This spring, local filmmaker Megan Murphy is bringing back her award-winning documentary Murphy’s Law for one last screening at Showplace Performance Centre — along with her latest work, Towns End, a short documentary about the recent closing of PG Towns & Son General Store in Douro.
The Towns End screening will also feature an Irish-style party to celebrate the launch of a new business in the PG Towns & Son General Store building.
Megan — well known in Peterborough as a radio host and an actor (she has a role in the New Stages production of Our Town) — premiered Murphy’s Law, her first feature film, last June at two sold-out screenings at Showplace.
VIDEO: Murphy’s Law trailer
Last fall, she took Murphy’s Law to the prestigious Fingal Film Festival in Ireland, where it won Best Documentary.
The acclaimed documentary, which kawarthaNOW’s Sam Tweedle calls “a brave and beautiful film”, describes Megan’s journey of self-discovery that begins after she discovers her late father’s long-lost journal in her childhood home. The journal chronicles his 1973 solo bike journey through Ireland when he was just 26 years old.
Heart-broken after the end of a six-year relationship, and still struggling with grief over the 2012 death of her mother and the 2004 death of her father, Megan decides to resurrect her father’s original 1973 red Peugeot and travel to Ireland to retrace his journey and to discover her Irish roots.
The screening of Murphy’s Law takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 12th at Showplace Performance Centre (290 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-7469). Make sure to bring some tissues!
Megan will participate in a question-and-answer session following the screening.
Tickets are $20 and are available at the Showplace Box Office or online at www.showplace.org.
The following Thursday (May 18) at Showplace, Megan will also be screening her new short documentary Towns End, which premiered at Peterborough’s ReFrame Film Festival this past January to rave reviews.
Towns End, directed by Megan with cinematography by Rob Viscardis, tells the story of the closing of PG Towns & Son General Store in Douro.
After 124 years as a cornerstone of the Douro community and four generations of the Towns family running the shop, the store finally closed its doors in September 2016 — the victim of the changing retail landscape of big box superstores. The 24-minute documentary asks the question: what do we really value?
Ironically, the screening of Towns End will also feature a celebration. Nancy Towns, along with Bernard and Lise Leahy, plan to open a new store in May — Towns and Leahy Mercantile and Deli — in the former PG Towns & Son General Store building. So, prior to the screening, Megan is hosting a party akin to a traditional Irish kitchen party. There will be drinks, music (including by Kate Suhr and Melissa Payne), storytelling, and more.
The Irish kitchen party celebration and screening of Towns End begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 18th at at Showplace Performance Centre (290 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-7469). Tickes are $20 and are available at the Showplace Box Office or online at www.showplace.org.
If you’re interested in attending the screenings of both Murphy’s Law and Towns End, Showplace is offering a 10 per cent discount if you order tickets for both events at www.showplace.org.
