NEELIN VIEWS: Perfect time to celebrate local theatre

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World Theatre Day is an observance that takes place on March 27 every year. It was established in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) as a celebration of theatre and what it represents.

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/03/2023 (368 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

World Theatre Day is an observance that takes place on March 27 every year. It was established in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI) as a celebration of theatre and what it represents.

Every year, ITI invites a well-known figure in another field to talk about theatre and reflect on what it means to them. A number of theatre companies, from amateur to professional, will also celebrate World Theatre Day with events and performances.

What follows will describe a number of upcoming performances from local theatre groups, as well as other groups that won’t have productions until after the summer or later.

Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School theatre director Clint McLachlan highlights the scale of some of the props that were on display during last year’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun)

Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School theatre director Clint McLachlan highlights the scale of some of the props that were on display during last year’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun)

The closest upcoming performance in Brandon is Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School’s performance of “SpongeBob: The Musical,” which will be taking place at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium in Brandon at 7 p.m. on April 13 and 14 and 2 p.m. on April 15. The show follows SpongeBob, who, along with his friends, tries to stop the volcano Mount Humongous from erupting and destroying Bikini Bottom.

High school theatre is how a lot of people get into theatre, such as Clint McLachlan, one of the directors of “SpongeBob” at Crocus Plains. He was interviewed, along with the directors from the other two high schools in town, Tara Leach and Nancy Pitcairn, from Neelin and Vincent Massey, respectively. Neelin and Massey already performed their musicals for the 2022-23 year late last year, with Disney’s “Descendants” from Massey in November and “Anastasia” from Neelin at the start of December.

When asked what got them into theatre, all three gave quite different answers.

“[From a young age] I remember being in awe where these people were singing and dancing and bringing me into another world,” said Pitcairn. Meanwhile, McLachlan stated, “[While in high school] somebody said, ‘Hey, you should be a part of a musical, it’s pretty fun,’ and I [asked], ‘I can do that? OK.’ So, I auditioned for my high school show, and I fell in love.”

Leach, on the other hand, got into theatre later.

“My first theatre experience was in 2010, when I played Juliet in Mecca’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet,’” Leach said.

Loving and being into theatre is a completely different thing than directing and teaching, however.

Leach got involved with directing in 2013.

“Mecca gave me my first opportunity to direct. It was Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Government Inspector’ … the opportunity to present this play was a total dream.”

Pitcairn had a longer route to directing.

“In university to fulfil elective requirements, I took drama, and joined Black Hole Theatre Company … A couple years later, I had the option to take backstage theatre and learned about doing props, sets, lighting and stage managing, among other things, and I fell in love with stage managing … I decided to switch to learning to be a high school drama teacher. Best decision I ever made.”

Christine Penner practises her sword play as Matilda, a gypsy, in the Assiniboine Theatre Company’s 2018 production of “Zastrozzi: The Master of Discipline.” (File)

Christine Penner practises her sword play as Matilda, a gypsy, in the Assiniboine Theatre Company’s 2018 production of “Zastrozzi: The Master of Discipline.” (File)

On this topic, McLachlan stated: “I fell in love with theatre, I fell in love with performing, and the people and the community that is involved with that, and I have a passion for doing those things, what got me into it was, I want to help other people to experience that.”

Finally, they were asked what local, community and high school theatre meant to them.

“It’s creating that environment to build community, to have a cast come together, to have that common goal, and to make art together,” McLachlan said.

“Theatre, by bringing stories to life, is a way for performers and audiences to tell each other we are not alone in our pain and struggles and in our joys and victories, to come to terms with the human condition, to create beauty, to step outside everyday life and be entertained, and to do it all with a group of people who are willing to take risks, give generously of their time and energy and to be a part of something bigger than themselves,” Leach said.

Pitcairn, having just had a discussion with students about the subject, however, had a very detailed response.

“Local theatre is such an important opportunity to share what’s on the inside with an audience going to watch, feel empathy, [and] to see ourselves reflected through performance,” Pitcairn said. “As performers, we can share insight of the characters to the audience. Theatre can be used to see troubles reflected back or see a new way to see them. Being able to step outside of ourselves and have empathy for someone else. Ultimately, it is about connection and seeing it after the pandemic is important.”

The next Brandon performance after “SpongeBob” is Mecca Productions’ production of “The Sound of Music,” which will be taking place at the WMCA on April 27, 28, and 29 at 7 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. performance on April 30. “The Sound of Music” is also double cast, with the white cast performing on the 27th and the 29th, and the blue cast performing on the 28th and the 30th.

Mecca also has its all-kids musical coming up, “Beauty and the Beast Jr.,” which will be at the WMCA in May. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on May 18 and 19 as well as 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on May 20. The show on May 18 and the 11 a.m. show on May 20 will be performed by the red cast, and the May 19 and 2:30 p.m. May 20 shows will be performed by the blue cast.

Mecca also had its performances of “Spamalot” at the start of February, and “Little Women” in late November last year.

Mecca Productions was launched by Lisa Vasconcelos, a high school drama teacher who, when interviewed, was asked why she started Mecca.

Nancy Pitcairn, a teacher at Vincent Massey High School, sets up a stage prop at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium during preparations for the school’s stage production of “Willy Wonka” in 2011. (File)

Nancy Pitcairn, a teacher at Vincent Massey High School, sets up a stage prop at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium during preparations for the school’s stage production of “Willy Wonka” in 2011. (File)

“I loved [directing] so much [teaching] in high school,” she replied, “[that] we started Mecca community musicals because I wanted to continue to work with some of the awesome kids I worked with at Neelin, and then the Mecca kids’ classes came out of that.”

Vasconcelos first got involved in theatre in Strathclair.

“I was part of a theatre group back home in Strathclair when I was in high school, and it was really important to me when my family was going through a really rough time. It was like a second family filled with loving, kind people.”

Regarding directing, she said: “I was working at Neelin high school, and I directed before I taught drama. The drama teacher who was there left part way through the year and they needed somebody to take over and they asked me if I would, so I said sure because I’ve done it in Strathclair and it was a lot of fun.”

What does community and local theatre mean to Vasconcelos?

“Well, it’s a gathering place,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for people of all ages, experience levels, interests, talents and abilities to come together and create something that makes our community better. Whether it’s a big full-scale musical like the ones we do at the Westman, or it’s an evening of one-act short scenes and monologues like our theatre performance class will do next Thursday.

“Theatre is also where most high school students will end up, so that needs to be supported and encouraged because once you leave high school, you’re not doing high school shows anymore. So, it’s important that it’s there so that we can all continue to grow in the arts and explore what it means to be a connected, caring human.”

The last community theatre group in Brandon is Assiniboine Theatre Company (ATC), which, unlike the other groups in and around Brandon, don’t do musicals, but rather do exclusively plays ranging from full-scale plays, to small dinner theatres; their last one being “The Sweet Delilah Swim Club,” which ran on the same dates as Neelin’s production of “Anastasia” at the start of last December.

ATC, unlike other community theatre groups, allows “its members to bring forth pet projects in theatre,” ATC president Christine Penner said in an interview.

Penner did not start ATC. It was launched by a group of actors in a production of “Glengarry Glen Ross” by David Mamet. The founding president, David Simard, recently stepped down, leading to Penner, the former vice-president, to move into the leadership role.

École secondaire Neelin High School teacher Tara Leach covers a derogatory slur with a paper flower after speaking about bullying during an assembly in 2013. Leach says her favourite part of the theatre is “the joyous community that develops among the group of people involved the show — the cast, the crew and the production team.” (File)

École secondaire Neelin High School teacher Tara Leach covers a derogatory slur with a paper flower after speaking about bullying during an assembly in 2013. Leach says her favourite part of the theatre is “the joyous community that develops among the group of people involved the show — the cast, the crew and the production team.” (File)

“I got into theatre when my children were toddlers,” Penner said. “I felt I was losing myself and really longing for more connections with other creative people. I was super afraid that I would fail, but my desire to do it was stronger than the idea of failure. I watched people on stage through a community theatre group in Brandon called Theatre 85. My first performance was at Act Fest in Dauphin. The play was called ‘Whale Watch’ and my character’s name was Moira, I think.”

Penner says what she loves about community theatre is that it brings together people from different ages and backgrounds.

“We need a variety of people and perspectives to put on theatre,” Penner said. “I have met so many people in Brandon that I would not have in my circle. When people get together to create, with laughter and sometimes tears, it creates a strong bond. The experience of what it is being human is enlarged in theatre. It creates empathy for others that are different as you work through your character development as an actor.”

While not a theatre group, Dance Images/Brandon School of Dance also puts on a kids musical every two years, with the goal of turning their dancers into true triple-threat performers.

There are also multiple community theatre programs in communities around Brandon, with the largest being the Strathclair Drama Club and Virden Theatre Productions.

Strathclair has an upcoming performance of “The Addams Family” in April. Performances take place from April 17-22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bend Theatre in Strathclair. The musical adaptation of “The Addams Family” takes the beloved characters of the comic strip and movies and gives them a new story with new characters and a Tony award-nominated soundtrack.

Virden Theatre Productions just finished a production of “Moana Jr.” earlier this month and staged a community musical, “Matilda,” at the start of November last year. The group has also announced its next two musicals — the classic “The Music Man” and the recent departure from Broadway, “Dear Evan Hansen.”

When asked about their favourite part of the theatre, none of the people interviewed gave the same answer.

“You get a lot of people with every show that you do, whether that is people doing prop stuff or that are in it, and then you get all the pieces and you get to a point where people go, ‘Oh!’ and have this realization of this is it, this is the show, this is what that’s supposed to look like, when it all starts to come into reality in those couple days before you put it on for the audience,” McLachlan said.

“My favourite part of theatre is the joyous community that develops among the group of people involved the show – the cast, the crew and the production team,” Leach said. “This is true for all shows, but it’s especially wonderful seeing student performers dedicate themselves to the challenging, time consuming, but rewarding process of being in a production. The way they try new things, take risks, discover strengths, gain confidence, make friends and memories — it’s all just so beautiful.”

Lisa Vasconcelos (The Lady of the Lake) and James Comrie (King Arthur) belt out “The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)” during Mecca Productions’ performance of “Spamalot” at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium earlier this year. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun)

Lisa Vasconcelos (The Lady of the Lake) and James Comrie (King Arthur) belt out “The Song That Goes Like This (Reprise)” during Mecca Productions’ performance of “Spamalot” at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium earlier this year. (Kyle Darbyson/The Brandon Sun)

“My favourite part is the moment before the show starts, in the makeup room with all the energy,” Pitcairn said. “Everything I gain is in the 30 minutes before the curtain goes up. I know it should be seeing it all together out in the audience and crying at how far they’ve come, but it’s not.”

Vasconcelos said her favourite part of the process is “show week” at the WMCA.

“I love walking out to the lobby and moments before opening night when it’s quiet and nobody’s there yet and just thinking about the hundreds of people that will come and see the show and will leave the Westman feeling happier, lighter, because they saw this production and just having a real sense of gratitude and pride that we can make those kinds of things happen that are really good for our community and really good for us.”

Penner enjoys digging in deep enough to feel a connection with the character’s feelings.

“You are that character,” Penner said. “And you feel a chill and connection to your fellow performers and their character. When I see theatre that is done intelligently, with strong writers, and a vision by the director, I have this uplifted feeling that together, a community can do great things.”

This goes to show just how diverse our theatre scene in and around Brandon is and how there are so many chances that could be classified as once-in-a-lifetime through them — either by watching, or by participating. With so many upcoming productions in our community, it is a great opportunity for Westman area residents to experience the magic of theatre.

» Seamus Malcolm is a Grade 11 student at École secondaire Neelin High School

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