What do hockey and theatre have in common? Both have a stage for the players, rules of the game, audiences with great passion for the performance, and excitement triggered by the spontaneity of the action taking place. Stage North Theatre Society is bringing the “great” game to the theatre for some fun and entertainment on February 17.

Stage North scores with locker room humour in the production of The Good Game by Roy Tweed when it faces off later this month at the North Peace Cultural Centre in Fort St. John.

The play tells the story of Zack, CJ, Pinkie and Charlie, four aging hockey players reunited for an old-timers game. “It’s a reunion game, 20 years after they won the Nestor Cup, they return to play the current Nestor Newtons,” said Blair Scott, Stage North Director. “They haven’t played together for a long time and they are not in shape anymore and a bit nervous.” Accomplished TSN reporter Samantha Brown is on the scene to bring back the memories of their earlier years when she first reported on the team as a young girl.

Everyone can identify with the varied characters in the play. Zack (played by Les Anderson ) is the hometown boy who stayed close to home and is the mechanic at the local garage. Charlie (Rob Dempsey) is the goalie who has been hit by one too many pucks. The wild player and instigator of crazy antics as a teenager, CJ MacDonald (Dennis Szalai), shocks everyone with his new persona as a pedantic educator and author. Pinkie (Rob Laventure) is the token French Canadian player, now from Montreal, who traveled the furthest to the reunion. “It’s about changes in their lives but they turn out to be very much the same people they were 20 years ago,” remarked Scott. During the game, the self-important radio announcer (Paul Mahood), favours the young fellows but earns new respect for the old-timers.

Hockey fans will relate as the players rekindle old memories, take up old friendships, and brace themselves for the match of their lives.

A hockey game and a play have another point in common. A good hockey game nor a good stage performance can ever be duplicated exactly as it was played the first time!

The reels of movie film as we know it are coming to an end. Along with the demise of photographic film and conventional cameras, celluloid film will be a thing of the past. Movies will soon come to the local cinema on digital. The familiar saying of left on the cutting room floor will take on a new meaning.  

Stage North has found a way to celebrate the well-known strips of black mini-frames by challenging creative people to make wearable art and art forms out of recycled movie film. As a Landmark Cinema, the local Aurora is making the switch gradually this spring and has supplied rolls of film for all competitors in the challenge.   

A showcase of the creative works will be featured at Stage NorthÆs Annual Oscar Night on the Big Screen on February 26. A fashion show and art exhibit opens at On the Rocks Nightclub on Sunday with the Red Carpet at 5pm and Fashion Show at 7:30pm. The Oscars will be shown on the big screen as they happen live in Hollywood. Tickets are only $15 and available online at tickets.npp.bc.ca or at the NPCC box office. 

This unique event is one of a kind and has caught the imagination of many artists. A Youtube video located under Fashion and Form was created by Stage North member Karen Rutledge with the help of local actors and former mayor, Bruce Lantz. Email enquiries have come from as far away as Manchester, England.  

Stage North has partnered with Northern Environmental Action Team who has recycling at the top of their list and the Fort St. John Community Arts Council who encourages new creative projects. Along with Dimitri Karampalas at On the Rocks, Stage North and Fort St. John will be the first to stage a fashion show and art exhibit with recycled movie film.   

Participants have until February 6 to register and all fashions and artworks are to be delivered by February 22. For further information:  www.stagenorth.ca or phone 250-785-6214. 

Stage North is celebrating 35 years of quality live theatre in Fort St. John. Having its roots with Workshop Players, Stage North began in 1977 when Northern Lights College launched a drama program as part of its curriculum. Over 150 productions later, Stage North is thriving in 2012. Look for more from the archives of local theatre throughout the year in celebration of 35 years of Stage North.

Where Does The Money Go?

Gone are the days when a live theatre production cost in the low hundreds to stage. In the 60’s and 70’s, Workshop Players in Fort St. John took over a gymnasium of an elementary school for a weekend, pulled together costumes from home closets, and advertised by telling their friends and colleagues. An entry fee of $2 covered most of the costs and a few dollars were left to start off the next production.

A typical Stage North production now costs about $8,000 to $10,000 to stage, with the popular musicals having large casts costing as much as $17,000.  

So where does the money go? The production rights for each show can vary from $50 a performance to $1500 a performance. The musical Cabaret paid $6000 in production rights to Tams-Witmark Music Library and The Good Game coming up in February will pay $325 to the playwright.

The cost of the performance venue has increased with the development of a fully equipped theatre with sound, lighting and raked seating for the audience. Casts and crews have the advantage of working in a proper theatre instead of a make-shift gymnasium. Gone are the days of hauling in the lights and the sound and setting up benches for the audience. Audiences have comfortable seating now and do not have to sit on the hard gym floor. Technical expertise comes along with the sophisticated venue and the total cost can be as high as $7500 as it was for Cabaret.

Rehearsals take place months in advance of the show opening on stage. Stage North pays rent for rehearsal space which triples as costume storage, set storage and set construction space as well. Commercial rent is required for 12 months of the year since rehearsals are back to back and sometimes overlap. Rent is now just over $20,000 a year since Stage North downsized to a smaller, less versatile, but a more affordable space.

Set construction requires lumber and paint. Costumes require materials and notions. Makeup requires replenishing between shows. The costs vary according to the type of show, the design period of the show and the number of cast members. All assembly and construction labour plus the cast and crew time is volunteer but materials, though sometimes donated, are often costly.

The advertising, promotions and program require thousands of dollars per show. Stage North is fortunate to have wonderful in-kind support from local radio and newspapers and additional print media like the Northern Groove. Hamilton’s Copiers helps by printing programs and posters. The total costs per show would be much higher than indicated above if all promotions and publicity required cash payment.

Who pays for the production costs of the show? The audience ticket sales are a main source of revenue but the support of annual Sponsors and donations from Friends is vital to the success of Stage North. At the end of the year, Stage North considers it a profitable year if it has some funds in the bank to start off the next season.

Starting off this 35 Years of Celebration, Stage North will stage The Good Game, a comedy about the hockey old timers team returning to the ice 20 years after winning the championship. The locker room banter will be familiar to every hockey player anywhere. The show runs February 17 – 25. Tickets are now available online at tickets.npcc.bc.ca or at the NPCC ticket office.  

For further information: www.stagenorth.ca

Once the class clown and storyteller, Blair Scott is still casting spells many years later. Blair directed the recent award winning production of “Fuel” by Jerod Blake which won the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival and is now gearing up for the provincial theatre competition.

Blair says that, “Theatre is telling stories and it is fun to see the reactions of the people who see the plays.”  Reactions can be good, bad, sad, or joyous, but theatre moves people to react in some way because theatre reflects life. He says, “It is like telling a good joke but the reaction lasts longer.” However, there is little humour in the powerful stage production of “Fuel”.

As a long time actor and director with Stage North, Blair chose “Fuel” for the Theatre Festival because it personifies addiction.  His own personal journey in watching his alcoholic parents struggle daily with the disease helped him to guide the two actors , Gilles Francoeur and JP Wood, through the intense and emotional script. “I first saw the play when Fort St. John hosted the Can-West Playfest a few years ago.” said Blair. “I knew then that this was a story I could relate to and so can many people in Fort St. John. We have all been affected by addicts who are friends, family, or friends of friends.”

Blair has worked in the oilfield since he was 19 years old. He is the area supervisor for Terra Energy Corp.  in Fort St. John.  Terra Energy’s major focus of production is in and around Fort St. John so Blair is directing oilfield work on a daily basis and directing actors on stage in the evening hours.  He feels that acting is beneficial for everyone in any field of work. It builds confidence, teaches you to take risks in life, moves you out of your daily routine, builds new friendships and it is just plain fun.

Both of Blair’s children are making careers in theatre. Chalene recently graduated from Capilano University with a diploma in Acting for Stage and Screen. She is on a theatre tour with her fellow thespians performing at Fringe Festivals across Canada. They will end their tour in Fort St. John and conduct a Theatre School for Stage North at the end of August. Zac was accepted into theatre school last fall at Studio 58 Langara University. Blair was pleasantly surprised that Zac had learned many techniques that helped to make “Fuel” an even better production. Returning for the summer, Zac assisted with the last few weeks of rehearsals with “Fuel”.

“Fuel” will play once more in Fort St. John as a fundraising event on June 24 at the North Peace Cultural Centre.  This is a last chance to see the play for those who missed it during the Peace River Zone Festival in May. In July, the cast and crew will pack up the set and costumes and travel to Mainstage in Kamloops for the provincial competition. They will complete among the 10 zones in the province and take part in educational classes on acting, directing, technical aspects of theatre, set and costume design and more.

Blair has future plans with Stage North. Once done with “Fuel” after Mainstage, he will be looking for a cast and crew for the next production he is directing. The February show of the Stage North 2011-2012 season is “The Good Game”, a comic look into the locker room at a hockey game. It is the championship hockey team coming back 20 years later for a reunion. Anyone who has played the sport will see themselves on stage as the dressing room capers unfold. As an avid fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and a hockey player himself, Blair is sure to be very involved in “The Good Game”.

Acting is not only for the stage. Store clerks, students, and company managers can all benefit from a few acting lessons. Acting hones skills in presentation, builds confidence and helps quick thinking in tight situations. Stage North will host an intensive week of theatre courses August 23-27 in Fort St. John. The theatre summer school will include courses in acting, directing, script analysis, lighting and sound and more. Pick and choose among the seven different courses or attend the entire series. Those 14 years old and older are welcome to register at the North Peace Cultural Centre.

Among the instructors of the summer school are six theatre educators from Capilano University who together comprise the In the Flesh Theatre Company currently on a cross Canada Fringe Festival tour. In the Flesh Theatre will be performing in Montreal, Haileybury, Saskatoon, and Edmonton before they come to Fort St. John to facilitate the theatre summer school. Registrants will have the option of using some of their newly learned skills in a practicum with In the Flesh Theatre to stage BOX: or the Incredible Impact of the Totally Made Up on August 27.

BOX is a story about a woman named Lee, who works hard at a job she doesn’t really want to do. It isn’t until she is put up for a promotion that she discovers what she is truly capable of - what her imagination is capable of. This story is told through compelling physical work and vivid imagery.  Surprising transformations reveal a world beyond the everyday- a world of mobsters, greasers, police officers, ninjas, pirates, businessmen and monsters; a world of possibilities.

Graduates of the Acting for Stage and Screen Program from Capilano University in North Vancouver, have created this original piece using composition work, viewpoints and collaborative writing sessions.  They have been in the development process since July 2010 and have been working with the Technical Theatre Program, the Costuming Program, and Film Program graduates from Capilano. The show also features an original score by company members.  Inspired by the idea of people reconnecting with their imaginations, they aim to tell a story that motivates audiences to follow their hearts, no matter who they are.

The six members of In the Flesh Theatre and the instructors of the summer theatre school are:

Tracy Varju from Coquitlam, BC  is a graduate of the Acting for Stage and Screen Program. She has a jazz dance and musical theatre background, and has trained in Suzuki and Viewpoints with New York’s SITI Company.

Ryan Bolton from Mitchosen, BC spent last summer in Fort St. John as an assistance coordinator for the Public Library’s Summer Reading Club for Kids. He was a volunteer karate instructor for five years and taught professionally for two and is a volunteer swimming instructor.

Alyssa Kostello has trained in Suzuki and Viewpoints with New York’s SITI Company and with artists from Zen Zen Zoa in Australia. She started her theatre training with ten years of Deep Water Theatre School at the Cobalt Classic Theatre.

Christopher Fader is a member of the Coastal Sound Music Academy and was a choir member for ten years. He has trained with Andrew McIlroy, professional actor and director. Christopher was a teacher’s assistant for two years, and has a Fine and Performing Arts Certificate from Douglas College.

Jennifer Hoar was born in Israel and raised in Keswick, Ontario. Before attending Capilano, she trained for six months at the Vancouver Film School. She is a stained glass artist and attended a two month class at Emily Carr Art Insititute for Visual Arts.

Fort St. John’s own Chalene Scott, though born in Saskatchewan, was raised in BC which has forevermore confused her about her identity. She has devoted her life to theatre in the hopes that she may someday stumble across her true self.  She has trained with Dean Paul Gibson, Andrew McIlroy, Fran Gebhard, Stephen Drover, David C. Jones, and many more Vancouver professionals.  She directed Dog Sees God this past year and offers workshops in improv, script analysis, directing and auditioning for all ages.  Well-known to the theatre crowd in Fort St. John, Chalene has directed Seussical the Musical, The Importance of Being Ernest, and This is a Play.   She is excited to once again take the director's chair in Fort St. John for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown this Christmas season.

For information on BOX visit www.wix.com/inthefleshtheatre/fringetour or follow us on twitter @inthefleshthtr.

Personalize Your Gift Giving with a Recycled Rubber Tire Tile

A one-of-a-kind Christmas gift idea is offered by the Northern Environmental Action Team (NEAT). You can take a personal step toward a more sustainable community by purchasing a unique paving tile made of recycled rubber tires.

Your name or names of family, friends, colleagues and businesses will be engraved on each tile making a great gift for those hard to buy for at Christmas time. The tiles will be placed on a path in a public Fort St. John location in the spring as a demonstration of a sustainable alternative to cement or tar paving. You can monitor how the tiles react to the sun, ice , snow removal and repeated melting over a period of 8 months. The first project of recycled rubber tire tiles will encompass 1200 square feet of surface.    

The recycled rubber tire tiles are a pilot project to introduce a sustainable product to Fort St. John and area. The tiles are entirely a BC product, made from car and truck tires shipped from Fort St. John to Pacific Shredders and ground into BC crumb. Dinoflex Industries in Salmon Arm uses the BC crumb to make the rubber tiles.

The tiles are durable, permeable and easy to install and reinstall. Perfect for playgrounds and other people places, they are a more environmentally friendly and a more forgiving alternate to paving or cement. On walking tracks the cushioned surface is easier on the knees and legs. Recycled rubber tire tiles are commonly used for driveways and patios.

NEAT invites you to be part of the drive for sustainable living in Fort St. John. Be one of the first to give your stamp of approval to this recycled product for the community. A 4 foot square tile engraved with your name is a donation of $250 and a 2 foot square tile is $150. All donations receive a tax-deductible receipt. If purchased before December 12, a Christmas card with a photo of your personalized tile will be available for you to give on Christmas day. Check out www.neat.ca for more information or stop in to 10027 100 Street in Fort St. John where NEAT has other unique environmentally friendly gift items for sale.

With the famous words “LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION” a director on a movie set films the action taking place. This year Stage North Theatre Society in Fort St. John takes the commands “CUT” and “IT’S A WRAP” to a new level. Stage North is challenging fashion designers and artists to cut and create fashions and art forms by reusing commercial movie film (that stuff that runs through the projector at the theatre...you know).