A Thrilling Opening Night! The Duchess has Set Sail at the PCL!

Last Thursday night, to a packed house (only 3 empty seats!) Wind in Her Sails opened and was greeted with a thunderous standing ovation! The ovation was as much for the play and the performance as it was for the playwright, Elizabeth Bowering, who spearheaded the whole project and it was an overwhelming moment for me. I was more nervous than I realized so it was indeed a wonderful feeling to hear the response from the audience and above-all hear that Elizabeth herself was pleased with the show. Unlike other projects, where I have simply been able to interpret the work to my own satisfaction, there was an added layer of expectation that this show not only fulfill my artistic vision, but that the playwright also be happy with it. I do not think the two visions were at odds, but this is a business fraught with insecurity and doubt. The script was an excellent guide - well-written with 4 well-rounded and interesting characters, as well as a charming narrator skilled in story-telling and fiddling! The work is definitely easier when the script is solid. I also enjoyed that despite being set in 1907, the themes of the piece were still very relevant in today's world.

I have been blessed with a terrific cast - Halee Pierog, Kris Loranger, Morgan Smith, Murray Farnell and Larissa Pohoreski - as well as a wonderful creative team - Kirsten Jensen (SM), Erin Foster-O'Riordan (Sound Design), Geri Dittrich (Costume Design), Janine Hodder (Fight Choreographer), and Joan Hawkins (paint). As there were a number of things I was looking out for that fall outside the purvey of directing, it was wonderful to have such hard-working and talented and generous friends to join on to make the whole thing come to fruition.

The show runs until November 21st in the PCL Theatre. It is more than just a show.  It's also a Fundraiser and Awareness project for MSA (Multiple System Atrophy), a rare and so-far incurable disease.  Proceeds from the production go to research into new treatments for MSA and you can also find out more about it and what you can do to help. You can also find out more here: www.windinhersails.com

New Projects... I think I have a problem with Down Time...

Back in the spring of this year, I got a phone call from Elizabeth Bowering.  I had heard of Elizabeth because she had been quite busy at Walterdale over the years, but I had never met her. She explained to me that we had a mutual friend, David Kirshner Sr., and that she and David suffered from the same illness, MSA (Multiple System Atrophy).  I remembered when David was diagnosed and this terrible illness swept into his and his family's life.  A once vibrant and active man was suddenly stilled. Elizabeth was in the same boat. She went on to explain that she wanted to produce one of her plays, Wind in Her Sails, as a fundraiser and awareness project for MSA and she wondered if I might consider directing it. So I asked her to send me the script so that I might read it.  I read it and I was immediately in. It's a beautiful piece in tribute to her grandmother telling a story on a trip on a 60 ft. schooner in the early 1900s full of East Coast music.

Well, now it's fall and the show has been cast and we have started rehearsals.  The cast is terrific:

Narrator/Fiddler - Larissa Pohoreski
Mavis - Halee Pierog
Captain - Morgan Smith
Pike - Kris Loranger
Purdy -Murray Farnell*

No doubt I will regale you with more stories from rehearsal.  So far we have been having fun singing Lukey's Boat and learning a few other East Coast songs (Feller From Fortune, Killgrew's Soiree), as well as embracing the accent! As a former resident of Fort McMurray, it is fun to be surrounded by the accents of the rock and the script is peppered with the Newfoundland sense of humour I love. Whether you are an aficionado of all things from Newfoundland and the East Coast or whether you want to support this terrific cause, I hope to see you out!

The show runs November 12-21st at the PCL Theatre at the Arts Barns. Tickets can be purchased through Tix on the Square online or by phone 780.420.1757.

* appears with permission of Equity