This year the Huntsville Festival of the Arts celebrates 25 years of performance and creativity. As part of our celebration, on August 10, 11 and 12, 2017, we will present two short plays based on the work of playwright Stina Nyquist. Stina was a major contributor to theatre in Muskoka, creating and producing a large number of historical drama and children’s stories over three decades in our community. A former Board member of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts her plays were regularly featured as part of the Festival’s artistic offerings in the mid to late 90s.
The plays reflect the lives of Muskoka settlers and are based on research into the reality of existence in those early days. They paint an accurate picture of the times with all of the hardship and challenges settlers faced. The characters are resilient, tireless and fully human; there are tears, laughter and frustration as they struggle with the terrain, the weather, the bugs and wild animals.
The plays will be presented as a package making for an evening of theatre for potential Festival patrons. Director Greg Perras opens the evening’s entertainment with his premiere of Once Discovered, an adaptation of Stina Nyquist’s Ripples from the Bush and Letters from the Bush. Presented through narration, Once Discovered, follows three contemporary women as they discover and share correspondence from their descendants. This short one-act, 40-minute comedy/drama, highlights historical accounts of success and strife experienced by the first settlers in Muskoka.
A short intermission will be followed by Up the Blasted Trail adapted from the play of the same name by Stina Nyquist and directed by Suzanne Riverin. This play takes us back in time and is a snapshot into the lives of six characters living through the reality of life in Muskoka at the time. At this time the set location of the plays has not been determined but it is the Director’s goal to stage part of the play in an outdoor setting.
If you are interested in auditioning please come to the Anglican Church’s Sutherland Hall (downstairs) on March 25 at 1:00 p.m. Once Discovered requires three women (ages 17-70). Up the Blasted Trail requires six actors – three men (17ish, 30ish and 50ish) and three women (same ages). If you need any more information or have some questions please contact Suzanne at [email protected] or Greg at [email protected]
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