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 rockabilly guitarist and singer Nicholas Campbell’s ‘kitchen party’ show at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre, the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s season-ending staging of Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, a tribute to Frank Valli and The Four Seasons at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, Mark Whelan’s reminiscing of his youth in Dublin at Bobcayeon’s Lakeview Arts Barn, Peterborough New Stages’ reading of Love, Loss And What I Wore at Peterborough’s Market Hall, Decades Of Bond’s homage to the film franchise’s iconic music at Peterborough’s Showplace, and the debut production of Trent Valley Archives Theatre also at Market Hall.

Rockabilly music at the centre of ‘kitchen party’ fun in Port Hope

After a hectic six weeks on the road promoting his new album, one would expect Peterborough rockabilly singer and guitarist Nicholas Campbell to take a load off for a bit.

Alas, just as there’s no rest for the weary, there’s no holding back the young and energetic. So it is that the 19 year old, still riding high the early March release of Gonna Have A Ball Tonight!, will front The Two Metre Cheaters May 3 in the cozy Sculthorpe Theatre at Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show cost $30 ($20 for those under 30) and are available online at capitoltheatre.com.

With the show billed as a ‘kitchen party’ event, Campbell is the right guy for the right place. Backed by Rob Foreman on stand-up bass and Matt Greco on drums, he’ll bring more than enough energy to rattle the walls of the historic theatre, and no doubt stir a few of the lingering ghosts, as he does great service to the hybrid country/rhythm and blues sound that came to prominence in the 1950s and has seen several iterations since.

Don’t associate Campbell’s young age with inexperience. He first picked up a guitar at age 10 and hasn’t put it down since. The new album is his second with Foreman and Greco and, just last year, he was a co-recipient of the Peterborough Folk Festival’s prestigious Emerging Artist Award. He knows what he’s doing and, better still, loves doing it.

Iris takes us on her childhood journey at the Guild Hall in Peterborough

As the 2023-24 season of the Peterborough Theatre Guild winds down, one can’s help but ask ‘What if?’ — as in ‘What if a small group of theatre enthusiasts didn’t purchase the former St. Luke’s Anglican Church building after it was gutted by fire in 1959?’

Well, one thing for sure, we wouldn’t be telling you here about the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s final production of the season set to open May 3, followed by nine stagings until May 18.

Written by multi-awarded Canadian playwright Morris Panych and billed as “a curious comedy,” Girl in the Goldfish Bowl is set in the B.C. ocean side fishery town of Steveston where Iris (Lindsay Wilson) takes us back to her 12-year-old self and what she describe “the last few days of her childhood.”

Preoccupied with the impending Cuban Missile crisis and the obvious strain between her parents (Nancy Towns and Peter Dolinski), Iris is convinced that the death of her goldfish Amahl, must have brought on these troubles. After finding a mysterious man (Stew Granger) washed up on the beach and bringing him home, Iris becomes convinced she knows who he really is, and that he can restore what has been broken with the magic of his presence.

Also starring Lisa Devan as Iris’ feisty godmother, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl is in the very capable directing hands of Kim Blackwell, the 30-year managing artistic director of Millbrook’s 4th Line Theatre for which she has brought 28 plays to the Winslow Farm, 15 of those world premieres. This is a homecoming of sorts for Blackwell — she cut her creative teeth at the Guild’s Rogers Street venue as a child via workshops and as a regular play attendee with her parents. Yes, what if indeed.

Girl in the Goldfish Bowl runs May 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18 and 18 at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinee performances May 5 and 12. Tickets are $30 ($27 for seniors and $20 for students) and are available online at www.peterboroughtheatreguild.com.

Don’t cry, big girls: The Four Seasons’ sound is still very fresh

VIDEO: Jersey Nights promo

Yes, yes, The Beatles dominated the pop music charts and radio airwaves from the early 1960s through to their 1970 break-up, but when it came to having a distinctive sound, few acts, if any rivalled Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

On May 4 at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, Jersey Nights celebrates the music of the famed quartet. Presented by the Beaches International Jazz Festival, tickets to the 8 p.m. show cost $57 at www.flatoacademytheatre.com.

Born in New Jersey, Francesco Stephen Castelluccio was seven years old when his mother took him to the Big Apple to see Frank Sinatra at the Paramount Theater. It was then and there that he decided to become a singer, later taking for his stage name the surname of his favourite singer, ‘Texas’ Jean Valli.

In 1960, The Four Seasons became a thing and the hits just kept on coming thereafter, with Valli’s powerful falsetto voice putting the stamp on signature songs such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Rag Doll” and “Sherry.” In the 1970s, as a solo artist, Valli didn’t take his foot off the gas, bringing us “My Eyes Adored You” and “Grease.” In 1990, The Four Seasons’ original members were inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A return to 1970s Dublin with Globus Theatre’s Mark Whelan

There’s something about the stories and songs of the ‘old country’ that never fails to bring together those who want to experience life as their descendants lived it.

Witness, for example, the always-sold-out popularity of Foley’s Irish Pub, a grand celebration of all things Ireland held each March at Showplace.

Now, as a prelude its jam-packed summer 2024 season, Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre is bringing us Raised On Songs And Stories: An Evening with Mark Whelan from ay 10 to 12 at its Lakeview Arts Barn venue.

Co-created by Whelan and Globus artistic director Sarah Quick, this intimate cabaret-style show sees Whelan, via shared stories and songs, take his audience on a nostalgic journey through his formative years as a boy in 1970s Dublin.

Originally from Dublin and a graduate of the Irish College of Music, Whelan is an accomplished film, television, and stage actor, the latter bring him acclaim as a Globus audience favourite, with his previous appearances at the Lakeview Arts Barn including Stones In His Pockets, Sunshine Express, and last year’s Tip Of The Iceberg.

This show promises to be a lot of fun, with laughter and tears coming together for those who body is here in Canada but whose ancestral heart is across the pond.

Dinner performances are May 10 and 11 at 6 p.m., with a noon lunch performance on Mother’s Day (May 12). Tickets at $100 each include your meal and, of course, the main event. For tickets, visit www.globustheatre.com or call the box office at 705-738-2037 (toll free at 1-800-304-7897).

All-female cast brings “Love, Loss And What I Wore” to Market Hall

In a world brimming with so much uncertainty, it’s very refreshing to stumble upon something that is a given, like the sure-bet success of any creative endeavour that actor, director and producer Linda Kash is involved in.

As director of New Stages Theatre’s staged readings on May 11 and 12 staged of Love, Loss And What I Wore at Peterborough’s Market Hall, Kash is overseeing a superb all-female cast comprised of her good pal Megan Murphy joined by fellow accomplished Canadian actresses Jenni Burke, Jane Luk, Maria Del Mar, and Kinley Mochrie.

Based on the book of the same name by Irene Beckerman, the play was written by rom-com screenwriters and sisters Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle) and Delia Ephron (You’ve Got Mail). The script is a collection of monologues that encapsulate the female experience through stories about wardrobes worn during milestones of life. Their stories explore relationships, motherhood, and childhood through poignant and quite funny moments.

“On Mother’s Day, it’s good to have a bunch of women together in a room supporting each other,” Kash earlier told kawarthaNOW. Indeed it is.

A fundraiser for Camp Kerry, Canada’s first family bereavement retreat program, evening performances are May 11, 7 p.m. and and 2 p.m. on May 12 (Mother’s Day). General admission tickets are $35 ($18 for students, arts workers, and those who are underemployed) and are available in person at the Market Hall box office (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough), by phone at 705-775-1503, or online at markethall.org.

Bond … James Bond: Film franchise’s iconic music delivered in a big way

VIDEO: Decades of Bond promo video

Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you’ve seen, at one time or another, a James Bond film. At the very least, you’ve heard any one of the many iconic songs featured as the opening theme of each film of the Agent 007 action movie series that began with Sean Connery starring in Dr. No in 1962 and continues to this day.

From Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” to Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live And Let Die” to Adele’s “Skyfall,” the film franchise has put a definitive stamp on pop music culture, each associated song pretty much recognizable from the first note struck.

On May 14 at Showplace, Decades Of Bond, featuring a 13-piece band complete with horns and strings, and acclaimed singers Rebecca Noelle and Michael Hanna Sr., will pay due tribute to James Bond film songs. It’s a pretty safe bet their audience, like a Bond martini, won’t be left shaken, not stirred — but rather the other way around.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performance cost $40 and are available online at www.showplace.org.

Trent Valley Archives Theatre makes its debut at Market Hall

Now we return to Ireland for a much different tale than those related by the aforementioned Mark Whelan.

As its inaugural stage offering, newly minted Trent Valley Archives Theatre is staging Tide Of Hope on May 15 and 16 at Peterborough’s Market Hall.

With a mission to bring regional history to life on stage while raising funds for Trent Valley Archives, the company’s first production, written by Peterborough playwright Ed Schroeter and directed by Gerry McBride, tells the story of David Nagle, an Irish land agent and rent collector forced to flee to Upper Canada in 1825 when Irish rebels fighting against English tyranny brand him a traitor.

The timing of this production — a fundraiser for Trent Valley Archives — is by design, coinciding with the bicentennial of the Peter Robinson immigration that saw the 19th-century Upper Canada politician administer the passage and settlement of more than 2,500 poor Catholic families from Ireland to what is now eastern Ontario.

Good on co-producers Greg and Mary Conchelos et al for taking Trent Valley Archives’ ongoing efforts to preserve and highlight our local history to the next level.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performances of Tide Of Hope, which cost $36 for assigned cabaret seating and $26 for general admission seating, are available in person at the Market Hall box office (140 Charlotte St, Peterborough), by phone at 705-775-1503, or online at tickets.markethall.org/tide24.

Encore

• One can’t help but feel good for Peterborough filmmaker Rob Viscardis. On May 2 and 3, My Dad’s Tapes, which he wrote, produced and edited, has its premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival. That’s a pretty big deal. Fingers crossed that the poignant film, which chronicles a son’s search for answers in the wake of his father’s suicide, will find its way to Peterborough’s ReFrame Film Festival in early 2025 so we locals can check it out too.
• With two shows confirmed — Metric on July 17 and Down With Webster on July 31 — Peterborough Musicfest is planning to reveal most of the rest of its 2024 summer music festival on May 14 at The Silver Bean Café in Millennium Park. The annual reveal always creates a great buzz as many look ahead to another summer of free concerts at Del Crary Park. Watch kawarthaNOW for updates as new shows are added to the lineup mix.
• As an excellent drummer who is seemingly never out of work, Jackson Delta alum Al Black is no different than any of us in that he likes to be paid for his services. That said, his continued organizing and emceeing of the weekly Sunday afternoon Blues Jam at Jethro’s Bar + Stage on Hunter Street West in Peterborough is a labour of love in every way. The joy he derives from providing a stage and audience for up-and-coming musicians is clearly evident. The result is a pretty cool room with a great vibe. Check it out.

Since its founding in 2003, Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre has been a staple of professional theatre in the Kawarthas. For those who have found their calling onstage, those who have let loose in a creative workshop, and those who have sat back laughing — or crying — in the audience, Globus Theatre has proved itself to be essential in the community.

There couldn’t be better evidence of that than over the past two years since the theatre company launched its “Raising the Barn” capital campaign to purchase the Lakeview Arts Barn and sustain its future in the place it has called home since 2006.

To date, the community has donated $1.6 million of Globus Theatre’s $2.525 million goal to acquire the distinctive building where the theatre company stages its productions and to make some much-needed repairs and updates to ensure the building’s longevity.

“Coming out of the pandemic and then looking ahead, having just celebrated our 20th year, we’ve been thinking, ‘How do we make sure that we’re still around and still doing this in 20 years, 40 years, 60 years’ time?” says Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic director Sarah Quick. “We’re taking it to the next level and trying to build something for the future.”

Along with operating Globus Theatre, Quick and her co-founder husband James Barrett (who is the theatre company’s artistic producer) have been running the Lakeview Arts Barn — a former cattle barn transformed into a comfortable and contemporary 150-seat theatre with an attached restaurant — as a commercial venue by hosting weddings, conferences, and other gatherings so that the theatre company could also stage its productions in the building.

As a registered charitable organization, Globus Theatre was able to carry on during the pandemic by staging outdoor and online productions and by raising funds, most notably through the $200,000 Save Our Stage campaign in 2020. But, as a commercial operation dependent on revenue from social gatherings, the Lakeview Arts Barn did not fare so well.

“James and I put all our capacity and passion into saving Globus and making sure that Globus got through the pandemic, but the Lakeview Arts Barn was completely changed in that,” says Quick.

Faced with rising debt from remortgaging the building, the couple considered selling the Lakeview Arts Barn to a new owner, hopeful a buyer would let Globus Theatre to rent the space. However, after consulting with other theatre companies, industry experts, and supporters, they decided instead to launch the Raising the Barn capital campaign to raise enough funds to pay off the mortgages, own the building outright, and complete some repairs.

When the couple let donors know about the capital campaign, longtime Globus patrons and arts supporters John and Sally Eaton — who had already matched donations in the Save Our Stage campaign up to $100,000 through their John C. and Sally Horsfall Eaton Foundation — pledged an astounding $1 million towards the campaign. After announcing the Eaton’s generous pledge at a donor meeting, Quick and Barrett saw even more support roll in from the community.

“There were donations anywhere from $20 to $100,000, and from all from people that came to shows who really fully understand the heartbeat of this place and why it’s important to the community,” says Quick. “That’s when it became this whole team of people going ‘We are now Team Globus, we’re going to move forward together and leave this legacy for the next generation’ and that is so cool for us.”

Already evident from the previous Save Our Stage campaign, the immediate support for the Raising the Barn capital campaign once again showed just how much the community would rally around Globus Theatre and the Lakeview Arts Barn.

“The beauty of the Lakeview Arts Barn is that it’s in the middle of this rural community and it’s so welcoming,” Quick points out. “It’s not pretentious — it screams ‘Come on in!’. This is where people have gotten married, they’ve met their significant others, they’ve had dances. This is just a welcoming little community hub.”

Quick adds that having a debt-free permanent home will help future generations of performers through the Globus Theatre School of Dramatic Arts (SODA), which not only supplies young people with the skills and tools to develop their stage presence, but also allows them to envision a professional career in the performing arts.

“I love the idea that there are fantastic stages in rural areas all around Ontario where people can hone their craft and make a living from it,” says Quick. “This increases their confidence and makes them understand that a career in the arts is a viable thing in Canada. If they can see a professional theatre on their doorstep which they could transition into, I think that’s important.”

Globus Theatre’s general manager Rebecca Anne Bloom is a case in point, as a SODA faculty member and professional actress who has worked in many positions at Globus Theatre since she was a teenager.

“She is a professional artist in her own rural community, and I think that’s huge,” says Quick, noting that the impact of rural theatre extends beyond the personal growth into economic development as well.

“It makes for a better place to live. If you’re choosing where to move your family, you’re looking at what there is for entertainment, and what is there for your kids to do. It’s important for all of the larger companies that are expanding or that are moving here, because they need people to work for those companies and you attract workers by being in a vibrant community.”

As of last summer, Globus Theatre had raised $1.5 million of its original $2 million goal, before hiring Peterborough’s The Dennis Group to assist with relaunching the campaign with an updated goal of $2.525 million. The Dennis Group was instrumental in developing a volunteer campaign cabinet comprised of a range of community members, some who visit theatres all over the world and know how vibrant Globus Theatre is, and others who grew up in its orbit.

“Carle Poole grew up in Bobcaygeon, has always been a performer, and was in our panto ten years ago,” says Quick, providing an example. “Her young daughter was just in the panto this year for the first time, so she’s wanting it to be around for the next generation.”

The expanded $2.525 million fundraising goal will provide not only the funds needed to pay off the mortgages on the Lakeview Arts Barn, but to ensure the building’s longevity by funding roof repairs, the installation of a generator and energy-efficient LED lighting, and the hiring of someone to focus on the hospitality side of the business.

“We’re super proud of what we’ve done so far but we would be foolish to think there’s no improvements to be made,” says Quick. “This would bump it up a little bit so the Lakeview Arts Barn is really something that the community can be proud of. We have people that travel from across the province to see shows that we’re doing, so we want to make sure that the venue reflects that.”

Quick and Barrett are also considering that time when they are no longer at the helm of the theatre company and must pass on the reins to someone else.

“When you build up something like this that has its core values, I think the community likes that and don’t want massive changes to take place when we’re not here,” Quick says, noting that paying actors and staff an industry standard is a top priority for Globus Theatre. “I would love to be able to mentor an associate artistic director and talk them through the vision of the company, why it exists, and why certain things are very important to keep doing.”

With these goals in mind and aiming to meet the $2.525 million fundraising goal by the end of 2024 or early 2025, Quick and Barrett are hopeful when it comes to the growth of Globus Theatre in the future.

“What we have created here and the impact that it has on the community shouldn’t go away,” Quick says. “It deserves to be here and I’m very proud of where we’ve gotten it to. I think it is a duty to see it through to the next chapter.”

To learn more about the Raising the Barn capital campaign, visit globustheatre.com/raising-the-barn-capital-campaign.

To donate to Globus Theatre, visit globustheatre.com/donate-1.

For more information about Globus Theatre’s 2024 season of 13 productions — including 10 mainstage shows and three special events — and to purchase tickets, visit globustheatre.com/globus-current-season.