Curtain call - Blyth Festival
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curtain call
YO U R G I F TS AT W O R K F O R T H E B LY T H F E ST I VA L | W I N T E R , 2 0 2 1
thank You gave so generously, you what your giving means
you
inspired another lead donor to for 2021
come forward with an additional
match offer. All told, you and our You’ve given us the means to
amazing lead donors provided start planning a whole suite of
additional funding of $225,000, workshops for the 15 plays we
which is enough to keep us alive already had in development.
until next year – in case it’s that We’re still not sure exactly what
long until we can open our doors this will look like. But we hope
Your massive response again. to bring several teams of actors,
to first-ever matching- writers and directors to Blyth
The words “thank you” hardly this summer. Once here, they’ll
gift campaign means seem adequate. You’ve performed do socially-distant readings and
a miracle. And please know how
the Blyth Festival is workshopping of these scripts,
very grateful we are. possibly on the outdoor stage.
safe for 2021
Your gifts have given us the You’ve also given us the ability
When we sat down at the end of ability to move ahead with a lot to hire our Associate Artistic
October to discuss a matching- of work in new play development
Director, Severn Thompson,
gift campaign, we were pretty that is vital to future presentations.
(Director, The Pigeon King; Co-
nervous.
To begin with, we’ve been able to
For one thing, Blyth had never open four new commissions. This
done a matching campaign. We means four Canadian playwrights
didn’t know if you – our donors are able to get to work right now,
– would respond. Not only that, starting new works for you to see
but to be fair to our lead donors, when our theatre can open again.
if we decided to accept their And there are more to come.
pledges, we pretty much had to Among these are plays we’re
raise the matching amount. developing specifically for staging
outdoors. And, although it’s still
It was nerve-wracking.
too early to make any promises,
But, we put our faith in you, we hope some of this work will
and asked for your help. And appear on our new outdoor stage Severn in Seeds, 2015. Photo by Terry Manzo.
you completely blew us away. this summer or next.
Continued on page 2
NEW PLAY OUR SPONSORS : Tuckersmith Communications Co-operative Ltd., Carlyle Peterson LLP, McGavin Farm 519.523.9300
DEVELOPMENT Equipment, Roberts Farm Equipment, Watsons Home Hardware, Edward Fuels Ltd. (a division of McDougall 1.877.862.5984
SPONSOR
Energy), Foxton Fuels, Orr Insurance & Investments, West Wawanosh Mutual Insurance Co., Trillium blythfestival.com
Mutual Insurance Co., Howick Mutual Ins. Co., Kildonan House B&B, K2 Wind, Falconer Funeral
Home, Royal Canadian Legion 420 & Ladies Auxiliary, RBC, McCall MacBain Foundation
Collaborator, Wing Night at the a vocal coach to an actor or a season for you. But it’s still too
Boot) to work over the winter as singer. Dramaturgs help writers early to say what this might be.
a dramaturg with many of our define and shape their work, and
What we do know is this: we are
writers. Dramaturgy is a difficult no play gets anywhere near a
building an outdoor stage in a
role to explain – it’s a bit like an stage without the guiding hand
beautiful location near the Blyth
editor might be to a novelist, or of a good dramaturg.
Fairgrounds. We are working with
Both dramaturgy and writers and actors to develop
workshopping are essential steps plays, concerts, and more that
in bringing new plays to life, and will suit this new staging. And –
we can usually work them into most importantly – we will make
our regular season calendar it safe for you to see our work,
when we have plenty of actors, whatever it looks like.
writers and directors on site. We
Finally, we are waiting for the
are eternally grateful for your
government to let us know how
help in making sure this work will
big our audience can be, and
happen in 2021, even if we are
when our season can start. The
not able to mount a full season.
rest of the puzzle pieces will fall
2021 season update into place once we have this
crucial bit of information. Once
On that note, we are proceeding
we do, you’ll be the first to know.
with plans for some sort of 2021
Gil with a pile of new work!
We still New plays are in the pipeline,
and artists are working across
thank you again
Thank you again for your patience
need your this country. But we still need
your membership gifts to do as we all muddle through this.
In a sea of uncertainty, we are
everything else until we can
membership collect ticket revenue again. now 100% sure of one thing: you
believe in us, and in what we can
gifts So, when you see your 2021
membership renewal letter,
accomplish together.
We are eternally grateful.
please be generous. If it’s in
your heart to go up a level,
this is the year to do it.
BLYTH FESTIVAL GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES SUPPORT OF :
2
legacy planning for your estate
Remembering a
Beloved Daughter Ann and Ross,
Antarctica, 2019.
“I clearly remember with the Festival, joining the
membership program and making
her saying, ‘Mom, several additional gifts.
if I ever had a Nel seemed to recover fully,
and over the next decade she
bunch of money, travelled the world, completed an
Ellen “Nel” Stuart (1987 – 2015) appeared in
I’d give it to undergraduate degree, and wrote
and produced 15 plays. Sadly,
The Outdoor Donnellys and was a member of someplace like however, her illness returned, and
Ann and Ross lost her in January
the Blyth Young Company, 2004.
Blyth – someplace of 2015.
Ann and Ross Stuart have lived
and breathed Canadian theatre
I knew it could Today, Ann and Ross have done
several things to honour Nel’s
for almost 50 years. really make memory, among them leaving a
gift to Blyth in their wills. “We
The two, married since 1974, met
during a student production at U
a difference.” wanted to do something that
of T in the heady days of Canada’s – Ann Stuart, Blyth Legacy Donor would really speak to who she
late ‘60s theatre boom. Today, was, and what we all loved in
Ross is a distinguished emeritus Ann and Ross watched carefully, life,” says Ross. Ann agrees. “I
theatre professor at York and gradually Nel pulled herself clearly remember her saying,
University, and Ann a long-serving back from the brink. She returned ‘Mom, if I ever had a bunch of
and beloved stage manager at to school that fall, and spent money, I’d give it to someplace
the Stratford Festival. Over the much of that winter rehearsing like Blyth – someplace I knew I
years, they were also happy an entry for the Sears Drama could really make a difference.’”
patrons of Blyth. Festival. This brought her to
We are so honoured to have
Blyth as a student performer.
Their only daughter, Ellen played even a small role in Nel’s
(known as Nel) barrelled along “I really think it was Blyth too-short life. Thank you, Ann
right behind them, developing a that saved her after that first and Ross, for allowing us to help
passion for theatre in childhood, incident,” says Ann. “We were so keep her light, her life, and her
both as a performer and a scared she’d relapse, but instead profound love of theatre alive,
playwright. She acted at the – she was so happy.” for all time.
Stratford Festival, and saw her Free counselling for depression and other
Nel spent the following summer
first plays produced. All seemed mental-health issues is available 24/7 at
as a member of the Blyth Young 1-866-585-0445, or Wellness Together Canada,
right with her world.
Company, and performed in ca.portal.gs.
But then Nel suffered a that season’s production of The If you’d like to find out how to leave a gift to
devastating bout of depression Outdoor Donnellys. Watching Blyth in your will, visit https://blythfestival.
after her Grade-11 year, and was Nel’s joy return, Ann and Ross com/leaving-a-legacy/ or call us at 1-877-TO-
BLYTH
hospitalized that entire summer. became more deeply involved
3
Even academics the Blyth Festival stage as a represented on the stage as
agree: Blyth IS student in a Sears Drama Festival
production of Daniel MacIvor’s
“Canadian,” and why that matters.
Canada’s theatre This is a Play.
“Identity in Canada is
complicated. Seeing that
But even so, Taylor didn’t think complexity on stage is important,
Blyth was any big deal. Until she because it allows us to discuss it
was in a 2nd year theatre history publicly,” she says. “The fact that
class at York University, and her this Festival has been examining
professor started talking about this issue, and that its audiences
1972’s The Farm Show and the have never shied away from the
eventual founding of the Festival. tough questions, is both unique
and remarkable.”
“Turns out the Festival is really
important to Canada’s entire Taylor is working towards her
theatre ecology,” says Taylor, PhD at Guelph. Her research is
Taylor Graham who today studies and teaches looking at Blyth’s relationship to
theatre history at the University questions of nationhood, identity,
Taylor Graham grew up a stone’s
of Guelph. Taylor is particularly decolonization, community
throw from Blyth, in Port Albert,
interested in Blyth’s role in engagement and legacy. Taylor
just outside of Goderich. She also
creating work that continually is also a writer, theatre artist
grew up crazy for theatre, doing a
questions our idea of Canadian and librettist, and has worked
lot of high-school and community
nationhood – or exactly who is with dozens of theatre and opera
work, and once performing on
companies across Canada.
new play spotlight – your dollars at work
Two new plays coming your way,
thanks to your generous gifts
The Real McCoy – a drama about facing steam locomotion, and
the man who changed steam- changed the course of history.
engine history
Niish – a comedy set on a reserve
Andrew is re-working this in Southwestern Ontario
critically acclaimed play for
Joelle Peters is an exciting young Andrew Moodie
staging in our new outdoor venue.
writer from Walpole Island, a
The story concerns a real man reserve on part of Huron Tract/
named Elijah McCoy, who was Crown Treaty 29, which includes
born in Canada to runaway the land upon which Blyth sits.
American slaves and won a
Joelle’s play is both a romance
prestigious scholarship to
and a comedy, filled with
study engineering at Edinburgh
hilarious characters and all the
University.
foibles of small-town life.
Despite being denied work in
Niish is one of the works we’ll be
the US, McCoy devised a solution
able to workshop this summer,
to one of the greatest problems Joelle Peters
thanks to your gifts.
4 NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY BRUCE POWER.
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