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 the ARTISANity show and sale at Peterborough Square, the Haliburton International Film Festival, St. James Players production of Into The Woods, Peterborough Pop Ensemble’s “Best of Sentimental Journey,” Public Energy’s presentation of who will save the night sky?, and the Dixon brothers’ staging of their musical Footnote To Freedom.
ARTISANity returns with its offering of unique handmade items
With a mission to preserve and promote traditional heritage skills, the Artisans Centre Peterborough does just that via the offering of instructional classes and the promotion of local artists and artisan groups.
At its home on the lower level of Peterborough Square, the centre offers a large classroom and a wood shop as well as its Artisans Market where a number of handcrafted items can be purchased. Meanwhile, partnerships with the Kawartha Gourd Society, the Peterborough Weavers and Spinners Guild, and ACP Woodturners have helped ensure the centre’s sustainability over the years.
Not unlike many such cultural organizations, the Artisans Centre is reliant on donations to keep the doors open. Maintaining the studios, supplies and equipment, and instructors’ time comes with a price tag.
This Friday and Saturday (November 7 and 8), ARTISANity will be held in the downtown mall just outside the centre’s doors, and inside the centre proper.
Held each spring and fall, the show and sale is by far the centre’s largest outreach event and a source of funding. Each handcrafted item sold will see 25 per cent of the sale price go to the centre, with the respective artisan pocketing the remainder.
With Christmas in the offing, ARTISANity offers the prospect of taking home a truly unique piece or two for that hard-to-please person on your list, all while supporting the centre’s continued viability.
Show and sale hours are noon to 8:30 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is free, with free parking in the mall’s underground garage.
Haliburton International Film Festival features cinema’s best
VIDEO: “Once Upon My Mother” trailer
If you’re a cinema buff, Haliburton will be the place to be this Friday to Sunday (November 7 to 9) as the Haliburton International Film Festival (HIFF) screens seven films over three days.
Presented by Haliburton-based Those Other Movies, a not-for-profit volunteer organization that provides film fans unique experiences via year-round programming, the festival opens Friday with two sold-out screenings of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein at Kinmount’s Highland Cinemas.
Over the next two days, all screenings are at the Northern Lights Performing Arts Pavilion (located in Haliburton Highlands Secondary School at 5358 County Road 21). The lineup is truly international, with films produced in Europe being screened alongside Canadian productions, including Little Lorraine, Once Upon My Mother, DJ Ahmet, Youngblood, There’s Still Tomorrow, and Köln 75.
The schedule and film details can be found at www.thoseothermovies.com, where you can also order a weekend VIP pass for $65. Individual films priced at $10 each at the door.
Now in its 13th season, Those Other Movies is part of the Haliburton County Community Cooperative. Formed in 1998, the cooperative has a mandate to encourage, develop and support initiatives that contribute to the social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being of Haliburton County and its residents.
St. James Players goes “Into The Woods” in fairytale fashion
It’s difficult, if not impossible, to imagine Peterborough’s community theatre landscape, both past and present, without the St. James Players in our midst. Since 1972, the musical theatre group has entertained thousands, while providing live stage experience for countless young people.
With autumn in full swing, St. James Players is bringing its annual fall production to Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough in the form of Into The Woods, opening this Friday (November 7) and running for seven performance until November 15.
The 1986 musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine, that intertwines the storylines of several Brothers Grimm fairytales. The production’s main characters are taken from “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel,” “Cinderella,” and other childhood story favourites.
Tying it all together is a story centred around a childless baker and his wife, their quest to begin a family, their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their encounters with fairytale characters.
Directed by Jacquie Butler, with vocal and music direction by Brian MacDonald and Justin Hiscox, and choreography by Melissa Earle, Into The Woods is escapism in its purest form, and — a rarity of sorts these days — is suitable for all ages.
Curtain is 7:30 p.m. on November 7 and 8 and 13 and 14, with 2 p.m. matinee performances on November 8, 9, and 15. For tickets, visit showplace.org/events.
Peterborough Pop Ensemble strolls down memory lane anew
VIDEO: “Sentimental Journey” – Peterborough Pop Ensemble (2015)
Rest assured that somewhere, someplace, Barb Monahan is smiling. Six years after her passing, the choral group she led, and loved, for many years continues to entertain, the joy of doing so clearly evident on the faces of its members.
Now the Peterborough Pop Ensemble is embarking its 25th anniversary season, starting this Sunday afternoon (November 9) with “Best of Sentimental Journey” at Westdale United Church on Sherbrooke Street West in Peterborough.
The 2 p.m. concert will see the ensemble perform songs from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s. From the lively rhythms of the jazz age to the golden era of swing to the heartfelt ballads that carried a generation through World War II, this concert promises to be a celebration of the timeless melodies that defined each decade.
Admission to the 2 p.m. concert is by donation at the door.
Formed in 2000 under the name The Peterborough Singers Pop Ensemble, the choral group was created to perform a few songs at the Valentines concert headlined by The Peterborough Singers. The audience’s response was so enthusiastic that members of group decided to keep at it.
Come January 2009, its members having opted to strike out on their own, the choral group became officially known as the Peterborough Pop Ensemble. Since then, the Peterborough Pop Ensemble has performed regularly, including at Peterborough Petes hockey games, Peterborough’s Dragon Boat Festival, with the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, and at many charity events.
Philip Geller dramatically asks “Who will save the night sky?”
It’s difficult to not be intrigued by what who will save the night sky? has to offer, with a description of the performance promising “tail swishes, tall tales, and celestial mischief.”
Presented by Public Energy Performing Arts this Sunday afternoon (November 9) at Trent University’s Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space and curated by Indigenous Performance Initiatives, the performance will see Philip Geller — a Michif (Red River Métis) and Jewish (Ashkenazi) theatre creator and educator — take the audience “into a starry boardroom where the fate of the Earth (and the two-legged) hangs in the balance.”
The interactive solo performance blends bouffon, clown, storytelling. and spectacle, all while reminding us of the importance of our relationship to the stars and sky world.
Geller is an actor, director, dramaturg, producer, clown, and creator who has worked with numerous companies and festivals across Canada. Geller employs trickster methodologies, land-based creation, circular storytelling and destabilizing hierarchical power structures in the rehearsal process, with a strong focus on anti-oppressive and anti-racist modalities.
Currently the associate producer for #ReconcileThis at the National Arts Centre and co-artistic producer for the Kiyanaan Indigenous Theatre Festival in Winnipeg, Geller is creating new works in residency at The Theatre Centre and Theatre Passe Muraille.
Tickets to the 2 p.m. performance are available at www.eventbrite.ca/e/1766697121649.
The 60-minute show will be followed by a reception with the artist.
The story of Canada’s No. 2 Battalion finally comes to light
With Remembrance Day dawning anew, the story of Canada’s first and only all-Black battalion is long overdue to be told, especially in light of the fact that its existence has been ignored for decades.
Presented by New Stages Theatre this Sunday night (November 9) at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough, Footnote To Freedom tells the story of Private George Dixon, who served with the No. 2 Battalion in the First World War.
Based on a memoir of the same name written by his grandson Lance Dixon and created and performed by Lance with his brother Beau, the musical features original songs and dramatic personal stories that give us a glimpse of their grandfather’s experience, and the lasting impact his service had on their father Blair and on them. More than that, it touches on the challenges faced by Black men in an all-white Canadian military.
Tickets for 7 p.m. performance cost $29, with a $22 “welcome rate” for those who need it and a $36 “pay it forward rate” for those who can afford it, and can be purchased at the Market Hall box office at 140 Charlotte Street, by calling 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org/?category=20.
Note that only a handful of tickets remain for the show as of this writing.
The staging promises to be bittersweet for the Dixon brothers, along with their sister Lisa, the former owner of Black Honey and director of the current Peterborough Theatre Guild play 291. On October 13, their father Blair passed away at age 89. On the same day as the play’s presentation, at 11 a.m. at Market Hall, a celebration of life will be held in his honour, with all welcome to attend.
Encore
- It’s a little ahead of the game, but Millbrook’s 4th Line Theatre has already released details of it 34th season next summer at the Winslow Farm. The season will begin June 30 with a reprise of Schoolhouse. Premiered in 2007 and remounted in the 2008, Leanna Brodie’s play will be directed by Monica Dottor. Then, on August 4, Megan Murphy’s Wild Irish Geese, which was featured this past summer, returns to the barnyard stage. Much more detail is forthcoming, but it is known that some of the original cast members of Schoolhouse will be returning while Wild Irish Geese will also welcome back several of its original cast members.
- Congratulations to Peterborough singer-songwriter Georgia Rose on the recent release of her second single “Where Did We Go?” Arguably among the hardest-working musicians in this area over the last year, the 19 year old has earned all the praise that has come her way. Just this past March, Georgia was well-received as a featured performer at Peterborough Performs V at Showplace — a turn she’ll reprise February 26 when the sixth edition of the fundraiser for local shelters and homelessness relief is staged. At only 19, Georgia’s star is rising quickly. Catch her while you can.
