As many of us struggle to be good at one thing, there are those among us who have the sheer audacity to be good at a number of things — the so-called Renaissance man (or woman), defined as one who has acquired profound knowledge or proficiency in more than one field.

In late Middle Ages Europe, such a man was described as someone who was “well educated, charming, witty, able to dance, write poetry, sing, play music, wrestle, ride horses, and excelled as a swordsman.” Beau Dixon checks a lot of these boxes, and could no doubt check them all if he put his mind to it.

As an actor, musician, playwright, music director, and sound designer, the Peterborough resident’s fingerprints are all over a number of award-winning theatrical and music productions. But, come Saturday (July 20), it’s Dixon’s talent as a soul-pop singer that will be showcased when the Beau Dixon Band returns to Del Crary Park as Peterborough Musicfest’s 37th season continues.

Dixon was born in Detroit, Michigan — a city still best known for two things: automobile manufacturing and Motown, the hitmaking record label founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy Jr.

After discovering the sound of Stevie Wonder in his parents’ record collection (he wore the grooves off of Wonder’s landmark double album Songs In The Key Of Life), young Beau was determined to take piano lessons, which he started at age six.

The son of a Baptist minister, Dixon’s first gigs came at age 12, playing piano for his father’s church services. It was from that perch, watching his father, that Dixon learned something else: the importance of stage presence. To this day, anyone who takes in a Dixon singing performance can’t help but feel they are at a revival of sorts.

VIDEO: “Your Love Will Carry Me” – Beau Dixon

At age 16, Dixon left the family home in London for Ottawa, where he studied vocal music with a minor in drama. Out of the classroom, he honed his singing chops as a member of The Freeway Band, an Ottawa-area psychedelic rock band.

Post-education, Toronto beckoned. It was there that Dixon hooked up with the band One as its lead singer. After touring and recording with One, a visit to Peterborough to see his mom, a hospital chaplain, set Dixon on a new trajectory. Enamoured by the city’s live music scene, he made Peterborough his home in the late 1990s.

Blessed with a bigger-than-life persona perfectly suited for his six-foot-something frame, Dixon soon found himself performing regularly on local stages, indoor and out, as founder and singer for several bands, Slips and the High Fives, the Beau Dixon Band (which performed at Peterborough Musicfest in 2009), and reggae-infused Dub Trinity among them.

In 2000, Dixon founded Sound Kitchen Studio, spending much of his time mentoring young musicians. He issued CDs of his own work too, including From Here To East City. Dixon’s ballad “Your Love Will Carry Me” provided clear proof of his prowess as a songwriter.

In an April 2020 interview with Joe Szekeres of OnStage Blog, Dixon spoke to his love of performing.

“I love being loved,” he said. “I’m not ashamed to say it. It makes me feel good, and I just love sharing my gift.”

VIDEO: “Know Who You Are” – Beau Dixon

“I just want to entertain and make people happy,” Dixon added. “I posted a song the other day on Facebook and a stranger messaged me privately, saying how much it meant to him to hear that song during (pandemic) isolation. It was apparent he was dealing with some feelings and he just needed to hear that specific song.”

“Whether it’s acting or singing, if I can touch one person’s heart, it’s enough to know that it’s worth getting up and pushing on.”

While Dixon’s Musicfest appearance will highlight his extraordinary vocal range and a stage presence similar to what he witnessed in his father’s church all those year ago, Dixon’s work as an actor and playwright can’t go unmentioned, for the simple fact that it’s equally impressive, if not more so. The Peterborough Pathway of Fame certainly thought so in 2011 when it inducted him in the Dramatic Arts category.

Back in 2010, Dixon co-founded Firebrand Theatre, a touring company whose mission is to bring Canadian stories to life for students and educators in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools across Canada. Audiences at theatres across Ontario, 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook among them, have been treated to Dixon’s acting performances.

In 2022, Dixon’s Freedom Cabaret 2.0: How Black Music Shaped The Dream Of America was staged at Stratford, reprising his 2021 role as curator and music director of Freedom Cabaret: The Spirit and Legacy of Black Music.

Then there’s Dixon’s work as a playwright who has seen his work commissioned, produced, and performed across Canada. His play Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story brought him a Calgary Critic’s Award for Best Individual Performance and two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Best New Play and Best Individual Performance.

VIDEO: “Higher and Higher” by Jackie Wilson performed by Beau Dixon

As a sound designer, Dixon was nominated for Dora Mavor Moore Award for the Shaw Festival production of Rifles. Meanwhile, his commitment to mentoring young people continues, evidenced by his music director positions at both Lakefield College School and Sheridan College.

Underlying most all of Dixon’s pursuits is his unwavering determination to ensuring Black culture is given its due while highlighting the contributions of Black performance artists, both past and present. Few in this country have done so with such fervour.

Strip away the creative layers of this Renaissance man and we’re left with a relentless educator whose mission remains to enlighten as well as entertain.

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 37th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until August 17th.

Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the 2024 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2024 season.

Familiarity is much maligned, its penchant for occasionally breeding contempt getting way more attention than it should. But more often than not, familiarity can be a very good thing, anchoring a productive atmosphere in which those involved are on the same page from the get-go.

Actor Katie Ryerson is living, and enjoying, that experience at the Winslow Farm near Millbrook where, as the title character in 4th Line Theatre’s second summer production Jim Watts: Girl Reporter running from July 30 to August 24, she has been reunited with playwright Beverley Cooper.

In 2016 at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa, Ryerson originated the role of Lily in Cooper’s play Janet Wilson Meets The Queen that was subsequently nominated for a Prix Rideau Award that honours locally produced professional theatre work. Now, as she prepares to make her 4th Line Theatre debut, Ryerson is grateful they have reconnected.

“It’s such a gift to get to work with her again,” lauded Ryerson during a media day preview of Jim Watts: Girl Reporter held Wednesday (July 17) at the Zion Line farm. “Knowing how we work together and our comfort levels with certain things, and how to interact, is a real benefit. I just enjoy being around her so much.”

Jim Watts: Girl Reporter chronicles the experience of Canadians youth who illegally flocked to Spain in the mid-1930s to fight fascism, attempting to stop its march across Europe. Ryerson is portraying Jean “Jim” Watts, the only woman to join the MacKenzie-Papineaus, the Canadian regiment in Spain.

The play takes its audience from Toronto to Madrid, from political rallies to battlefields in the European country.

“Last year, she (Cooper) invited me to be a part of the workshop that 4th Line was doing for this play,” recounts Ryerson, noting a later opportunity to audition led to her being cast as the title character. “It’s a very epic play. It spans quite a lot of time, and we get to see my character from when she’s a young person to when she’s older.”

“It’s an ensemble piece, but Jim barely leaves the stage,” Ryerson adds. “It’s a big arc to play but that’s very satisfying as an actor. And it’s a real gift to be able to work on something no one else has ever done. This is the first time these words will be spoken on stage. That’s very exciting.”

Ryerson describes her character as “very strong … someone who’s very driven to figure out her place in the world.”

“Jim is a reporter for the Daily Clarion,” Ryerson explains. “She goes to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War and becomes an ambulance driver. Afterwards, she continues activism all her life.”

“Hers is an amazing legacy to get to portray,” Ryerson says. “It’s very interesting to portray a real person but also a chance to honour her as human who is flawed and not perfect. That’s something we can all relate to.”

“We all hopefully try and make the world a better place in whatever way we can. In doing so, you make mistakes along the way and you try to do better the next time. But I love Jim’s sense of adventure. I really relate to her drive.”

Directing Jim Watts: Girl Reporter is 4th Line managing artistic director Kim Blackwell. Now in her 30th year with the company, this marks the 29th time she is at the helm — a remarkable run that has seen her now direct 16 world premieres.

“Directing a premiere is very different than directing Hamlet, which has 400 years’ worth of productions,” says Blackwell. “I get to be the first one to walk across the field after the snowfall and put my footprint down.”

“And it has been so fun working on the development of the script with Bev (Cooper). I’ve been working with her for almost five years on the development of the play. Bringing it to life is really exciting. I intimately know the script, but I’m still finding stuff (to tweak) all the time in rehearsal, which is the magic of rehearsal.”

Admitting to always wanting “to do something” on the Spanish Civil War, Blackwell says Jim Watts: Girl Reporter checks that box and more.

“These were people from all over Canada who had a fire in their belly try to stop the rise of fascism in Spain and, in a larger context, Europe. They were outraged that the democratically elected government had been deposed. Somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 (Canadians) went to Spain.”

“Our prime minister (William Lyon Mackenzie King) made it illegal for them to go, so they had to go across on ocean liners, pretending to be just travelling, to Paris or London to get their papers and then take buses to the border of Spain where, at night, they had to walk across the Pyrenees (mountain range). It was freezing and they were frozen. Some of them didn’t make it — more than 600 Canadians died.”

As is very often the case with 4th Line productions, there’s a strong local connection in the form of Peterborough’s own Jim Higgins played by Thomas Fournier, who acted in 4th Line Theatre’s The Cavan Blazers and The Great Shadow.

Blackwell says the union organizer for United Steelworkers was a widower who raised five children in Peterborough on his own. He fought with the battalion during the Spanish Civil War.

During a battle, Higgins jumped into a river to save a wounded Spanish child. That child, Manual Alvarez, later moved to Canada and recorded his memories of his search for Higgins in the book The Tall Soldier.

In 2018, Higgins daughter published his memoirs — an account that Cooper discovered after she had written the play. She subsequently added him as a character.

As for Ryerson’s portrayal of Jim Watts, Blackwell can’t say enough.

“This play is a hero’s journey kind of story and she is the hero,” she says. “She is not a prima donna, although in some ways she would have every right to be. She’s a hard worker and she understands space intrinsically. She really is a director’s dream: smart, playful, willing to try things.”

For her part, Ryerson is grateful for the opportunity to make her 4th Line Theatre debut, with much of her enthusiasm rooted in theatre founder Robert Winslow having “opened up his home for us to come and work and play and enjoy being here.”

“What’s so special about this place is they share stories that are often reflective of this place and of people who have spent their lives here. It’s a beautiful tribute when people get to hear things on stage that they are familiar with.”

The play itself, says Ryerson, “is not complete until there’s an audience.”

“That’s the last ingredient,” Ryerson points out. “The audience is part of the equation, part of the energy that happens. You can rehearse and get it to the place it needs to be ready, but there’s that final piece of the puzzle that needs to be added.”

And what would Jim Watts think of her portrayal?

“I feel Jim was a person who was always looking for more. I’m sure she would say ‘Give me more. You can do better. Keep going.’ But would say so lovingly.”

VIDEO: “Jim Watts: Girl Reporter” Trailer

Sponsored by Pyle Wealth Advisory – CIBC Private Wealth Wood Gundy and Alf Curtis Home Improvements Inc., Jim Watts: Girl Reporter also stars Anita La Selva (also serving as intern director, choreographer, and dialect coach), Mikayla Stoodley, and Robert Winslow among the close to 30 cast members.

Behind the scenes, musical direction is by Justin Hiscox, costume design is by Korin Cormier, set design is by Michelle Chesser, and fight direction is by Edward Belanger.

Performance dates are August 1 to 3, August 6 to 10, August 13 to 17 and August 20 to 24 with curtain at 6 p.m., with preview nights July 30 and 31. Tickets are $50 ($45 for children and youth ages five to 16), with $38 tickets available for preview nights.

Tickets can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445 or toll-free at 800-814-0055, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, or in person at at 4th Line Theatre’s box office at 9 Tupper Street in Millbrook (hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays).

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of 4th Line Theatre’s 32nd season.