Arts Scene

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

Willpower’s in town!

Summer theatre is not over locally. Once again, Willpower Theatre is coming back to Wolfville next week to present two plays.

Willpower is bringing one comedy and a moving love story from Festival Antigonish's 20th anniversary season to the Al Whittle Theatre.

From Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, the hilarious comedy Boeing Boeing will run in repertory with Molly's Veil, a moving love story about Canada's first female mayor.

Charlotte Whitton was a feisty, female groundbreaker. This portrait of the controversial first female mayor of Ottawa was written by FAST's playwright in residence this summer, Sharon Bajer.

Actor Shelley Thompson is Charlotte and Genevieve Steele is Margaret. Both these performers are well known to local audiences.

Molly's Veil will be performed Tuesday, Aug. 28, 8 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 30, 8 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 31, 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 1, at 2 p.m.

Boeing Boeing, a farce by Marc Camelotti, will be presented: Wednesday, Aug. 29, 8 p.m.; Thursday, Aug. 30, 2 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 1, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are available at the Box of Delights, Wolfville, at the door or call 542-3044 for more information. Adult tickets are $20, students $18 and the subscription price is $36 for both plays. www.willpowertheatre.ca

Back in residence

The Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, under director Dinuk Wigeratne, will be back in Wolfville Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.

The orchestra will perform Mozart’s Overture to the Magic flute and Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. Heemin Choi will be violin soloist in Dvorak’s Symphony # 8.

Tickets range in price from $10 to $15. They will be on sale at the door of Denton Hall, Acadia University.

Super run at Ross Creek

Ending with a series of sell-out performances, The Odyssey came to a successful close Aug. 12. Ross Creek Centre for the Arts hosted the unique outdoor production.

Jenifer Darbellay’s costumes, decorated with bones, shells and other natural materials, and the giant puppets created onsite by Bill Forbes were eco-friendly, using large branches, burlap and birch bark.

“We tried to leave the smallest imprint and use what we had around us to create an atmosphere of adventure and wonder,” said artistic director Ken Schwartz.

The Rick Chafe adaptation was introduced to Schwartz by his general manager Kathleen Hull. Previously, Hull had been working for Shakespeare in the Ruins in Manitoba. They commissioned the original production in 2000.

“As soon as I drove down the Ross Creek driveway for my interview, I saw the ponds and immediately thought … that’s Circe’s island!” Hull said.

Schwartz was pleased with the outcome, not only for the cast and crew, but also for Ross Creek.

“There were hundreds of people that got to see the centre, the galleries and the grounds for the first time and see what magic happens here,” said actor and centre director Chris O’Neill.

Two Planks and Ross Creek are already working on the next theatre-off-the-grid production. Ami McKay, best-selling author of The Birth House, is creating a new full-length drama for Two Planks presently entitled Jerome. It’s set to open in the summer of 2008.

Stimulate your senses

On Saturdays and Sundays, a unique sensory experience is being offered at the Look Off.

Harpist Johanne McInnis, who is based in Canning, performs at the Lookoff Café while massage therapist Hilda Peill will offer massage.

McInnis says visitors to the area enjoy the view, the food, the music and the touch in an outdoor setting. “All the senses are stimulated,” she said.

The two specialists will be on hand from early afternoon until about 7 p.m. on the weekend.

Man In Black returns

The popular tribute to Johnny Cash, Man in Black, returns to Mermaid Theatre’s Imperial Performing Arts Centre in Windsor Aug. 30.

The 8 p.m. performance is a return engagement for the show, which played to a near-capacity crowd last November.

Performing the songs that made Johnny Cash famous is actor/singer Michael Pellerin, whose voice rings true to the “slow and steady like a train, sharp like a razor” vocals to which Cash fans are accustomed.

Leading the back-up band is musical director Greg Simm, a native of Windsor. Other Windsor favourites in the band are bass player Jeff Bezanson, and Mike “Beaver” Swinimer on drums.

This lively performance showcasing Cash’s songs and the talents of these fine musicians is a sure-fire hit. Call for tickets or visit Moe’s Place Music Sales, 110 Gerrish St., Windsor, 798-5565.

Choir to sing

On Sunday, Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. in the Covenanter Church, Grand-Pre, the Expanded Elastic Millennium Choir will perform an hour-long concert.

The concert program includes music from the Elastic Millennium Choir's recent CD, A Joyful Noise, along with some other selections and a variety of sacred music arrangements from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

Tickets for the hour-long concert will be available at the door, at $15 for seniors/adults, and $5 for students.



Coming up

Aug 23

Erika Kulnys-Brain and Andrea Curry, The Wick Pub, Berwick, 8 p.m.

Aug. 25

Ron Hayes’ landscape painting workshop ‘En Plein Air,’ ArtCan Gallery, Canning

Alexia Melnychuk and Lara Yule Singh, Union St. Café, Berwick, 9 p.m.

Until Sept. 2

Sara Hartland-Rowe exhibition, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, near Canning

Send arts items to welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca