As Millbrook’s 4th Line Theatre’s 31st season continues with the world premiere of The Tilco Strike until July 22, the outdoor theatre company is already preparing for its August production: the seventh remounting of 4th Line’s flagship play The Cavan Blazers.
Running from August 1 to 26, The Cavan Blazers chronicles the 19th-century conflicts between the Protestant and Catholic Irish settlers of Cavan Township. The intense production tells the violent tale of the Protestant vigilante gang known as the Cavan Blazers as they aim to prevent the establishment of a Catholic settlement.
The Cavan Blazers is a significant historical event both for the township and as a production for 4th Line, whose mandate is to promote Canadian cultural heritage through regional and environmentally staged dramas.
Written by the 4th Line founder Robert Winslow, The Cavan Blazers was the first play produced by the theatre company back in 1992 shortly after its establishment. The original production featured horses, chickens, fire, fights, torches, and a cast of 44 actors — including Winslow himself, who will be returning to the stage again in the role of Justice John Knowlsen.
The 1992 debut of The Cavan Blazers set the stage for the more than 60 productions that have since followed in its footsteps over the last three decades. The play continues to build upon its own legacy, proving to be one of the outdoor theatre’s most popular productions, as evident through its five previous restagings in 1993, 1996, 2001, 2004, and 2011.
In her 30th season with the organization, 4th Line’s managing artistic director Kim Blackwell is designing the set and will be directing, as she did during the 2004 production.
“The story inside The Cavan Blazers is one as old as time and as modern as the recent conflicts in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Ukraine,” explains Blackwell in a media release. “It is a cautionary story of what can happen when people become entrenched in a way of thinking and are then unable to free themselves from that thinking.”
Local volunteer actors and professional actors have come together for the sixth remounting. Along with Robert Winslow, returning to the 4th Line stage in The Cavan Blazers are JD “Jack” Nicholsen, Colin A. Doyle, Thomas Fournier, Matt Gilbert, Justin Hiscox, Mark Hiscox, Ken Houston, Robert Morrison, Kelsey Powell, and Julia Scaringi. Making their 4th Line debut, actress Katherine Cullen (Stupidhead! A Musical Comedy) and musician Jason Edmunds are bringing their talents to the production.
Joining Blackwell backstage are fight director Edward Belanger, costume designer Korin Cormier, musical director Justin Hiscox, choreographer Rachel Bemrose, sound designer Esther Vincent, directing intern Shelley Simester, and assistant to the director Sierra Gibb-Kahn. Emily Brown and Gailey Monner make up The Cavan Blazers stage management team. The production is sponsored by Miskin Law.
Opening night of The Cavan Blazers is on Thursday, August 3rd with preview nights on August 1 and 2. The production runs every day from Tuesday to Saturday until August 26, with curtain at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $50 ($45 for children and youth ages five to 16), with $38 tickets available for preview nights.
You can order tickets by visiting www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, calling 705-732-4445 (toll free at 1-800-814-0055), emailing boxoffice@4thlinetheatre.on.ca, or in person at 4th Line Theatre’s box office at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of 4th Line Theatre’s 31st season.
