SDA Region 1: Day 1

I planned to be more active on the blog this week, but I've spent a majority of it in a rental car, traveling from one side of the province to the other! Earlier this week I spent an entire day with the awesome, amazing, ENERGETIC students from Carrot River Junior/Senior High School. They are performing one of my plays, Vamp Ire, this weekend at the Region 7 SDA Festival and I was invited to lend a hand in the final days of rehearsal, and I also got to see their 2 other entries, Family Secrets and Check Please: Take 3. As always, Carrot River did an amazing job with all 3. I look forward to hearing how it all turns out this weekend. If only I could be 2 places at once! (Actually 6 places, since Unity, Rosetown, Glaslyn, Preeceville, Carrot River, Carlyle are all presenting plays of mine this weekend.)

Which leads me to the Region 1 SDA Festival, held in Lampman, which is where I am now. The first 5 plays today were all well received by the audience, and I will get to that more in a moment. But first of all, I have to congratulate the staff and students at Lampman High School for putting on such a terrific festival, jam packed with fun activities and creative spirit! It's so nice to see the participants from all of the schools interacting with one another and having such a great time. Also, the theatre facility at Lampman School is a wonderful place to watch plays. Having been to many less-than-stellar venues around the province, it's something I do not take for granted.

Now on to the plays I saw today...

THIS IS A TEST by Stephen Gregg - It had been a while since I had seen this old high school standby, and it was actually a nice treat to see it again after a few years without it. For a play that was written some time ago, it really does stand the test of time. Which is quite a feat, considering how teenagers lives are so different now than they were 20 years ago. Directed by a student, McKenzie Warriner, I think this was a perfect play selection for a first timer. It was so much fun to watch the Oxbow group in action. They have a lot of talent in the acting department, so their production was very funny from start to finish.

FAIRY TALES GO TO COURT by Steve and Laura Dingledine - Twisted fairy tales are not generally my favorite plays to watch, yet I have to say I was really entertained by this one. Again, Oxbow had a lot of young talent on the stage (I think this was a junior group?) and many of the actors played several roles, yet I was never quite sure who played what because they did such a good job discriminating between characters. I was particularly impressed by Rory Burnett as Father Time, as well as Rhys Jones and Eryn Stewart as Hansel and Gretel. They also had a lot of colourful costumes, and if anyone knows me well, they know how much I like colour on stage.

IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME by Don Zolidis - This is a tremendously funny vignette play, which was a phenomenal choice for this Arcola group because they have so many talented comedians and it gave them all the opportunity to play a variety of hysterical situations. Many of these students were in a play of mine last year (Note to Self) so it was great to see them stretch their wings and tackle such a deceptively complicated comedy. While there was not a single weak link among them, I thought Savanna Bryce and Riley James were real standouts. Great job!

I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT by Bradley Hayward - Gordon F. Kells High School in Carlyle has been a supporter of my work for many years, producing several of my plays at this very festival. They are always able to take my words and interpret them in ways I never imagined. Well, this year was no different. Yet there was something extra special about their production this year. It wasn't the set (which was fantastic), it wasn't the staging (which was incredible), and it wasn't the acting (which was phenomenal). What set this year's production apart is the emotional connection between all of the actors. Whether they knew it or not, they took on a huge responsibility when they decided to tackle this serious play about suicide, and they all rose to the occasion. They way the actors supported one another, encouraged one another, inspired one another is something I will learn from and take forward with me in the real world. Words cannot fully express how much the Carlyle drama students mean to me, as well as their directors, but I think they know. They know...

BOY MEETS GIRL: A YOUNG LOVE STORY by Sam Wolfson - Talk about shifting gears! From a drama about suicide to a comedy about puppy love. This clever, clever comedy tells of a romantic relationship, from start to finish, at the tender age of 5. It's sweet, it's funny, it's risqué. It was also fantastic! Maya Branyik-Thornton and Sam Paxman handily carried the entire play from lights up to lights down. Maya has so much energy it boggles my mind, and she is able to turn a single laugh into 3 or 4, simply with the turn of the head or flick of the wrist. Her comic timing is stellar. Then there was Sam, who had the difficult task of playing a boy convincingly. Wow, did she ever knock my socks off! It could not have been easy maintaining her own subdued rhythm next to Maya's vivacious one, not to mention carrying herself exactly like a young boy would. Two very impressive performances.

What made today extra special is that so many of my family members traveled many miles to share this experience with me. A huge thank you to Auntie Bev, Uncle Gordy, Auntie Joan, Laura, Patrick, Melissa, Colby, Auntie Barb, Vicki, Tarra, Kathaleen, Colton, Ethan, Amanda, Rikki, Ray and Heather for coming out to watch my play. It means more to me than you will ever know!

Well, that was it for today! There are 3 more plays tomorrow afternoon, and I will be sure to fill you in on those as well. Congratulations to everyone today for doing such an amazing job! There's a reason I come back to Region 1 whenever I can...