More than theatre

Festival Players launches summer season

It wouldn’t be summer in Prince Edward County without the brilliant performing arts of Festival Players. Since its founding in 2006, Festival Players has produced over a hundred performances. Productions have taken place in a century-old barn, under a tent in an estate vineyard, in a pop-up storefront theatre and on the shores of Lake Ontario. This season—the groups 16th—presented by BMO and Huff Estates and running from June 29 to September 4, brings an expansive lineup of theatre, dance, comedy and music back to The Eddie Hotel and Farm.

Artistic Director Graham Abbey told The Times that this season builds on the success of its first year at the Eddie Hotel and Farm with expanded programming at both the outdoor pavilion and the historic Red Barn Theatre. “We are thrilled. We have a really eclectic mix of theatre music and comedy this year,” said Abbey. “People can come and be under the stars and beautiful County sky in our outdoor pavilion, or take in a show in the century-old barn. Our season also includes the return of dance, comedy, music and theatre along with interactive community events that will allow audiences of all ages to engage with our productions like never before,” said Abbey.

Festival Players Artistic Director Graham Abbey.

The season began this past weekend with the Haymaker Comedy Festival, which featured some of Canada’s top stand-up comics, including, Colin Mochrie, Deb Mc- Grath, Elvira Kurt, Wassim El-Mounzer and Gavin Crawford, performing in the historic Red Barn Theatre. “It was a nice way to kick the season off ,” said Abbey. “This is our biggest season to date in 16 years, and it was not by accident that we wanted to come out with a splash.”

This month, The Red Barn Theatre will host the world premiere of the Festival Players commission The Shape of Home: Songs in Search of Al Purdy. Purdy’s writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four books of correspondence, in addition to his posthumous works.

Created by and featuring Frank Cox-O’Connell, Beau Dixon, Hailey Gillis, Marni Jackson, Raha Javanfar, and Andrew Penner, The Shape of Home explores the life and work of Canada’s unofficial poet laureate. Abbey explains how he reached out to actress Haily Gillis of Soulpepper Theatre to ask if she would be interested in looking at the poetry of Purdy. “She loved it and the team got together over Zoom and they basically wrote over 20 new songs. It’s incredible,” said Abbey, who added that Purdy’s words have been turned into a musical investigation of his life. “Gord Downie and others used Purdy and the County as a muse. This performance will have a life beyond this year,” he said. The Shape of Home runs from July 14 to 31 with performances at 2 p.m. And 7 p.m at the Red Barn Theatre.

In August, the Festival Players Pavilion will host Flight, an outdoor festival celebrating diverse and Indigenous contemporary dance created and curated by Carol Anderson, Arwyn Carpenter, Jordana Deveau, Sophie Dow, Kristen Foote and featuring an eclectic lineup of dancers including Santee Smith and Patricia O’Callaghan.

Flight runs from August 9 to 14 with performances at 5 p.m. And 7 p.m. In the pavilion at the Eddie Hotel and Farm.

August will also see the performance of Beyond the Sea, a romantic comedy from Port Dover’s Lighthouse Theatre, directed by Derek Ritschel, written by Kristen Da Silva and featuring Jane Spence and Jeffrey Wetsch. Beyond the Sea will run from August 24 to September 4 with performances at 2 pm. And 7 p.m. In the pavilion at the Eddie Hotel and Farm.

Abbey was excited to share the Youth Summer Theatre Camp—PIC in PEC—an annual theatre program for youth ages 13 to 17 to write a new play collaboratively. Through a series of engaging group activities, the young artists will unearth inspiration from the County and the poetry of Al Purdy. This program is offered free of charge.

This season also bring the launch of the Indigenous Theatre Creator Program. Festival Players, in collaboration with Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na (TTO), is accepting applications for the inaugural Indigenous Theatre Creator Position for 2022. Abbey shared that this program is an important step for Festival Players to reach out to new voices. “This was an effort to reach out to a community that traditionally in the past we haven’t had a link too,” said Abbey. “We have some amazing applicants so far. We are really proud of it and are excited to work with the Mohawk Community.” TTO is the language and cultural centre for Kenhtè:ke and will be assisting Festival Players in evaluating submissions. This annual position offers an honorarium, support from the artistic team, and a workshop/presentation of the created work.

For Abbey, this season is a bit of a revival after the pandemic caused Festival Players to have to reimagine its programming. “The whole world has had a couple of tough years. We have endured. We have a wonderful audience every year. We hope to get bigger and better every year.