Northern Groove

Last night as part of the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival, I went to see \"Dog Sees God\" at the North Peace Cultural Centre.  I didn\'t know much about the show going in, other than it was put on by a young cast who have been working very hard on the play for many months. Without doing a full out review of the play, I cannot tell you how impressed I was about the play and the performance.  There are…

 Interested in a funny, informative, no-guff gardening presentation just in time for planting? Join us at the Cultural Center on Sunday, May 27th at 1:00pm for what is sure to be an entertaining and enlightening talk by Donna Balzer, garden guru and co-author of the new gardening book "No Guff Vegetable Gardening". Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in person at the box office or online through the NPCC website. If you're not sure who she is, you can…

The Welcoming & Inclusive Communities & Workplaces Program has only two events remaining before the program wraps up for the year. After our exciting month of multicultural celebrations including, “Community Cultural Celebration” at the Lido Theatre, and “Celebrating Mothers Around the World”, both showcasing a diverse group of talented local artists, and our two-day “Cultural Competency in the Workplace Training”, WICWP is rounding the month out with two workshops. "Non-Profit Grant Writing Clinic"Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2012Time: 7-8:30pmLocation: Business Resource…

The Lido's Comedy Detour 2012 Featuring comedians Scott Belford and David Dempsey Friday May 25 & Saturday, May 26 THIS IS AN ADULT ONLY EVENT: 19+ Doors at 7:00pm and Show at 8:00pm So...who are these guys? Scott Belford has always made his living behind the microphone, but now the former DJ prefers working in front of a live audience. Belford started his trek in the entertainment industry as a DJ in the Peace Country but quickly transferred his talents…

  Great songs...great band...time to enjoy some classic rock!   Harlequin with special guest Ryan Hennessey - MAY 24 at THE LIDO With Douglas’ help, Harlequin signed a deal with CBS/Epic (home to Cheap Trick and Eddie Money) in 1979. The band proceeded to amaze everyone at the label by pushing the first release Victim of a Song (1979) to gold status through sheer hard-work, incessant touring, word of mouth and solid song-writing. Songs like “Sweet Things in Life”, “You…

Swollen Members was founded in the mid-1990s by Vancouverites Mad Child (Shane Bunting), Prevail (Kiley Hendriks), Rob the Viking. Having begun a solo career while living in San Francisco, California, Mad Child returned to Vancouver to work. There he met Prevail and Moka Only, who had been working together. They joined together under the name Swollen Members.Their first releases were three 12\" singles on Mad Child\'s record label Battleaxe Records, between the years of 1996 and 1998, then came the debut album Balance in 1999. Balance received…

The Welcoming and Inclusive Communities and Workplace Program is organizing a Writing clinic for Non- Profit Organizations.Andy Ackerman will be presenting on the process of writing brilliant grant proposals from start to finish.This is a great an opportunity to learn how to write proposals and write them in such a way that you get effective results.The event will be taking place on the 30th of May, 2012 at the Business Resource Center, Fort St John.Admission is free! Limited Spaces. If you…

Many have already heard about the Peter Katz show this Friday and Saturday... what you might not have heard about yet are (in the words of Paul Harvey) is the rest of the story: Friday May 18th, we have two wonderfuly talented female duo\'s opening the show: Les Maray is a newlly formed duo from the about-to-graduate high school duo comprised of Emily-May Olson and Tanisha Ray.  They  have been practicing like crazy and are super excited for the opportunity…

On Friday June 8, local metal Band Chaotic Justice will be playing at Egans Pub. show starts around 9pm, no cover!

On Saturday, May 19th, we are delighted to have the North Peace Secondary School drama group present two showcase plays for our entertainment at this year's Festival.   Hank Cinque, written by Gary Pererson makes fun of Shakespeare.  Budget cuts have caused the director of Shakespeare\'s Henry the Fifth to chop the play down to a ten minute version.  the limited funds cause comical adaptations to the production.  Ultimately through all the struggles to perform the play in ten minutes,…

Death and the Maiden, May 18th, 2012, is the the third and final production competing in the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival.  Written by Ariel Dorfman and directed by Rob Laventure, Death and the Maiden takes a look at the issue of revenge.  Paulina, a political activist, is convinced that her unexpected guest and agent for the government, Dr. Miranda, is the sadistic man who once brutally tortured her.  She takes him captive to determine the truth.  She is torn…

Dog Sees God, Wednesday, May 17th, 2012, the second production competing in the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival, is written by Bert V. Royal and directed by Chalene Scott.  Submitted by new local Theatre Company, The Spectacular Chair Factory, Dog Sees God enters the world of an older Charlie Brown.  When his dog dies of rabies, Charlie Brown begins to question the existence of an afterlife.  His best friend is too burnt out to provide any coherent speculation; his sister…

Launching the 2012 Peace River Zone Theatre Festival on Wednesday, May 16th, is Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad, written by Michael Melski and directed by Dallas Ashdown.  This romantic comedy introduces two single parents, Donna and Teddy, who engage in the courtship game while cheering their eight year old children on at the local hockey rink.  Teddy is a voluble extrovert who encourages his son\'s losing team to hit first and think later, and he coaches his son from the stands…

This year, the Peace River Zone Theatre Festival is honoured to welcome Josue Laboucane as adjudicator. Josue is originally from Fort St. John and has gone on to a successful career as an Actor and Director. As adjudicator, Josue will determine the best Production as well as the awards for best Actor, Actress, Director and eight other categories within the various plays in the Festival. More importantly for the participants, he will share his wealth of knowledge as he analyzes…