Lynn Zimmer (centre) with the board of directors of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton. The executive director announced her upcoming retirement at the organization's annual general meeting on June 20, 2019. Zimmer has been at the helm of the women's organization for the past 35 years. (Photo courtesy of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton)
After being the well-known face of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton for the past 35 years, Lynn Zimmer is retiring as executive director of the organization that supports local women facing violence, poverty, and oppression.
News of Zimmer’s upcoming retirement, effective November 30th, was shared at YWCA Peterborough Haliburton’s annual general meeting on Thursday night (June 20).
“It is with mixed emotions that the board of directors of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton accepted the retirement announcement of our beloved executive director Lynn Zimmer,” says YWCA board president Neera Jeyabalan. “Lynn has been the face of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton for 35 years and her departure will be a big adjustment for all of us.”
“During her years as the thoughtful and courageous leader of our YWCA, thousands of women and children fleeing violence and abuse have been given a safe space to find their way towards a better future. Her legacy with our organization will be everlasting and her achievements will be remembered with great honour and love.”
“We are thrilled for Lynn as she enters this new chapter of her life and we are certain, that even in retirement, she will continue to be remarkable and continue to achieve remarkable feats, in ways only Lynn can.”
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Zimmer has been working to prevent violence and promote equity for women for almost 46 years.
The Kitchener native began her work career in 1969 as a reporter for the Peterborough Examiner’s “women’s page” which, at the time, was more about brides and social events. In her early twenties, Zimmer soon discovered and embraced feminism, and began writing about issues of real importance to women.
Her next move was to Toronto, where she tried law school for a year before dropping out (one professor would regale the primarily male students with stories of “funny” cases of sexual assault). With no immediate prospects for work, she began volunteering for Women’s Place, an organization for women.
The organization determined there was a demand for a temporary place for economically disadvantaged women (often with their children) who wanted to escape from unhappy marriages. Zimmer posted a note on the wall of Women’s Place, proposing a meeting to discuss the creation of a women’s crisis shelter. Eleven women came together to open Interval House in 1973.
Lynn Zimmer (second from right) with Joice Guspie, Darlene Lawson, Billie Stone, and Martha Ireland, the original founders of Toronto’s Interval House, Canada’ first crisis shelter for women fleeing domestic violence. The shelter was established in 1973. (Photo: Chris Young / Canadian Press)
After opening Interval House, the founders soon realized domestic violence was the real reason women were fleeing their marriages, with every woman entering the shelter reporting both physical and emotional abuse. Interval House not only became Canada’s first shelter for abused women, but laid the foundation for bringing the issue of violence against women to the attention of both government and the public. By 1987, there were 264 shelters in Canada for women fleeing domestic violence.
While Zimmer and her husband moved to Peterborough in 1981, she continued to commute to her job in Toronto. Three years later, after the Peterborough YWCA changed its mandate to focus on women fleeing violence and opened the Crossroads women’s shelters, Zimmer was hired as executive director.
Since then, Zimmer has been at the helm of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton, strengthening and expanding the organization’s support for local women and their children.
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Today, the organization operates the Crossroads Shelter for women and children fleeing abuse, crisis support and outreach services, Family Court Support, START (Support Team for Abuse Response Today), Nourish, Homeward Bound, GirlSpace/BoySpace, Education Awards for abuse survivors, Centennial Crescent second stage housing community, and a crisis ‘safe space’ called HERS in Haliburton County.
Zimmer holds a bachelor of arts in communication arts from the Université de Montréal (Loyola College). In 2002, she received a master’s in management for the voluntary sector from McGill University.
As she approached her 35th anniversary as executive director, Zimmer decided it was time to move on.
“It feels like this is a good time to move forward into the next phase of my life, even though I still can’t quite imagine how it will feel not to walk in the door of the YWCA every morning,” Zimmer says.
“It’s been an incredible journey over the past 45-plus years, to be a part of creating the violence against women movement, being a part of opening Canada’s first-ever women’s shelter in Toronto, and looking at the extensive services our YWCA in Peterborough and Haliburton provides to women and children today, and all of the many steps we took along the way.”
The YWCA Peterborough Haliburton board of directors plans to begin a recruitment process later this summer for a new executive director.
Montreal alt-folk singer-songwriter Roch Albert performs at the Black Horse in downtown Peterborough on Wednesday, June 26th. (Photo: Roch Albert / Facebook)
Every Thursday, we publish live music and performance events at pubs and clubs in Peterborough and The Kawarthas based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, June 20 to Wednesday, June 26.
If you’re a pub or club owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our Nightlife Editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com.
Friday, June 28 7-10pm - Strange, w/ Dirty Rick and Black Knight Satellite
The Venue
286 George Street North, Peterborough
(705) 876-0008
Coming Soon
Friday, June 28 9pm - Unstoppable Pride 2SLGBTQQIA Dance Party & Drag Show ft Dixie Q, Madge Enthat, Janis from Accounting, Deagan Defy, Betty Baker, Boho Fab, Celeste Teal, Hedwig, Jaime Cox, Ms. Peppers, Sarah Rudnicki, Evangeline Gentle, Mary-Kate Edwards & more ($10, advance tickets at www.eventbrite.ca/e/unstoppable-pride-tickets-63525369089)
Wednesday, August 7 7-10pm - Buckcherry w/ Joyous Wolf, Ian K. & more ($34.99 - $39.99 on sale Fri Apr 5 at 10am at www.ticketscene.ca/events/23864/)
Wild Blue Yonder Pub at Elmhirst's Resort
1045 Settlers Line, Keene
(705) 295-4591
Tuesday, June 25
6:30-8:30pm - Tuned Up Tuesdays ft Fred Stillman & Keene Country (no cover)
Coming Soon
Tuesday, July 2 6:30-8:30pm - Tuned Up Tuesdays ft Charlie Earle & Rob Phillips (no cover)
Whitepath Consulting and Counselling Services owner Peggy Shaughnessy (left) during a June 12th public meeting on Peterborough's opioid crisis at the Lions' Community Centre in Peterborough. As a frontline expert in drug overdose, treatment, and counselling, Shaughnessy was disappointed that she wasn't initally invited to participate on the panel for the July 11th 'Opioid Summit' being hosted by Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien and Selwyn Deputy Mayor Sherry Senis. Following negative reaction from some members of the community, Mayor Therrien has now invited Shaughnessy to participate. Peterborough Deputy Police Chief Tim Farquharson (right) is already participating on the July 11th panel, which PARN executive director Kim Dolan (centre) will be moderating. (Photo: Paul Rellinger / kawarthaNOW)
In the aftermath of this week’s City Hall announcement of who will sit on the panel at a July 11th community forum on the ongoing opioid overdose crisis in Peterborough, it was who wasn’t on that list that drew the most response.
Co-hosted by Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien and Selwyn Deputy Mayor Sherry Senis, panel members announced for the 6 p.m. forum at Market Hall are Peterborough Medical Officer of Health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, Peterborough Deputy Police Chief Tim Farquharson, Peterborough county-city paramedic Dan Farrow, and residents Alex Bierk and Sally Carson, both of whom have suffered personal loss as a result of opioid overdoses.
The forum comes during a year that has seen, at last count, 19 deaths in the city resulting from opioid overdoses — more than the total for all of 2018. Over the course of just one weekend in early June, there were 13 opioid-related overdoses with two of those overdoses resulting in death.
Immediately following the announcement of the panel, the omission of a Peterborough woman who for years has been on the front lines of drug overdose, treatment, and counselling — locally and across Canada — drew criticism on social media. As well, Mayor Therrien’s office received several emails and phone calls.
“In capital letters, I’m not surprised but I am disappointed,” says Peggy Shaughnessy, the owner of Peterborough-based Whitepath Consulting and Counselling Services whose Redpath program addresses the underlying issues around drug addiction.
“Supposedly the whole point of this summit is to try to find solutions. If you look at the people chosen to sit on the panel, they’re the same people the Selwyn deputy mayor had on two separate committees. If those people were able to find solutions, they wouldn’t need a summit now. They continue to bring the same things to the table that haven’t worked for 20 years.”
“I’ve walked the walk. I’ve developed programs by collecting stories from across the country by working with not just elders and First Nations communities but psychologists and corrections officials. I think I may have a piece of the solution. I’m not saying I have the solution, but I do have a piece of the puzzle no else has.”
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On Thursday morning (June 20), Mayor Therrien confirmed that Shaughnessy has now been invited, by an email sent to her Wednesday afternoon, to be on the panel.
“There has been some confusion around this,” Mayor Therrien tells kawarthaNOW. “I apologized to Peggy for that confusion.”
“I know there was some concern from what came out in the press release — that there wasn’t enough representation of frontline harm reduction workers — so we’ve reached out to a few people. Peggy is certainly included. I haven’t heard back from her yet but I’m hoping to follow up today (June 20).”
The Mayor’s email, which Shaughnessy has shared with kawarthaNOW, also invites Shaughnessy to attend a logistics meeting next week with PARN executive director Kim Dolan, who will be moderating the July 11th panel. Along with Shaughnessy and Deputy Police Chief Farquharson, Dolan was one of the panel members at a June 12th public meeting on the opioid crisis hosted by Ashburnham Ward councillors Keith Riel and Gary Baldwin.
With the Mayor’s apology and invitation now in hand, Shaughnessy says she is considering the offer to participate on the July 11th panel. While she remains disappointed with the late invitation, she says she wants to focus on the “best result to heal the community”.
“I’m so overwhelmed by the phone calls and emails that I’m getting from people wondering what they’re supposed to do with their children,” she points out. “I just came from a house where I was doing an intervention to keep people alive.”
“I have eight grandchildren. I’m not going to bury a grandchild. I’m just starting a movement that this city has never seen before and they better step aside. I’m pulling together every advocate that everyone hates into one big group. They’ll be at that July 11 meeting. This meeting better not be something where (Peterborough MP) Maryam Monsef comes out of the blue with a cheque for a consumption site. We may need a consumption site, but we need way more than that.”
Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien and Selwyn Deputy Mayor Sherry Senis at Peterborough City Hall on June 18, 2019 announcing the panellists for the upcoming forum on Peterborough’s opioid crisis, to be held at the Market Hall in downtown Peterborough on July 11, 2019. (Photo: @MayorPtbo / Twitter)
One person who has invited Shaughnessy’s input from the get-go is Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith. He reached out this week to a number of organizations, Whitepath among them, with the intent of forming a working committee that will lead to the establishment of a consumption and treatment centre in the city.
“Doug Ford is probably the least-liked premier we’ve ever had but I think Dave Smith still has a conscience … he knows people here are dying,” says Shaughnessy.
“I think his government believes if you’re going to have a consumption site, you better have a treatment section. I have to agree with that. I think we need a whole group of services to come together and start working together rather than building empires.”
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While he wasn’t part of the panel, MPP Smith’s attendance and input at the June 12th public meeting on the opioid crisis impressed and encouraged Shaughnessy.
“When he stood up and said he’s going to try to do something, I don’t think he would have done that if he didn’t meant it. I met with him for probably two hours yesterday (June 18). I’ve been meeting many people trying to pull together not just advocacy groups but business people too. We have several people and a lot of things going on in the background. There are no services here for people to go to.”
Shaughnessy is also impressed with Deputy Police Chief Farquharson, who was one of her co-panellists at the June 12th gathering.
“He cares about our community more than anybody; our city is so lucky to have him,” says Shaughnessy.
The delay in the invitation for Shaughnessy’s participation on the July 11th panel aside, both her and Mayor Therrien are in agreement about one thing: the time for more action and less talking around solutions to curbing the opioid crisis is now.
“You can call it an epidemic, you can call it whatever you want, but throw the semantics out the window … let’s get to the table and say ‘Holy shit, we better act at midnight tonight,” urges Shaughnessy.
“This isn’t about just getting a handle on the social problems we’re faced with today. We’ve got to create a whole new system; a system that isn’t always relying on government for solutions. They (politicians) have to be reminded that we have experts in our city that can solve this problem.”
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For her part, Mayor Therrien agrees that Peterborough needs a treatment solution.
“People are dying and we need to be getting stuff done now,” she says. “I’m hoping out of the summit that we get some concrete solutions and some concrete commitments from senior levels of government to step up and help fund, ideally, a comprehensive detox centre, but also raise awareness and break down stigmas.”
“People have a stereotype of people with substance abuse. I know people who have lost children. They are your neighbours. They are your co-workers. A lot of the time it’s because they didn’t know where to go, and there was a stigma around admitting they have an opioid or substance abuse issue. We have to get past that.”
Doors to the Thursday, July 11th forum at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre open at 6 p.m., with the panel discussion beginning at 6:30 p.m. Those interested in attending are encouraged to register in advance as there is limited seating available. Register online through Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.ca/e/opioid-summit-tickets-63434450148.
Port Hope Rotary Club president Bob Wallace presents a mock-up of the Avenue of Heroes banners at the Memorial Park cenotaph on June 19, 2019. The banners will be installed along streets in downtown Port Hope this fall. Pictured on the mock-up is a photo of George Narraway, a World War II veteran and the late father of Kevin Narraway, a manager in Port Hope's marketing and tourism department, which is leading the banner design. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW.com)
At the Memorial Park cenotaph on Wednesday morning (June 19), the municipality of Port Hope announced the new “Avenue of Heroes” banner program to honour local veterans.
Joining many communities across Canada that have adopted similar “Lest We Forget” banner campaigns, Port Hope’s banner program came to fruition through the dedication and co-operation of several community organizations.
The municipality, Port Hope Mayor Bob Sanderson and city council, the Heritage Business Improvement Area (HBIA), and a creative marketing team led by Port Hope’s marketing manager Kevin Narraway, have all given the banner program their full support.
“Working in partnership with special interest groups in the community has made this program accessible to everyone,” said Mayor Sanderson. “It’s exactly the kind of collaboration that makes Port Hope so extraordinary.”
The Rotary of Club of Port Hope and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30 were instrumental in bringing the project to the streets of downtown Port Hope.
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“When the Rotary Club of Port Hope approached us to be part of the Avenue of Heroes banner program, it was a great opportunity for us to promote our mandate, Lest We Forget,” said legion president Andre Labrosse.
Following neighbouring Cobourg’s Armistice 18 initiative last fall, Port Hope joins the broader Northumberland community in distinctly recognizing and remembering its local war heroes.
Andre Labrosse, president of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30, addresses the crowd at the announcement of the Avenue of Heroes banner program at the Memorial Park cenotaph on June 19, 2019. The Rotary of Club of Port Hope and the legion were instrumental in bringing the project to the streets of downtown Port Hope. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW.com)
According to Rotary Club president Bob Wallace, it all began when a Port Hope Rotarian noticed a similar banner program in the small Ontario community of Uxbridge and brought the idea to Port Hope.
“This year there will be 29 banners that will go up on brackets for existing light standards along Mill street and along Lent Lane,” Wallace said. “They will go up around October 15th and they will stay up until Remembrance Day. They will be taken down and erected every year thereafter.”
The Rotary Club first took their idea directly to legion members, where it was very well received and supported by the branch.
“This program directly aligns with our goal as a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to honour our veterans,” Labrosse said. “We are thrilled to be part of a project that will remind the community of all of the great contributions the men and women of Port Hope made for us and the freedoms we enjoy today.”
A mock-up of the design for the Avenue of Heroes banner. Each banner will include the veteran’s photograph, name, date of birth and date of death (if applicable), and service details. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW.com)
Each banner will include a veteran’s photograph, name, date of birth, service details, and date of death (if applicable).
From the ground, the details for each veteran will be large enough to read, reflect on, and photograph to share with others.
Under the supervision of marketing manager Kevin Narraway, Port Hope’s marketing and tourism department took the lead on designing the banner, a mock-up of which was displayed at the announcement of the program.
The mock-up features a photo of Narraway’s own father, George, who served during World War II.
“My father served in the Royal Canadian Navy,” Narraway said. “He was on the HMCS Giffard and he joined when he was just 17 years old — he lied about his age to get in. He served until the end of the war.”
As the photographs used for the banners will need to be large enough to be seen from the ground, image quality will be an important part of banner selection. Narraway has a high-resolution photograph of his father to use as a test.
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“We wanted to make sure we could actually blow a five-by-seven inch photo up to the size we would need for the banners,” Narraway added. “Essentially, (George Narraway) is our promo guy and he would have loved that.”
According to Narraway, the actual vetting process for who will be featured on the 29 banners that will go up this year will depend greatly on how many applications are received, and will rely heavily on the input of the Royal Canadian Legion.
“We’ve already received a lot of applications,” Narraway said. “It’s going to be a very successful program. However, we want to make sure that we don’t miss anybody that really should be recognized because they have received honours in the military. We really need the help and support of the legion to help us understand who these people were and which part of the military they served in.”
A few veterans were in attendance to see the mock-up of the banner, including Wilmer Gagnon, who moved to Port Hope in the late 1980s with his wife.
“I attend Armistice celebrations every year,” he said. “It’s important to remember.”
Now widowed, Gagnon attended the launch today on his own, but says his wife would also have appreciated the town’s efforts.
Vetern Wilmer Gagnon attended the announcement of the Avenue of Heroes banner program at the Memorial Park cenotaph on June 19, 2019. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW.com)
The final banners are will officially be unveiled this October.
“This is an exciting new initiative for our community and we are proud to participate in what will be a wonderful, visual reminder of the sacrifices made by our war heroes,” Mayor Sanderson said.
Port Hope councillor Laurie Carr added that council is fully behind the ‘Avenue of Heroes’ banner program.
“Being a heritage town, it’s truly a wonderful addition to our historic downtown,” she said.
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The banner program is currently accepting applications on a first come, first served basis. If you know of a war veteran who should be recognized, application forms are available at the Port Hope Public Library, Town Hall, and the Visitor Centre (all of which are located on Queen Street), or at the Port Hope Community Hub and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30 locations. The application process is free of charge, and there is no cost to participate.
To qualify, each military service member must have a connection to Port Hope and they may either be currently active, retired from service, or deceased. Each application must be accompanied with a high resolution 5″x7″ portrait-style photo of the service member in uniform.
If you have any questions about image resolution, or eligibility, the team located at the Port Hope Visitor Centre (20 Queen Street, located inside of the Capitol Theatre building) can help. Applications should be dropped off in Port Hope at the Visitor Centre or the Legion Branch 30 location (29A Thomas Street).
A Grade 5 student from Monsignor O'Donahue Catholic Elementary School demonstrates her riding skills on the Bike Playground, while funders and partners of the Pedal Power program look on. (Photo: Karen Halley)
“Today, there are two brand new bike riders in the city of Peterborough,” announces Jaime Akiyama, co-ordinator of the Pedal Power program. She has just returned from St. Catherine Catholic Elementary School, where she was helping new riders find their balance on two wheels.
Each week, GreenUP provides a story related to the environment. This week’s story is by Lindsay Stroud, GreenUP Transportation & Urban Design Manager.
At schools across Peterborough, more than 200 Grade 5 students are taking part in Pedal Power this spring. Pedal Power is a five-session course that provides each student with over six hours of on-bike instruction in their schoolyard. In these sessions, students gain the skills and knowledge needed to navigate their community by bike — with an emphasis on becoming safer and more confident riders.
Though most students in Pedal Power have been riding for a few years, their comfort levels vary, and a few in each class are often hopping on a bike for the first time. For these students, there are big gains, but the program also allows instructors to meet all students where they are at; by the end of the course, 100 per cent of students show improvement in bike handling skills and knowledge.
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“Students always want us to teach them tricks, but Pedal Power is more than just developing bike handling skills,” Akiyama says. “It also opens doors for students to have options as they grow up and start to become independent travellers, which builds a base of knowledge and skill that will help them be safe, confident commuters.”
A 2015 survey of Pedal Power participants showed that local Grade 5 students report they have been riding a bike for five or more years, with nearly 60 per cent reporting they ride weekly. However, fewer than 12 per cent say they have ever received any formal cycling safety training.
This isn’t surprising. Before Pedal Power, formal bike training opportunities for youth in Peterborough were less immersive and accessible.
A group of students from St. Anne Catholic Elementary School have been participating in Pedal Power this spring, along with 200 more Peterborough students who are enrolled in the cycling skills program this year. (Photo: Jaime Akiyama)
Pedal Power was developed in 2013 by GreenUP and B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub and is one of the first in-school cycling education programs offered in Ontario. Being school-based, Pedal Power has the potential to reach all youth in our community, and its multiday format allows students to practice skills in a safe and familiar environment.
It is a unique, comprehensive training program that has been refined through its six years of delivery by dedicated and enthusiastic cycling instructors. In the program, students are able to practice new skills in a positive and safe environment created in their schoolyard. For many, this is also a chance to learn that biking to school and biking for transportation around the city is a viable option.
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We believe these experiences not only contribute to building a culture of cycling in our youth, but also help to normalize cycling so that it can be easily built into daily family routines.
Evidence from the United Kingdom, where school-based cycling education is more prevalent, suggests that cycling education for youth leads to increased cycling for the whole family.
We often hear the same from parents of Pedal Power students.
“My daughter and her friend needed to get their bikes to school for Pedal Power,” remarks a parent from St. Anne Catholic Elementary School. “So we planned out the trip, practised, and started riding the girls to school on Pedal Power days. Now, we regularly ride to school together.”
Another proud Pedal Power parent relayed that their daughter’s involvement and interest in the program led to the whole family renting bikes while on a trip to Ottawa. Furthermore, when they returned home, they took their bikes out from storage, tuned them up, and now the family regularly gets out to enjoy Peterborough’s trails together.
Grade 5 students from St. Anne Catholic Elementary School learn bike handling skills and rules of the road that will help them become safe and confident bike riders. (Photo: Jaime Akiyama)
Until now, Pedal Power has only reached about one quarter of Grade 5 students in Peterborough each year. Greenup and B!KE share the same dream of one day being able to provide all Grade 5 students in the city and county of Peterborough with Pedal Power training.
Wouldn’t you like to see how a generation of safe, confident, and inspired cyclists would transform our community?
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“For the last six years, B!KE has partnered with GreenUP to deliver Pedal Power,” explains B!KE executive director Tegan Moss. “Because we know that educating the next generation is an essential part of building a culture that chooses to use bicycles for transportation.”
“Inspiring young people to love bicycles, while teaching them the skills they need to ride a bike, is a part of our vision to empower people to travel by bike. B!KE is proud of the thousands of students who have completed the Pedal Power program and grateful to GreenUP for the leading role they have played in program delivery.”
Pedal Power is supported this year through the generosity of the City of Peterborough, Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, Wild Rock Outfitters, Fontaine Source for Sports, and the Peterborough Risk Watch Network.
If you’d like to learn more about the future of Pedal Power, please contact Jaime Akiyama, GreenUP’s co-ordinator of transportation and urban design programs, at 705-745-3238 or jaime.akiyama@greenup.on.ca.
Written by Beau Dixon, 4th Line Theatre's play "Bloom: A Rock 'n' Roll Fable" follows the lives of two small-town best friends Neph Burstill and Eli Tanner (Owen Stahn and Griffin Clark) from Assumption, Ontario, who share a lifelong love affair with rock 'n' roll music and eventually form a band called The Spruce Street Ramblers with singer-songwriter Tess Wilson (Kate Suhr). Directed by Kim Blackwell, the play runs Tuesdays to Saturdays in July at The Winslow Farm in Millbrook. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
4th Line Theatre presents Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable
When: Performances at 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays (July 2-6, July 9-13, July 16-20, July 23-27, 2019) with additional performance at 6 p.m. on July 22, 2019. Opening night Thursday, July 4, 2019. Where: The Winslow Farm (779 Zion Line, Millbrook) How much: $40 adults, $34 youth, $70 season subscription (adult), $60 season subscription (youth), $28 for preview nights (July 2 and 3, sold out)
Tickets available by calling 1-800-814-0055 or 705-932-4445, online www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca, emailing boxoffice@4thlinetheatre.on.ca, at in person at 4th Line Theatre’s box office (4 Tupper St., Millbrook) or at the Peterborough Museum and Archives (300 Hunter St. E., Peterborough).
More than 40 years since Detroit native Bob Seger declared rock ‘n’ roll never forgets, 4th Line Theatre will do its level best this summer to convince us we should never forget rock ‘n’ roll and, in particular, the influence it had on those who performed and those who joyfully gave it an ear.
Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable, written by singer, songwriter, actor, and playwright Beau Dixon, will be staged July 2nd to 27th at 4th Line’s picturesque Winslow Farm home near Millbrook.
Directed by Kim Blackwell — she’s marking her 25th year with Robert Winslow’s theatre company — the storyline follows two best friends from the town of Assumption, Ontario, who share a passion for rock ‘n’ roll music from their childhood years in the 1950s through to the mid 1970s — a journey punctuated by their connecting with singer-songwriter Tess Wilson to form The Spruce Street Ramblers.
While the play has live music at its foundation, it’s not a musical, notes Blackwell.
“Yes, there’s a ton of music in it but all of the music is in the context of the band and its rise to fame, and the music of the time in which they come up,” explains Blackwell, sitting in the 4th Line director’s chair for a remarkable 17th time.
“I was, and remain, thrilled by the story at the heart of the piece. The two young boys who are best friends and have a love of music, and the trajectory of them becoming almost the biggest band in Canada, and the things that happen and befall them along the way.”
“I love all the music industry insider business, and being inside those cars and vans on those long drives (while touring). He (Beau) captured the truth and authenticity of that.”
Admitting “It’s unusual that we (4th Line) hadn’t looked at a piece around Peterborough and its rich history of music before now,” Blackwell says the chronology of Bloom‘s development dates back to 2011 when Winslow watched the documentary The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese’s famed take on The Band’s final performance in 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.
During a media day event at 4th Line Theatre on June 19, 2019, Bianca Nucaro (right) shoots an Instagram story for kawarthaNOW featuring Kim Blackwell, managing artistic director of 4th Line Theatre and the director of “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable”. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
At the same time, indigenous performer Herbie Barnes was at 4th Line, contributing to Drew Hayden Taylor’s play The Berlin Blues.
“They (Winslow and Barnes) got talking about it (a play detailing Peterborough’s music history),” notes Blackwell.
“Then, about a year later, Beau was here. With his incredible music career and the fact that he was really emerging quite quickly on the Canadian theatre scene, he was the perfect guy to write it. All aligned in the 2011 to 2013 range. It was just a matter of everyone finding the time to write it and workshop it and get it on to the stage. Fast forward a few years and that’s where we’re at.”
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“Could another theatre artist slash musician have written it? Maybe. But Beau, because of his long association with this theatre, because he has roots in Peterborough going back a couple of decades, because he has toured across Canada with his solo career and with so many other musicians, he understands that side of it.”
“We would be hard pressed to find another writer who could tick all the boxes for a play like Bloom.”
“Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable” playwright Beau Dixon during a media day event at 4th Line Theatre on June 19, 2019. “Music is a language know to everyone. It’s a common language. It’s a common pulse. It’s the soundtrack of our lives.” (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
For his part, Dixon is hopeful his script “honours” past musicians who called, and still call, Peterborough and the Kawarthas home.
“The Spruce Street Ramblers, though fictitious, is a composite of all these bands from the past like The Sonics, The Continentals, and The Hangmen, and branches out to ask ‘What if they went beyond the Kawartha region? What would that look like?'” explains Dixon.
“What I bring to this is my experience of being on the road. Being on the road. you’re like a pirate. You’re a scavenger, a gypsy, a pilgrim, a pioneer. There are the intricacies and details of being a touring musician. Any good playwright can write a rock ‘n’ roll play, but what I think is special about this play is the unknown and its focus on the less-talked-about issues and the relationships.”
“I’ve always wanted to be in a show where I get to play as well as sing.” kawarthaNOW writer Paul Rellinger interviews Kate Suhr about her role as Tess Wilson in the world premiere of Beau Dixon’s play “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable” at 4th Line Theatre in July. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)In a flowing white dress with her golden locks draped over her shoulders, Peterborough born and raised singer-songwriter and actor Kate Suhr looks every bit the role she plays as Tess Wilson in Beau Dixon’s play “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable”. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
Performing the role of Tess is Peterborough born and raised singer-songwriter and actor Kate Suhr who, on this sunny June morning, looks every bit the role in a flowing white dress, her golden locks draped over her shoulders.
“Tess is a singer-songwriter that is fighting her way through, trying to find her voice and where she belongs,” assesses Suhr.
“There’s a lot of Kate Suhr in Tess … lots of co-relations between my life and Tess’ journey. I started out as a singer. There was nothing I wanted to do more than sing. It has always been my happy place. I always wanted to go to Toronto. How many women can connect with this story? A million, and tons of them are my friends.”
“When I went to Toronto that’s when I started writing my own songs. That’s when I started to network and figured out ‘Oh, I also have something to say…I have a voice.’ That’s Tess’ journey.”
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“I am so in love with these types of stories, the marriage of the two (music and theatre), because they tell an important story instrumentally as well as lyrically. It is really beautiful to marry the two. I’ve always wanted to be in a show where I get to play as well as sing.”
Also in the mix is Geoff Hewitson, who started performing with The Continentals in 1962 and has been singing, writing and acting ever since, this marking his fifth summer appearance with 4th Line. In Bloom, Hewitson is multitasking, playing the role of a CHUM Radio DJ as well as portraying legendary Peterborough band leader and music promoter extraordinaire Del Crary.
Owen Stahn, Kate Suhr, and Griffin Clark act out a scene from “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable” with Geoff Hewitson (who plays the role of a CHUM Radio DJ as well as portraying legendary Peterborough band leader and music promoter extraordinaire Del Crary) during a media day at 4th Line Theatre on June 19, 2019. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
“This (Bloom) is long overdue,” says Hewitson.
“It’s very realistic and believable because their (The Spruce Street Ramblers) story relates the types of things that happened to bands in the 1960s; the conflicts and all that that we went through. Plus the music is fantastic.”
“There are people in this play that I knew. There are places mentioned in this play that I went to. There are events in this play that I attended. I think a lot of people, especially of my generation, are going to have flashbacks just like I’ve been having.”
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Dixon agrees the nostalgic value of Bloom can’t be understated.
“What I hope stays with audiences is it reignites their love of music. Music is a language know to everyone. It’s a common language. It’s a common pulse. It’s the soundtrack of our lives.”
“I can’t stress enough how important this project has been for me; how passionate I feel about it; how good I feel about it. We’re in a good place. Kim and I are on the same page. All the beats and all the thoughts and all the themes that I wanted inserted are prevalent. Whether people like it or not, I can walk away knowing I followed my dream.”
Although “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable” is not a musical, director Kim Blackwell says live music is at its foundation and there will be a rock ‘n’ roll concert in the middle of the play. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
Technically, Blackwell terms Bloom “the biggest show I’ve directed here,” adding, “What we have in the middle of it is a concert — a rock ‘n’ roll concert in the middle of a play. There are amps and monitors and guitars and sound equipment and sound boards and mixers … all while trying to do a play. The learning curve around what is required to give that rock ‘n’ roll sound has been a real education.”
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“I hope people take away an understanding of the extraordinary artistry and enriched musical history of this area,” adds Blackwell.
“It is a testament to whatever is in the water in Peterborough that so many artists, over half a century now, have chosen to make their homes and their lives in Peterborough. I hope this play will celebrate them.”
Last but not least, Bloom also stars Griffin Clark and Owen Stahn who portray the two best friends with a musical dream. Both perform in real life as members of the Toronto-based band The Silvers which they co-founded.
Real-life musicians Owen Stahn and Griffin Clark, members of the Toronto-based band The Silvers, perform as two small-town best friends Neph Burstill and Eli Tanner in “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable”. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW.com)
With original songs written by Dixon and Dave Tough, arrangements by Dixon, musical direction by Justin Hiscox, costume design by Meredith Hubbard, set design by Esther Vincent, fight direction by Edward Belanger, and choreography by Monica Dottor, Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable runs Tuesdays to Saturdays from July 2nd to July 27th, with curtain at 6 p.m.
Sold-out preview performances take place on July 2nd and 3rd, with opening night on Thursday, July 4th. There will be an additional performance on Monday, July 22, also at 6 p.m.
Advance tickets can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445, online at www.4thlinetheatre.ca, at 4th Line Theatre’s box office in Millbrook at 4 Tupper Street and in Peterborough at the Peterborough Museum and Archives at 300 Hunter Street East (atop Armour Hill). Tickets can also be purchased from 4 to 6 p.m. on performance nights at the Winslow Farm (779 Zion Line, Millbrook) but are subject to availability.
Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable is the first of two productions to be staged by 4th Line Theatre this summer. Carmel, written by Robert Winslow and Ian McLachlan, will be staged from August 6th to 31st. Watch kawarthaNOW.com for more details of that play as its premiere draws nearer.
Starring Griffin Clark, Kate Suhr, and Owen Stahn, “Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable” runs Tuesdays to Saturdays in July at The Winslow Farm in Millbrook. (Photo: Wayne Eardley / Brookside Studio)
Some of the members of 100 Women Peterborough with representatives from Five Counties Children's Centre, including 15-year-old client Rebecca Jordan and board chair Adam White (both holding the cheque). The non-profit organization that provides therapy services for children will receive more than $10,000 from the group. (Photo courtesy of 100 Women Peterborough)
The 100 Women Peterborough group has once again made the world a little brighter for a local non-profit organization.
This time, the group of women from the Peterborough area has raised more than $10,000 for Five Counties Children’s Centre, and they did it in under an hour.
At the group’s second event of 2019, held on Tuesday night (June 18) at the Innovation Cluster in downtown Peterborough, three organizations — Five Counties Children’s Centre, Peterborough Butterfly Run, and the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra — made their cases to the group on why they should receive a donation.
Well before the meeting, the three organizations were randomly drawn from a larger list of organizations nominated by members of 100 Women Peterborough, who commit to donate $100 dollars at each of the four events hosted throughout the year. All of the funds raised by the membership are donated to four non-profit organizations determined by the membership throughout the year.
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At Tuesday night’s meeting, Five Counties Children’s Centre board chair Adam White was accompanied by CEO Diane Pick and 15-year-old client Rebecca Jordan to make that organization’s presentation. After hearing from the centre as well as the other two organizations, members held a majority vote that selected the centre to receive the donation.
“A huge thank you to 100 Women Peterborough for their thoughtfulness and generous gift,” White said. “Your donation will make a difference in the lives of the children that will be able to receive service sooner. Because they can get this service sooner, it’s going to make a huge difference in their development, lives, and in the way they can chase their dreams.”
Five Counties Children’s Centre provides therapy services at no cost to families that assist children who are delayed in their development to develop the skills they need in everyday life. A non-profit organization, Five Counties Children’s Centre receives most of its funding from the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services and the City of Peterborough.
The contribution from 100 Women Peterborough will fund the centre to work with 12 children who would have otherwise not receive support this year.
Rebecca Jordan, a 15-year-old client of Five Counties Children’s Centre, speaks to the 100 Women Peterborough group as the centre’s board chair Adam White and CEO Diane Pick look on. (Photo courtesy of 100 Women Peterborough)
“Thank you on behalf of the other children,” said Jordan, who moved to Peterborough so she could access the services of Five Counties Children’s Centre. “I have benefitted from Five Counties Children’s Centre, so the opportunity for more children to have the opportunity is something that I’m excited about because I know how it has impacted my life and how it will change someone else’s.”
To date, 100 Women Peterborough has collectively donated around $70,000 to six local organizations: Hospice Peterborough, Peterborough Youth Unlimited, One Roof Warming Room, New Canadians Centre, Cameron House, and Five Counties Children’s Centre.
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“We are excited to see another deserving organization benefit from our quarterly meetings,” said Catia Skinner, one of the founding members of 100 Women Peterborough. “We know that Five Counties Children’s Centre will make the most of our collective donation.”
100 Women Peterborough was founded in February 2018 by Skinner, Wendy Hill, Alyssa Stewart, and Rosalea Terry, who were inspired by similar groups in other communities.
The concept of collective philanthropy began in the United States in November 2006, when Karen Dunigan of Michigan formed the “100 Women Who Care” group. After their first meeting, the women raised over $10,000 for the purchase of 300 new baby cribs for a local organization. The movement has grown over the past 13 years to include almost 100 chapters in North America, including at least 15 in Canada.
Women who interested in joining the group should visit www.100womenptbo.ca for more information.
Sheila Charleton performs in the one-woman play "Grace", written and directed by Frank Flynn, which runs from June 19 to 22, 2019 at The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough, along with Flynn's play "Chemistry". (Photo: Andy Carroll)
From Wednesday, June 19th to Saturday, June 22nd, The Theatre on King (TTOK) presents Grace and Chemistry, two plays by local playwright and director Frank Flynn.
The Theatre on King presents Grace and Chemistry
When: Wednesday, June 19 to Saturday, June 22, 2019 at 8 p.m. Where: The Theatre on King (171 King St., Peterborough) How much: $15 (or pay what you can) at the door
Written by Frank Flynn. Directed by Frank Flynn and Ryan Kerr. Featuring Sheila Charleton, Lindsay Unterlander, Ange Sorensen, Shannon McKenzie, Mark McGilvray, Samuelle Weatherdon, and George Knechtel.
Chemistry is directed by Ryan Kerr with a cast made up of TTOK favourites, while Grace is directed by Frank and features the talented Sheila Charleton in a moving one-woman performance.
Two very different shows, Chemistry and Grace are both smartly produced and heartwarming pieces that will take audiences on a full emotional journey.
This is the first time that Chemistry, a forgotten play that Frank sent to Ryan nearly three years ago, has been produced for the stage. It’s a charming short play that warms up the audience for the emotional powerhouse Grace.
Chemistry features six actors paired as couples who perform the same scene three times, each time in a distinctive way with a different set of emotions and attitudes but ending with the same outcome. It’s difficult to explain until you see it, but it’s brilliantly executed as you watch three pairs of actors dissecting the same scene in their own unique styles.
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The scene, about two people letting each other know they are in love, features characters of different sexes and ages: Lindsay Unterlander and Ange Sorenson play the scene as a same-sex couple, Mark McGilvray and Shannon McKenzie play it as a heterosexual couple, and Samuelle Weatherdon and George Knechtel play it as awkward teenagers discovering love for the first time.
In Frank Flynn’s “Chemistry”, three different couples replay a scene where they profess their love. Ange Sorenson and Lindsay Unterlander perform the scene as a same-sex couple. (Photo: Andy Carroll)Shannon McKenzie and Mark McGilvray perform the scene as a heterosexual couple. (Photo: Andy Carroll)Samuelle Weatherdon and George Knechtel perform the scene as awkward teenagers discovering love for the first time. (Photo: Andy Carroll)
The people and the circumstances change, but the words and the meaning stay the same. Each time the actors do the scene, the audience is left with that same warm feeling of fresh romance and new love, and the scene still seems fresh.
Yet while each of the three vignettes have their own unique draw and charm, everyone attending the preview show agreed that the scene performed by Samuelle Weatherdon and George Knetchel steals the show. While George stumbles through trying to look cool despite his own awkwardness, Sam delivers the piece with her back turned to him as if she can’t look him in the face. It’s sweet, real, and adorable, with two lovely performances by a fantastic pair of young actors.
Sheila Charleton in Frank Flynn’s “Grace” performs as a woman who shares her her thoughts, stories, and wisdom of being the matriarch for a large family of eight children, while preparing to sell the home in which she raised her family. (Photo: Andy Carroll)
But as charming as Chemistry is, the true highlight of the night is Grace.
Written by Frank in 2005, Grace has been performed at theatre and fringe festivals all over Canada, the United States, and Europe. However, this is the first time that Grace has been performed in Peterborough. A powerful and moving one-woman show, Frank teams up with Sheila Charleton to bring his reliant heroine Grace to life on the TTOK stage.
While preparing for sale the home in which she raised her family, Grace shares with the audience her thoughts, stories, and wisdom of being the matriarch for a large family of eight children.
Grace talks about the practical parenting of the past versus the helicopter parenting practices of today, funeral mishaps, and the difficulty of finding plastic furniture covers.
She shares stories of her children, most importantly her children Tom and Janie — one who conquered the barriers facing him at birth, and the other who Grace lost in a twisted leap of faith.
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Grace’s stories form a portrait of a strong and proud woman, one filled with wisdom, humour, warmth, love, regret, and perseverance. However, Grace’s story is also one that tells of the value of family and the fragility of time.
There is a type of storytelling that belongs to older women, who can tell a story for hours about people that we never knew, who have no relations to us, and left the world long ago. We are captivated by the stories they weave, despite their seeming irrelevance to our own lives.
Sheila Charleton captures that spirit in her performance, entrancing the audience which holds on to every word and every emotion, as if the meaning of life itself hangs on the next sentence. Sheila brings Grace to life in a way so real that the audience can easily forget she is an actress playing a role on stage, but instead is a real woman telling her real-life story in her own living room.
Sheila Charleton brings Frank Flynn’s “Grace” to life in a way so real that the audience can easily forget she is an actress playing a role on stage, but instead is a real woman telling her real-life story in her own living room. (Photo: Andy Carroll)
This illusion of reality is so intense that, in less than an hour, the audience truly cares about this woman and her entire family. It’s a magical performance that goes right for the heart and pierces it with both laughter and tears. Sheila gives one of the best dramatic performances I’ve seen this year, in one of the most wonderful shows I’ve seen so far this year.
Together, Frank and Sheila make a theatrical power couple in a truly magical and memorable show. Grace is one of those performances that you don’t want to miss.
This week you’ll want to put TTOK on your map to see Chemistry and Grace. Note that the show opens on Wednesday, June 19th, and runs for four nights — giving everyone an extra opportunity to experience this excellent night of theatre.
Each performance beings at 8 p.m., and tickets are $15 (or pay what you can) at the door.
A coneptural rendering of the outdoor terrace at The Canadian Canoe Museum's new 85,000-square-foot facility to be built beside the Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway. The terrace will be named in honour of Toronto-based philanthropists George and Kathy Dembroski, who have donated $500,000 to the museum's capital campaign for the new facility. (Supplied graphic)
Toronto-based philanthropists George and Kathy Dembroski have made a $500,000 gift to The Canadian Canoe Museum, for its new 85,000-square-foot facility to be built beside the Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway.
In recognition of the gift, the museum’s outdoor terrace — a 9,700-square-foot gathering space that connects interior and exterior of the new facility — will be named in their honour.
According to a media release, the Dembroskis are strongly supportive of the plans for the new museum and are eager to see it built.
“We are incredibly pleased to support this exciting project in Peterborough, recognizing its local, provincial, and national impact,” says Kathy Dembroski. “As we learned about the plans for the new museum, we became increasingly interested.”
“And we knew we wanted to become involved as soon as we learned about the functionality of the terrace — and how it will serve as a connecting space between the indoors and the outdoors. We can envision people gathering there and taking in the views of the lift lock and the waterway.”
Toronto-based philanthropists Kathy and George Dembroski, who have made a $500,000 gift to The Canadian Canoe Museum. (Supplied graphic)
The new museum has been designed by the award-winning team of heneghan peng (Dublin, Ireland) and Kearns Mancini Architects (Toronto, Canada). The building, purpose-built for the world’s largest collection of canoes, kayaks and paddled watercraft, will blend almost seamlessly into its landscape, emerging from the drumlin and complementing and contouring the waterway.
The terrace, which is parallel to the galleria space on the interior, matching the curved shape of the building, extends the ground floor from the interior. Only a glass wall separates the two areas. This will draw outside visitors into the museum, and also invite visitors who are inside, to explore the spaces beyond.
“All of the new museum’s outdoor spaces will significantly enhance the visitor experience,” says the museum’s executive director Carolyn Hyslop. “We look very forward to welcoming individuals and families to the terrace to connect with each another and the landscape that surrounds them. The terrace provides us with a flexible, functional gathering space that will offer opportunities that right now, we can only imagine. This is thanks to the incredible generosity of George and Kathy.”
The new museum will be supported by a $65 million capital campaign, and has received foundational financial support from municipal, provincial and federal governments. In addition, the W. Garfield Weston Foundation has invested $7.5 million, building on its more than 20-year-long legacy of leadership with the museum.
For more information about The Canadian Canoe Museum’s new facility, visit canoemuseum.ca.
"Stranger Things 3" premieres on Netflix Canada on July 4th. In the third season of the popular series, Eleven and the Hawkins crew are out of school for the summer, on the cusp of adulthood, and are figuring out how to grow up without growing apart when their town (and the new mall) is threatened by enemies old and new. (Photo: Netflix)
Apparently, Netflix Canada wants us to spend July glued to our screens by offering a wide range of Netflix original shows and films, theatrical films, and returning series, including the much-anticipated third season of Stranger Things.
Netflix originals include: Designated Survivor: 60 days, a Korean remake of the Keifer Sutherland drama (July 1); The Last Czars, about the social upheaval that sweeps Russia in the early 20th century (July 3); the awkwardly titled Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein, a mockumentary starring Stranger Things actor David Harbour as he uncovers lost footage from his father’s televised stage play (July 16); Typewriter, about a haunted house and a haunted book that stirs the imagination of a group of young wannabe ghost hunters and a dog (July 19); and Another Life, about a team of astronauts searching for alien intelligence (July 25).
Netflix films include: Cities of Last Things, a dystopian revenge tale that unfolds in reverse chronology (July 11); Secret Obsession, about a traumatized woman returning to a life she doesn’t remember (July 18); and The Red Sea Diving Resort, inspired by true-life rescue missions to smuggle thousands of African refugees to Israel (July 31).
VIDEO: “Stranger Things 3”
Theatrical films coming to Netflix Canada in July include: The Fate of the Furious, War for the Planet of the Apes, Spiderman: Homecoming, Midnight Express, Ghostbusters, and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (all on July 1); The Blues Brothers, Dazed and Confused, and The Mummy franchise (all on July 3); The Emoji Movie (July 8); Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns (July 9); and American History X (July 15).
Returning series include: Stranger Things 3 (Jul 4); season three of Bonus Family (July 12); season eight of Suits (July 18); season three of The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: New 2019: Freshly Brewed, season four of Queer Eye (all on July 19); season two of My First First Love, the seventh and final season of Orange Is The New Black, season two of Sugar Rush, and season three of The Worst Witch (all on July 26); and season two of The Letdown (July 31).
VIDEO: New to Netflix Canada in July
Here’s the complete list of everything coming to Netflix Canada in July, along with what’s leaving.
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Monday, July 1st
Designated Survivor: 60 days (Netflix original) – Designated Survivor: 60 Days follows the main story line of the original format, but has been adapted to feature more of the Korean reality. It is a story of a politician, who suddenly ascends from the position of Minister of Environment to President, as an explosion at the National Assembly kills everyone in the Cabinet who is ahead of him in terms of the presidential succession. Park Mu-jin is a scientist-turned-politician who struggles to fit in politics. Park is the acting president for 60 days, and during this period, albeit inexperienced and unwilling, he tries to uncover the truth behind the attack.
Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room (Netflix original) – Everyone’s favourite single mom is back with her second Netflix original stand-up special Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room, launching globally on July 1. A follow-up to her 2017 special In Trouble, Katherine toured Glitter Room across the UK with an unprecedented four-week run at London’s Garrick Theatre in the West End. After dividing The Belasco Theater audience on their love or dislike of the Kardashians, Katherine showcases her skilful and hilarious storytelling style with tales about following a man to Japan and meeting her daughter’s first celebrity crush, Anna Kendrick.
Cafarnaúm
From Dusk Till Dawn
Ghostbusters
Girlfight
Jackie Brown
Jumanji
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Life as We Know It
Midnight Express
Mike Tyson Mysteries: Season 4
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Swiped
The Fate of the Furious
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes: S2
War Against Women
War for the Planet of the Apes
Tuesday, July 2nd
Bangkok Love Stories: Objects of Affection (Netflix original) – A kind computer repairman falls for a street-smart graffiti artist who’s multiple personality disorder worsens after she witnesses a double murder.
Bangkok Love Stories: Plead (Netflix original) – In Bangkok’s Chinatown, a spirited digital marketing expert falls for a blind fortune-teller, but their love is predestined to end in disaster.
Wednesday, July 3rd
The Blues Brothers
Dazed and Confused
The Kingdom
The Last Czars (Netflix original) – When social upheaval sweeps Russia in the early 20th century, Czar Nicholas II resists change, sparking a revolution and ending a dynasty.
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Scorpion King
Sea of Love
Vox Lux
Yummy Mummies: Season 2 (Netflix original) – The Yum Mums welcome a new member as they settle into motherhood, spice up their sex lives and ponder whether they want to get pregnant again.
Thursdsay, July 4th
Kakegurui: Season 2
Stranger Things 3 (Netflix original) – It’s 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana, and summer’s heating up. School’s out, there’s a brand new mall in town, and the Hawkins crew are on the cusp of adulthood. Romance blossoms and complicates the group’s dynamic, and they’ll have to figure out how to grow up without growing apart. Meanwhile, danger looms. When the town’s threatened by enemies old and new, Eleven and her friends are reminded that evil never ends; it evolves. Now they’ll have to band together to survive, and remember that friendship is always stronger than fear.
Saturday, July 6th
Free Rein: Season 3 (Netflix family) – Competition heats up at Bright Fields over the summer as tryouts for the “UK Under 18s” team pit friend against friend for just one available spot.
Sicilian Ghost Story
Monday, July 8th
The Emoji Movie
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Tuesday, July 9th
Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns
Wednesday, July 10th
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
Family Reunion (Netflix family) – When the McKellan family moves from Seattle to Georgia, life down South — and traditional grandparents — challenge their new-age ways.
Parchís: El documental (Netflix original) – Get an in-depth look at Parchís, the 1980s kids’ band from Spain, through interviews with ex-members and other insiders, concert footage and more.
Thursday, July 11th
Cities of Last Things (Netflix film) – In a dystopian tale unfolding in reverse chronology, a man with a complicated past takes revenge on the individuals who wronged him decades ago.
Friday, July 12th
3Below: Tales of Arcadia: Part 2 (Netflix family) – Still stranded in Arcadia, royal alien siblings Aja and Krel continue their quest to return home as General Morando plots a course to invade Earth.
4 latas (Netflix film) – In hopes of visiting a dying friend, longtime pals reunite for a desert road trip from Spain to Mali, while bringing along his estranged daughter.
Blown Away
Bonus Family: Season 3 (Netflix original) – As Martin adjusts to life with a new partner and a baby, Lisa and Patrik grapple with difficult news, and Katja reconnects with an old flame.
Extreme Engagement (Netflix original) – An engaged twosome take their love on the road and test their commitment as they explore eight cultures’ marriage traditions in the span of one year.
Kidnapping Stella (Netflix film) – Snatched off the street and held for ransom, a bound and gagged woman uses her limited powers to derail her two masked abductors’ carefully laid plans.
Luis Miguel – The Series: Season 1
Point Blank (Netflix film) – An ER nurse and a career criminal are forced into an unlikely partnership in taking down a ring of corrupt cops threatening the lives of both of their families.
Taco Chronicles (Netflix original) – A tribute to the mighty taco: its history, significance in Mexico, global appeal and varieties: pastor, carnitas, canasta, asada, barbacoa and guisados.
Monday, July 15th
American History X
Hall Pass
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 1
Tuesday, July 16th
Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein (Netflix original) – In this new mockumentary, join “Stranger Things” actor David Harbour as he uncovers lost footage from his father’s televised stage play, Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein. Expect the unexpected in this over-the-top and often dramatic(ish) re-imagined tale of mystery and suspense . With appearances by Alfred Molina, Kate Berlant, and more special guests, Harbour explores the depths of his family’s acting lineage to gain insight into his father’s legacy – all in 28-minutes. Directed by Daniel Gray Longino (“Kroll Show” and “PEN15”) and written by John Levenstein (“Arrested Development” and “Kroll Show”), Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein launches globally on Netflix on July 16, 2019.
Wednesday, July 17th
Pinky Malinky: Part 3 (Netflix family) – Pinky Malinky isn’t the type of hot dog boy who sits around on his buns, and with his BFFs Babs and JJ, he’s learning how to relish the little things.
Thursday, July 18th
Secret Obsession (Netflix film) – Recuperating from trauma, Jennifer (Brenda Song) remains in danger as she returns to a life she doesn’t remember.
Suits: Season 8
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Friday, July 19th
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: New 2019: Freshly Brewed (Netflix original) – Jerry Seinfeld’s roving talk show combines coffee, laughs and vintage cars into quirky, caffeine-fueled adventures with the sharpest minds in comedy.
The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants: Season 3 (Netflix family) – Fourth-grade friends George and Harold have a shared love of pranks and comic books — and turning their principal into an undies-wearing superhero.
La casa de papel: Part 3 (Netflix original) – Eight thieves take hostages and lock themselves in the Royal Mint of Spain as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan.
Last Chance U: INDY: Part 2 (Netflix original) – Netflix’s critically acclaimed, Emmy-nominated series Last Chance U returns to give viewers an intense, unfiltered look at the junior college football program at Independence Community College (ICC). Entering his third season with ICC and second season on Last Chance U, Coach Brown has assembled a team that looks sure to compete for a national championship, but a disastrous season on the field puts a spotlight on all of the ugliness of college football that winning tends to polish over. With some new and returning faces, this season captures the Pirates fall from grace that leaves the coaches and the town looking for change.
Queer Eye: Season 4 (Netflix original) – The Fab Five are back in Kansas City, Missouri! Join Antoni, Bobby, Jonathan, Karamo and Tan for a new group of inspirational heroes, jaw-dropping makeovers and tons of happy tears!
SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac (Netflix anime) – Sworn to protect the reincarnation of the goddess Athena, Seiya and the Knights of the Zodiac aid her in battle against those who seek to end mankind.
Typewriter (Netflix original) – Typewriter is about a haunted house and a haunted book that stir the imagination of a group of young, wannabe ghost hunters, and a dog, determined to capture the ghost that plagues the notorious home in their neighbourhood in Goa. When a new family and their captivating daughter move into the haunted home, the crew finds it difficult to balance the demands of school and chores with the renewed urgency to capture the neighbourhood ghost before it is too late. (MC)
Wednesday, July 24th
The Great Hack (Netflix original) – Explore how a data company named Cambridge Analytica came to symbolize the dark side of social media in the wake of the 2016 presidential election.
Thursday, July 25th
Another Life (Netflix original) – Another Life centres on astronaut Niko Breckinridge (Katee Sackhoff) who is focused on searching for alien intelligence. She leads a crew on a mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact. As Niko and her young crew investigate, they face unimaginable danger on what might very well be a one-way mission.
Friday, July 26th
Anna and the Apocalypse
Boi (Netflix film) – As a young Catalan chauffeur drives two Chinese businessmen around Barcelona, he finds himself falling deeper into an illusory adventure.
Girls With Balls (Netflix film) – Stranded in the woods and eyeballed by twisted hunters, members of a women’s volleyball team bump it up in the most dangerous game of their lives.
My First First Love: Season 2 (Netflix original) – Tae-o and his friends navigate the twists and turns of friendship and love, as they face new challenges in their relationships with one another.
Nobody’s Fool
Orange Is the New Black: Season 7 (Netflix original) – A privileged New Yorker ends up in a women’s prison when a past crime catches up with her in this Emmy-winning series from the creator of “Weeds”.
The Son (Netflix film) – Lorenzo, a 50-year-old bohemian painter, is looking forward to the son he’ll have with his new wife. But during pregnancy she becomes obsessed with taking care of the baby, isolating it from the world and its father.
Sugar Rush: Season 2 (Netflix original) – Time’s the most important ingredient as teams race against the clock — and each other — to bake up the best-tasting sweets.
The Worst Witch: Season 3 (Netflix family) – Armed with newfound confidence, Mildred returns to Cackle’s Academy, where her mother is joining the staff as the school’s first non-witch teacher.
Tuesday, July 30th
Hot Summer Nights
Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It? (Netflix original) – Multi-hyphenate comedian, Whitney Cummings, makes her Netflix debut with her 4th stand-up special, Whitney Cummings: Can I Touch It? Filmed at the Sidney Harmon Hall in her hometown, Washington, DC. Cummings’ signature incisive commentary on gender dynamics is more relevant than ever. Do women need to wear service vests instead of “Rosé All Day” t-shirts? Are their nicknames for each other hurting the cause? Now that people are actually listening what should women change? How are men holding up with all the “new” rules they have to follow now? Tune in for Whitney’s take on everything including why we should give sex robots a chance.
Wednesday, July 31st
Kengan Ashura: Part l (Netflix anime) – Underground gladiator Tokita Ohma fights on behalf of business mogul Nogi Hideki who wagers mega-business deals on the outcome of these brutal matches.
The Letdown: Season 2 (Netflix original) – Audrey, mother of a 2-month-old, joins a new-parents support group, where she makes some quirky friends facing various challenges and life changes.
The Red Sea Diving Resort (Netflix film) – Inspired by remarkable true life rescue missions, the incredible story of a group of international agents and brave Ethiopians who in the early 80s used a deserted holiday retreat in Sudan as a front to smuggle thousands of refugees to Israel. The undercover team carrying out this mission is led by the charismatic Ari Kidron (Chris Evans) and courageous local Kabede Bimro (Michael Kenneth Williams). The prestigious cast also includes Haley Bennett, Alessandro Nivola, Michiel Huisman, Chris Chalk, Greg Kinnear, and Ben Kingsley.
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Leaving Netflix Canada in July
Tuesday, July 2nd
Bring It On
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
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