatre company makes its debut in 2012. A group of current and former theatre arts students have set up Encore Theatre company with performances at Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University. Encore Theatre will perform three main stage shows in 2012: Down Dangerous Passes Road in January; Death of a Salesman in April; and Closer in July. Callam Rodya is the founder and artistic director (callam@encoretheatre.ca). Theatre Nouvel Ontario begins its 40th season with the comedy Les Rogers (The Roger) in October. This is the story of Denis, who is recently separated from his partner, and his friends, Guy and Stephen. Later in the season two plays will be offered with English subtitles projected on a screen. La liste (The List) with subtitles will be performed March 10 at 2 pm. The List, written celebrated Québec dramatist, Jennifer Tremblay, won the Governor General's Award in 2008. It is the story of a woman, wife and mother living in a rural Quebec. II (Two), a suspense love story will be presented with English subtitles April 14 at 2 pm and April 19 at 8 pm. II is written by playwright Mansel Robinson. Robinson, a northerner, wrote the play Spitting Slag about a Sudbury miner's search for revenge after the death of his son. TNO produced the French translation several years ago. Sudbury Theatre Centre is also celebrating its 40th anniversary this season. STC’s artistic director David Savoy has selected plays that look back at its past, its present and its future: The 39 Steps (Sept. 29 -Oct. 16); Waiting for Godot (Nov. 3-13); Beauty and the Beast (Dec. 8 - 18); Wingfield Lost and Found (Feb. 16 - March 4); and Canadian playwright Morris Panych's Lawrence & Holloman (March 15-25). The theatre’s final production is The Drowsy Chaperone. This old-fashioned musical within a comedy was created by Canadians Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Greg Morrison with Lisa Lambert. It took Broadway audiences by storm in 2006 and won several Tony Awards. Across town from Theatre Cambrian, another group of children enjoy painting lessons at the Art Gallery of Sudbury on John St. They are inspired by the landscapes of George McLean, an exhibit curated and circulated by the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound. The summer exhibit has been a popular one, says director Karen Tate-Peacock. She and her staff are preparing for the fall exhibitions which open Sept. 15: Sense of Place, an exhibition organized and circulated by the Windsor Printmaker’s Forum; and 56°& North, an exhibition featuring the AGS's own collection of Inuit prints and drawings, run until Nov. 13. There will be 25 to 30 works of art by artists who live north of the 56th parallel, says Jessie Buchanan, an intern who helped curate the Inuit exhibition. She was assisted by Tom Smart, the former director and CEO of the McMichael Collection in Kleinberg. These works, for the most part, were created between the early 1960s and 1980s and the subjects reflect the oral tradition of the area, says Buchanan. Printmaking was introduced to Cape Dorset residents in the late 1950s. Images are carved into stone and than ink is applied to make prints. In most cases, the artists learned from each other, yet their work is surprisingly complex and contemporary. The Inuit told stories about their “spirituality and their livelihood, and senses of place,” says Buchanan. In this way, the Inuit exhibition in Gallery 2 complements the Sense of Place contemporary exhibition in Gallery 1, she adds. Sense of Place includes work by 36 artists. Contemporary printmaking ranging from traditional techniques on surfaces such as monotypes, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, silkscreens to digital prints are featured. “There is no shortage of arts activities from concerts to exhibitions—something for everyone,” says John Lindsay, the current president of the Sudbury Arts Council. The council keeps track of arts, culture and entertainment activities in the city and publishes an electronic bulletin twice a month. "It’s the mandate of the council to Connect, Communicate and Celebrate the Arts, and this is being done through an Arts-Event Bulletin emailed to more than thousand members twice monthly and posted on the Sudbury Arts Council website,” says Lindsay. "The arts are the soul of our community. They contribute greatly to our quality of life and cultural reality."
