Rounding the wagon

Station Road Arts Collective launches Canada’s only travelling theatre

If you happen to be in Picton this Saturday, you might end up doing a double take as a pair of Clydesdales pull a theatre on wheels through town from the Fairgrounds, down Main Street to Benson Park. The Roamin’ Theatre—a playhouse on wheels with a travelling troupe of actors, musicians and performers—is set to make its debut performance of The Boxcar Cowboy, a one-act stage play based on a true story by Conrad Beaubien.

The theatre—aptly named Roamin’ Theatre Roulant and made from a retrofitted hay wagon—will spend the summer wandering the side roads of the County, visiting towns and villages to entertain audiences of all ages. The idea came to Beaubien roughly eight years ago, while he was driving down a back road on a summer evening and contemplating the bureaucratic troubles he faced when trying to bring theatre to Hillier Hall. “Realizing this is not free enterprise, I never get upset with it, I say how should I be operating? So I was going up Melville Road and there sitting in the field was a hay wagon. It still had hay on it and it was for sale. I started looking at it and I said ‘you know what?’,” says Beaubien.

Calling it the Swiss Army Knife of entertainment venues, Beaubien explains with passion how it morphed in his imagination. “The goal was a venue that would be very flexible on all counts. That it would cover the basis for not just theatre, but for the Department of Illumination for puppet shows, and we’ve even been talking with people to do an opera on it,” says Beaubien. “It is actually transfering agricultural technology and bringing it into the technology of the cultural world.”

The wagon, which is solar powered and has a transparent curved roof to provide natural light, took the better part of the eight years to reach completion. It is currently sitting at Lonestar Graphics in Hillier where Paul Loner is adding the final touches. “I bought this wagon. I moved it to our welder Eddie Stevens first, then moved it along to another step because I was very specific on the look of it. I envisioned a farm wagon with a track record here already going through the fields. I thought we will just put theatre on it and still go through those same fields,” says Beaubien, who explains that he has always seen Prince Edward County as a metaphor for Canada as a whole. “We are a huge space with 350 square miles and we are spread all over the place. So having these pockets of cultural centres is very difficult. I thought if we had one on wheels, we would have Uber Theatre,” jokes Beaubien.

The show is being produced by Station Road Arts Collective (SRAC), a Hillier-based theatre group that has produced plays in theatres and other venues for 10 years. The theatre will visit eight locations around the County between July 16 and September 10. John Burns, co-founder of SRAC and director of The Boxcar Cowboy, reminisces about the first time Beaubien pitched the idea to him. “I started to do Conrad’s plays at the Tall Poppy, and somewhere along there, Conrad comes out and says ‘I want to show you something’. He marches me out back, shows me this god-awful thing and tells me what he wants to do. I thought it was crazy. But then I thought, hold on, this is Conrad. But the first time I looked at it I thought the guy had lost his mind,” jokes Burns, who adds that Beaubien doesn’t quit. “He keeps going and going. This is by far Conrad’s best play. The actors are enjoying it. I have enjoyed directing it. It’s just going to explode,” he says.

(L-R): Carol Snell, Peter Snell and Colleen Johnson rehearse on the Roamin’ Theatre stage in Hillier while Director John Burns looks on.

Burns adds that this idea is unique in the sense that it’s an ancient form of presenting theatre. “The point is that it’s a recognition of going back to the roots of theatre itself. The fact we are able to present it to the community without costs is a huge bonus. We are hearkening back to something that existed 1,000 years ago and it still has power. It still has energy. And I am excited to be a part of it,” says Burns.

The play tells the story of Charles Sherwin, a Depression- era teenager from Hillier who rode the rails and came to be known across the country as The Boxcar Cowboy. The play has two casts that will switch halfway through the summer. The first cast consists of Peter Snell, Carol Snell, Colleen Johnson and Nicholas Peat. Burns explains that he worked with Peter Snell on Festival Players showings of Elizabeth Rex and Goodnight Desdemona Good Morning Juliet. Snell has a long history in the business and he, along with wife Carol, founded Major Roadworks Theatre, working in Ontario’s federal prisons. Burns also points to Colleen Johnson’s 40-year history of community theatre in the County. “She’s done it all,” says Burns.

“This is an early acting role for Colleen and she is holding her own very well.”

Nicholas Peat is a pianist who has been playing over 20 years. A multidisciplinary artist, he has recorded two full length albums and Burns explains that in the play, he has taken on the persona of a mime. “But he’s also the musician. He supplies incredible keyboard and guitar work to support it all. As a persona, he’s the alter ego,” says Burns.

The second cast will see David Burns, Georgia Papanicolaou and Micheline Cox step in to support the roles. Readers might recognize Papanicolaou as a veteran of the County’s theatre scene. She is an award-winning director, actor and producer and the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Shatterbox Theatre. This will be her first performance with Station Road Arts.

The play will also see Lori Ference in the producer role. Burns explains her as simply a dynamo. “Lori has an incredible and complex background in all kinds of media all over the world with high profile work. We are honoured and blessed to have her working with us. She is the person in our organization that has the capacity to say no. And we need that person,” jokes Burns.

Beaubien adds that the talent of both casts has made for a fun learning experience. “This is where drama and theatre goes beyond entertainment. This is us learning from each other and other life experiences,” says Beaubien. “All of our work has been authentic. We do only original works, inspired by this region, but universal in its appeal.” He also notes that with such professionals, he doesn’t supply stage direction. “This is taking one idea of words, passing it onto a director and actor and then sitting back and saying ‘wow’. This is not traditional theatre,” he says. “I don’t question. I don’t stop to edit. I try and convey what it is in my heart. And we see what makes sense at the end of the day. And sometimes I really don’t get it until a lot of time has passed.”

For Beaubien, this is one positive that came out of a long two-year pandemic. “COVID steered us to where we are right now. When this whole idea began seven or eight years ago in a farm field, I had no idea we would be arriving in a pandemic. And I thought this is the time to go with this. We can be outdoors. We can be safe and separated. This is theatre unplugged. Away we go,” says Beaubien. “Through all my life and career I have followed my own road. I’m undaunted. I don’t take no for an answer. I take it as a sign.”

The Boxcar Cowboy world premiere is this Saturday at 7 p.m. in Benson Park. Be on the lookout for a couple characters from the cast around town in the afternoon. Bring a chair and pay what you can.

For more information, visit stationroadarts.com