encoreNOW is a bi-weekly column by Paul Rellinger where he features upcoming music, theatre, film, and performing arts events and news from across the Kawarthas.
This week, Paul highlights a celebration heralding 40 years of the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour, Globus Theatre’s staging of Norm Foster’s The Ladies Foursome, the 35th edition of the Peterborough Folk Festival, the August arrival of Christmas at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre, the winding down of Peterborough Musicfest’s 37th season, and the return of the Buckhorn Festival of the Arts.
Getting up close and personal with area artists worth celebrating
VIDEO: 2024 Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour
If you’re hosting a 40th anniversary bash to which all are invited, it’s a good idea that the reason behind such a celebration is well founded. Heralding four decades of one of the longest running studio tours in Canada is a very good reason to lift a glass to what has been as well as look ahead to what will still be.
On August 8th, the Art Gallery of Peterborough will do just that, marking the 40th anniversary of the Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour at the Crescent Street Gallery in advance of the main event in late September.
Since it was started by a group of area artists and subsequently programmed by the gallery, the free self-guided fall tour sees artists working in a variety of mediums open their studio doors wide to the public. This year’s studio tour, on September 28th and 29th, will see more that 40 artists do just that, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
While most of us are exposed to art in its finished form, be that in a gallery setting or perhaps at a downtown coffee house, the studio tour presents the unique opportunity to watch on and ask questions of artists as their works of art take shape. In considerable numbers each year, people take full advantage. The fact that the tour coincides with the fall colour season is a bonus.
Artwork showcased ranges from classic landscape paintings and traditional woodworking to some of the more innovative and interdisciplinary styles, including some that incorporate taxidermy and augmented reality.
A brochure map of studio locations can be picked up at the Art Gallery of Peterborough as well as at businesses around the city. You can also download the free Toureka! app for your mobile device (available for both iOS and Android), which you can use not only to browse artists’ bios but also create a customized route for the studios you want to visit.
For more information about the 40th anniversary Kawartha Autumn Studio Tour, along with the August 8th celebration and a preview exhibition on now at the gallery, visit agp.on.ca/kast/.
Globus Theatre teeing up a lot of laughs via Norm Foster’s play
In radio parlance, the hits just keep on coming at the Lakeview Arts Barn in Bobcaygeon.
Having just wrapped up 10 stagings of the murder mystery whodunit Who Killed The King, Globus Theatre is right back it, presenting The Ladies Foursome with 11 performances from August 14 to 24.
Written by revered Canadian playwright Norm Foster and billed as “a girl power comedy with balls,” the comedy takes us along as three female golfing pals join a new acquaintance for a round of golf and gossip, celebrating the life of a dear friend in the process. The between-strokes conversation gravitates around life, love, sex and family, all of which leads to surprises, secrets and confessions becoming par for the course.
Foster has gifted us yet another gem that is sure to entertain while reminding us that golf is much more than a long and often frustrating walk — it’s also a conduit for all sorts of enlightening no-holds-barred conversations.
Evening performances, at 8 p.m., are August 14 to 17 and August 20 to 24, with 2 p.m. matinees on August 17 and 22. Tickets, which are $50 for the show only or $100 for the show and a pre-show dinner, are available at globustheatre.com or by calling 705-738-2037.
Year 35 of the Peterborough Folk Festival will be a beauty
“See You When The Weather Breaks” – The Spades (2018)
Nicholls Oval Park will be the place to be August 17th and 18th, and for very good reason as the 35th edition of the Peterborough Folk Festival is staged.
Festival chair Rob Davis et al have really outdone themselves this time around, bringing 29 acts to three stages over the two days of the free festival weekend.
The artist list is long and impressive, with July Talk, Bedouin Soundclash, Brooks and Bowskill, and Greg Keelor in the mix along with Peterborough’s own Irish Millie, Nicholas Campbell, Sarah Jayne Riley, and 2024 Emerging Artist of the year Award recipient Calvin Bakelaar (VanCamp).
What’s really cool is The Spades — James McKenty, Tommy Street, and Josh Robichaud — are coming out of a long hibernation for an 8 p.m. reunion performance on the Miskin Law Main Stage. I caught their surprise set at the recent benefit for Dan Fewings at The Pig’s Ear. The trio hasn’t missed a beat and left me panting to hear more.
Of note, the festival actually kicks off Thursday, August 15th at 7 p.m. when Juno Award-nominated Wild Rivers headline at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre, with VanCamp opening. Unlike the festival, which is free admission with donations welcomed, this is a ticketed event. Visit tickets.markethall.org/rivers24 to purchase tickets (seats are sold out, but standing room tickets are still available).
I tip my hat to festival artistic director Ryan Kemp. We agreed to disagree over a few matters when I was on the Peterborough Musicfest board but Ryan has done a terrific job putting this year’s lineup together. I know very well how challenging and time consuming that is. Well done.
For more information about the festival, including details on the wealth of special events and activities for families and kids, visit www.peterboroughfolkfest.com.
It’s Christmas in August as Kringle, Ontario comes to Port Hope
I’m fairly certain there’s a standing rule in theatrical circles that says you don’t stage a Christmas-themed play during the dog days of August.
Well, rules, be they of the written or unwritten variety, are always broken at some point. That’s exactly what Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre will do, staging Christmastown from August 16 to September 1 at the historic venue.
Written by celebrated Canadian playwright Briana Brown and directed by Capitol Theatre artistic director Rob Kempson, the farce takes us to down-on-its-luck Kringle, Ontario where the well-meaning town reeve has devised a plan to bring tourists back: celebrate Christmas all year round. Initially, the townsfolk are on onside but then a heat wave melts their Yule excitement and gives them second thoughts.
A convenience store/gas station is the town’s centre of cultural activity, and it’s there that we meet owner Nora along with an anxious restaurateur, a sassy teenager, and wide-eyed resident new to the town. What follows is a lot of laughs, promoted as “a veritable blizzard of hilarity.”
When I first heard about this staging, I too wondered who in their right mind would present a Christmas-themed play in the summer. But then it hit me: the play’s story takes place in the summer. Duh. Besides, Port Hope folks love the Christmas season, going all out to dress up the town for the season. Who am I, or anyone, to say they can’t enjoy that same spirit in August?
Performances are August 16 and 17, August 22 to 24, and August 29 to 31 at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees August 18, August 20 to 22, August 24 and 25, August 27 to 29, August 31 and September 1. Visit capitoltheatre.com for tickets.
And then there were four: Peterborough Musicfest winds down
VIDEO: Behind The Vinyl: “Riverboat Fantasy” with David Wilcox
I have a problem with Peterborough Musicfest. It has nothing to do with the Del Crary Park set-up or the stage lineup. Rather, it has everything to do with it serving as an unrelenting ticking clock that reminds me that summer is closer to ending with each show that passes.
Beginning with the Wednesday, August 7th performance by Toronto-based festival favourite Dwayne Gretzky, there are just four concerts remaining this season. Back on June 29, which feels like yesterday, the festival’s 37th season began with Tenille Townes headlining. Including that show, there were 16 to go. Now we’re at just four. Crazy.
Following Dwayne Gretzky, the festival will welcome Lindsay Ell on Saturday, August 10th, Choir! Choir! Choir! on Wednesday, August 14th and, for the season finale on Saturday, August 17th, David Wilcox. You can read more about each act here at kawarthaNOW.com as those dates draw nearer.
All indications are that it’s been a stellar season for Musicfest. While there have been a few weather-related challenges, a festival record crowd took in Metric on July 17. But what has folks really happy is the return of the 50-50 draw held the night of each show. The draw didn’t come back post-pandemic, but the Musicfest crew has pulled it together this season.
Time to get your Buckhorn on as annual arts festival returns
Those reasons alone are enough to visit but if you need some extra prodding, the Buckhorn Festival of the Arts does the trick.
First held in 1978, the festival is marking its 47th year on the weekend of August 17 and 18 inside and outside the Buckhorn Community Centre at 1782 Lakehurst Road.
Recognized as one of the top 100 festivals in the province by Festivals and Events Ontario, this year’s edition will see more than 70 artists showcase their terrific talent and chat about their work. In addition, the schedule features live entertainment, an amateur art competition, art demonstrations, and an “art-ivity” zone for the kids.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, with admission by donation.
Even if you have a mild interest in art, the festival once again provides a great excuse to revisit, or visit for the first time, a great part of our neck of the woods. Find out more at www.buckhorncommunitycentre.com/events/buckhorn-festival-of-the-arts/.
Encore
- Allow me to add my name to the long list of people congratulating Holy Cross grad Victoria Nunez on her being awarded the $1,000 Bierk Art Fund Bursary. Established in 2006 to honour the work of late Peterborough arts champions David and Liz Bierk, the bursary is awarded annually to a local graduating high school student whose work demonstrates artistic merit promise. Nunez, who will begin her Bachelor of Interior Design program at Humber College this fall, will be officially recognized during the Mayor’s Luncheon for the Arts on October 10 at The Canadian Canoe Museum.
- It’s quiet right now at The Guild Hall on Rogers Street in East City, but it won’t stay that way for long. The Peterborough Theatre Guild has revealed details of its six-play 2024-25 season — an ambitious stage production schedule that will take it into early May of next year. The new season opens Friday, September 20th with two one-act plays, How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse and Ghost Story. Stay tuned to kawarthaNOW.com for more details as things roll out.
