“Buying the Farm”, premiering at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, is billed as … “A comedy about hope, last stands, skunks, and love among the chickens!”
 
There are laughs aplenty to be had but the play’s strength is in interspersing the more over the top antics with many moments which will make you smile and some which offer pause for thought.

Matthew Gorman plays Real Estate developer, Brad. His delightfully animated expressions are set against the other two actors' usually more subtle (though not less determined) reactions.  Much of the humour derives from the unfamiliarity of a city-boy with farm life. Brad comes prepared to exert lots of pressure on farm owner, Bjorn Magnus (Jeff Culbert) and his great neice Esma (Shannon McCraken). He is a bit  goofy and naïve but single-minded. However, he gradually becomes open to possibilities other than that of reaping the land’s money-making potential.
 
The satisfactions and value of farm and country life are established early on in the play, along with a mood of things moving at a less hectic pace than in the city. Those themes are embodied perfectly by Culbert’s portrayal of Magnus.
 
The set by Eric Bunnell nicely conveys a farm that is rundown yet homey with many interesting details, like the colourful ceramic chickens hanging just inside the front door.
 
The characters in “Buying the Farm” all have problems and also creative ways to avoid a head-on approach to solving them. During the course of the play, their interactions lead them to see possibilities and hope. Those emotions are conveyed with feeling, heart and humour, through fine performances by all three actors.
 
This is the world premiere of “Buying the Farm” by Shelley Hoffman & Stephen Sparks,  and is directed by  PSFT Aristic Director Simon Joynes. It plays until July 21st at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, www.psft.ca.

“Halfway There” provides enough twists, turns and drama to keep your attention but also offers a good measure of common sense and simplicity. The combination makes for wonderfully satisfying entertainment. 

“Halfway There” is about four long-time friends and newcomer, Doctor Sean, who takes a fancy to one of them.  It’s set in Junior’s Café in Stewiake, NS, where Sean has come to “escape for a while”.
 
From the outset, it’s clear that these women talk about everything, tell each other everything and have no secrets (well almost no secrets). And they are not afraid of expressing their opinions, which includes a shared dislike for anyone who has come from Toronto, a fact Sean discovers quickly on his first visit to the Diner.

The dialogue begins at a fast pace and continues that way, flowing naturally from one topic to the next.  The conversations are a non-stop source of humour and laughs. By play’s end the back and forth banter helps you to know and appreciate all five characters.
 
Sean appears “woebegone” following a break-up with his fiancé and the women aren’t afraid to tell him so. He is in turn startled, bemused and surprised by their frank comments and observations.  But he picks up on their energy and goes with it, with happy results.

Along with the love story of the play, the theme of friendship and loyalty is front and centre. Janine left and traveled the world but returned for the friendships she treasures. Things are about to change in the close circle of women, bringing some moments of sadness but also a reassurance of the strength of their friendship.

All five actors make their unique characters come alive and shine. Sean, played by Andy Pogson holds his own, not an easy task, as he gets to know these strong, down-to earth women and win the heart of one of them.
 
The set is perfect, a comfortable and likely familiar backdrop to the unfolding conversations.
 
“Halfway There” by Norm Foster, directed by Simon Joynes is the second offering of the Port Stanley Theatre’s 40th season. If you are looking for plenty of laughs and an experience that will leave you smiling, don’t miss this one.
 
“Halfway There” runs till June 30 at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, www.psft.ca, 519-782-4353.

Ava Rose (Danielle Nicole) daughter of the man for whom the Wayne Rose Memorial Chili Cook Off is named is on an earnest quest to recreate her father's winning chili. The delightfully ditzy Ellen (Franny McCabe-Bennett) explains her bumpy past, “I’ve seldom met a loser I didn’t love.” She needs a friend and has offered to be Ava’s assistant although her particular food prep experience, it turns out, really doesn’t cut it. Tucker (Jeffrey Wetsch), a “Cordon Blue” chef is assisting Ava’s bitter rival Connie but idolizes Rose and develops a crush on Ellen. Connie (Jane Spence) oozes meanness with amazing effectiveness. And Caleb is pursuing his journalism dream with a start as a radio announcer, although public speaking may not be his strong suit.

The histories of four of the characters are intertwined and the dialogue nicely reveals the connections between them, helps to create many humorous moments and gives each individual interesting dimension. One can imagine that these five seasoned actors, along with Director Simon Joynes had a lot of fun in bringing them to life.

The set by Joshua Quinlan is noteworthy – it’s visually appealing, unique and adds nicely to the show.
 
The hilight of Five Alarm is the wonderful, often mesmerizing facial expressions each actor brings to portraying the emotions and predicaments of their character. I would look forward to seeing future performances by any of the five.

“Five Alarm” continues to August 12th. For more information visit www.portstanleytheatre.ca.

"Buying the Moose" opens with a bizarre dance scene that instantly provokes questions – lots of questions.
 
Betty has come home to find husband Rob dancing with an inflatable doll. Rob quickly realizes that, on the eve of his fifth anniversary, things have gone terribly wrong. He seeks help from his brother Greg and Betty turns to Greg’s wife and her good friend, Cheryl.

The play highlights the differences between the sexes on many topics. Wilmot drives home the nature of these divergent outlooks by having the conversation bounce mid-thought from the women at one house to the men at the other, and vice-versa.

The foursome of actors is made up of Marty Burt as Greg, Caitlin Driscoll as Betty, Meredith Zwicker as Cheryl and Darryl Pring as Rob. Under the direction of Matthew Gorman, all four actors adeptly carry off the back and forth from one calamity of communication to another, with many hilarious moments.
 
He says, she says, he says … 1,2,3 … the four characters dance their way through themes of lost confidence, body image and relationships with siblings, spouses, friends, food and drink.

The set designed by Joshua Quinlan is an effective backdrop for the unfolding conversations with their accompanying drinking, snacking and dance moves.
 
Port Stanley Theatre’s “Buying the Moose” is a well-executed and often humorous production which follows the characters’ trip down a rocky road paved with good intentions and their struggle to find a way to recover from the bumps.

"Buying the Moose" continues at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre until July 22nd. To find more info call 519-782-4353 or visit www.portstanleytheatre.ca

More than 550 individuals were involved in this year’s Rotary Music Festival which took place over four days at three venues in St. Thomas. They performed in a wide range of styles ranging from classical to jazz, pop and broadway and in a variety of formats from solo voice and instrumental to choirs and bands.

The Festival is organized by the Rotary Club of St. Thomas. The 63rd edition came to a close on the evening of Friday February 24th with the final major competitions.

Over the years, the festival has given thousands of local musicians opportunity to share and develop their talents. Competitors benefit from the experience of performing and from working with highly qualified adjudicators who provide helpful suggestions for personal growth in the music field. This year’s adjudicators included: Carol McFadden (vocal), Judy Woods (piano), Nick Carlucci (strings), Don Clark (community bands, choirs, mature voice) and Jim Smyth (instruments, elementary bands). They provided guidance and supportive encouragement to the young and not so young performers up to the age of 74!
 
2017 performers included elementary schools (including New Sarum, Elgin Court, St. Anne’s, Mitchell Hepburn as well as Wortley Road and Ashley Oaks in London), along with community choirs and bands representing Aylmer and West Elgin.

Rotary also supports young musicians with scholarships and awards. Special competitions on the final day of the Festival are held for the Rose Bowl (voice), Silver Tray (piano), Cunniffe Scholarship (instrumental), Stephanie Leung Scholarship (piano) and new this year, the Harrington-Catchpole Award and Scholarship for strings. Many recipients of these awards go on to pursue higher education in music.  Other scholarships and awards are presented to the high achievers in various classes at a Keynote Concert in April.
 
The 2017 Annual Keynotes Concert will take place on Friday April 7, with presentation of awards and scholarships and a showcasing of the talented festival winners. The location is the Salvation Army, 380 Elm St, St Thomas,7pm. The concert is a public event with a freewill offering at the door.

During the August concert, accompanied on guitar by her dad Austin and vocal coach Michael Ray, Selaena covered a range of songs from "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons to "You Don't Know Me" by Eddy Arnold, a Walt Disney medley and "Creep" by Radiohead. She gave each song a brief, personalized introduction and then she was off, immersed in the music but also inviting you along. Each note and word seemed to be caressed by her versatile voice, with plaintive high notes and rich deep ones sounding equally lovely. 
 
There are bound to be some challenges (just a couple of weeks to learn some of the songs on a lengthy playlist) and distractions (like the blare of a passing CN train) during a one-time performance in a casual venue. Yet Selaena engaged the audience on this summer evening with remarkable poise and received a well-deserved standing ovation.

 Surprisingly, she's just eleven years old! A few days after the Glencoe concert, Selaena and her parents Austin and Catherine chatted about her singing at their West Lorne home.
 
It's a household where an interest in music is nurtured. Before their children were born, the Haywards agreed they wanted them to learn to play an instrument. Their oldest daughter, Caryssa, is a talented pianist going into grade five piano, while Selaena took both piano and guitar lessons. (The youngest son Clark has been, shall we say, resistant to lessons but was given the opportunity).
 
Austin is an accomplished guitar player, builds guitars through his company "Clark's Guitars" and is taking advanced guitar lessons, also with Michael Ray. Both parents enjoy a wide variety of music and that has rubbed off on Selaena. Although Austin tends to suggest a lot of old songs, Catherine insists on including new music too. Austin laughs, "She doesn't like a lot of old country music." Selaena adds, "Nooo! She threw his tape out the car window once ..."
 
Austin grew up in London and has been delighted with the decision to make West Lorne, his wife's hometown, their home.  As it turns out, the local community has also had the resources they were looking for when, recognizing Selaena's natural talent, they sought ways to help her develop it.
 
Austin says, "She's really good, but she has the potential to be great so we want to encourage that." A friend suggested vocal coach Ray from nearby Dutton and Selaena started taking lessons from him 2 ½ years ago. Austin praises him as being one of the most talented musicians he has ever met as well as a great vocal coach. "He's shown her how to breathe and how to expand her range. The lessons have become a weekly constant, a routine, and that's what we wanted."
 
Selaena notes, "He's helped me a lot. Every song he gives me is a musical lesson. He gives me a song and tells me what he wants me to do with it. I memorize the words. Then I put my spin to it, and it kinda goes from there. He's the one that has gotten me shows; we have even recorded songs with him." Often she is given only the words and the basic melody and is asked to take it from there.
Catherine suggested getting involved in the WEDS play last December to help increase Selaena's comfort on stage and ability to convey a song's story. "Since that, I don't get stage fright," Selaena says. She and her parents agree that theatre would be a natural career direction for her.
 
Selaena is already able to engage an audience with sounds from sultry to jazzy to bluesy. She's only eleven so we may have more opportunities locally to enjoy the Selaena magic as she strives to become even better. A few years from now you may have to travel much further to hear her!
 
Find out more about Clark's Guitars and future performances by Selaena at www.facebook.com/clarksguitars.
 

All four actors have been well cast and adeptly bring their characters to real, gritty life. Gail (Susan Johnston Collins) is a 20-years-divorce-bitter and seemingly prudish bee-keeper. Earl (Terry Barna) Gail’s farm neighbour and land-tenant is a rough around the edges, blustering “ladies man” who has had a string of relationships with women who admire his “skills”. (Gail’s husband divorced her to get together with Earl’s wife – somehow Earl has managed to get over his resentment about the affair while Gail has not.) Sarah (Jane Spence), Gail’s daughter, has returned home – her marriage is in tatters, her life has taken a nosedive and things don’t appear to be looking up anytime soon. Ben (Ryan Bommarito), a geeky-new ageish-scientist-philosopher undergrad student has appeared to study bees, starting with Gail’s.

The actor’s interactions are convincing, their characters quickly become more well-rounded and the action moves along at an enjoyable pace. Both the drama and comedy of this play should appeal to a wide audience. There are many references to country and farm life which those with a rural background will appreciate.

“The Birds and the Bees” is about the relationships of birds, bees and humans – all part of nature and a world where, it seems, things are often looking not so good. But there are plenty of laughs and one of the best ever steamy/hilarious sex scenes.

Along with many very funny moments,  "The Birds and the Bees" also offers a little reflection on looking at things as parts of a complicated whole rather than always as antagonistic pieces, elucidated (sort of) by Ben.

The set, designed by Eric Bunnell, nicely portrays two bedrooms of a home which is overseen by a busy woman who hasn’t much concern for updating things, and it makes an effective back-drop to the action.

"The Birds and the Bees", directed by Simon Joynes, is wonderful entertainment – well written, directed and acted. With plenty of laughs and a bit of a hopeful message for a not so perfect world, it's a perfect ending to the 2016 season at the Port Stanley Theatre.

"The Birds and the Bees" runs August 17th to September 3rd at Port Stanley Festival Theatre. For more information, visit http://www.portstanleyfestivaltheatre.com/.

“This One” centres around Denise’s first pie making experience. The pie (pecan, using her mother’s recipe) is being made under somewhat stressful circumstances. She is about to host a family birthday gathering for her 4-year old niece and time to decorate and prepare the promised pie is running out. Early on, she asks the audience members (demands really, but with such dis-arming charm that you couldn’t say no) to help with the preparations by being her “tribe”.

The actual pie creation takes place on a tiny counter, but Mader takes possession of the entire stage with her effervescent personality and  portrayal of emotions which tumble forth in rapid succession. She covers her personal theories and worries, at age thirty-seven, about having a successful life, dating, motherhood, being a modern woman, family, rural versus city life and more.

Denise was the first child and only daughter in a farm family with five children. This is largely a story about Denise and her mother.  Through memories and anecdotes, she sites their personality differences. Denise remembers her mother’s word for her – “rammy”. She is a creative spirit who has left farm life to become a city woman. She describes her mother as strong, practical and not “huggy”. Yet one comes to feel over the course of the performance that “This One” is really one big hug for the woman Denise has come to know with certainty was both a loving mother and a special person. 
 
“This One” is a world premiere, written and performed by Denise Mader and directed by Melee Hutton. It continues to August 13th at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre, www.portstanleytheatre.ca.

The troubled and fiercely competitive Edward (Patric  Mesurkevitch) has birded far and wide and is on a joyless quest to add one more notable species to his count of 735. Barbara (Lorna Wilson), Ed’s long-time adversary, seems just about as driven and lonely, but a lot more philosophical about the search and while Ed admits to having absolutely “no intuition”, she seems to have arrived at this particular point in her life with a fair share of it. Then there are the two newlywed “locals”.  Jack (Andrew Fleming) who has taken pleasure over many years in bird-watching with his father, is a totally distracted and inattentive groom.  Angie (Julia Lederer) has a deep fear of nature, absolutely no interest in birds and is totally confused as to why they are there.

The play touches on themes of regrets and learning to avoid them; a sense of wonder versus one of achievement; the peculiar intimacy that adversaries sometimes share; looking after each other, and the different motivations which may drive those on a long-time quest.

Birds of a Feather is written and directed by PSFT artistic director Simon Joynes. Its has plenty of humour mostly related to poking fun at some of the peculiarities of avid and sometimes obsessive birders. You may be disappointed if you go to this play expecting continuous rapid-fire comedy, although there are many amusing moments. Ed is too troubled to be a source of fun; Jack and Angie do such a good job playing two people failing to connect through most of the play that they are a source more of uneasiness than laughs. On the other hand, Barbara is bold, boisterous and bigger than life. She seems to be figuring things out as she goes and sharing the lessons learned. Lorna Wilson in this role does a wonderful job of provoking smiles and holding this band of birders together to entertain for a couple hours that seem to fly by.

Birds of a Feather runs till July 23rd. Find out more at www.portstanleytheatre.ca.        

Deni is someone who, it seems, believes with a confident steadfastness that sharing his musical talents is central to his own life journey. For Passenger, he has done that in a concept album format with nine stories of different people dealing with different stages of life. A careful listen to the album is likely to draw you in through the humanity of the ideas he shares, wrapped in intelligent musicality and that soulful voice.

Bob Mersereau, music columnist and long-time arts reporter for CBC, reviewing Deni’s last album, Quiet Town, noted that Deni’s “songs are layered with loops, a bed of ambiance and modern sounds, over which we get his beautiful words and voice. Seriously, this guy has Glenn Frey beat for sheer emotion.”  Though this album is more subtly layered, the same applies.

Oppenheimer’s headphone recommendation is a good one – have a few intimate listens all on your own. Then share with family and friends and maybe enjoy a little prideful boasting, “This fantastic talent lives right here in my community!”
 
Find out more about Deni Gauthier’s music, ways to purchase Passenger, and upcoming tour dates at www.denigauthier.com.