The Mess Hall Sessions

County Stage Company offers musical shows at Base31

The County Stage Company, formerly known as Festival Players, is offering a series of musical shows in the newly renovated Sergeants Mess Hall at Base31. There are four shows on the schedule, each with two performances. The shows have been curated by actor, musician and playwright Beau Dixon, whose play Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story was staged by Festival Players at The Eddie Farm and Hotel in 2021. Dixon spent a great deal of time choosing the performers for this year’s inaugural series, finding artists who are unique and compelling performers and will appeal to a wide demographic. “I choose the events by doing research on their track record as touring artists, the quality of their songwriting and musicianship, and how they interact with the audience. I wanted to treat the series as a cabaret, where the performers would interact with the audience and incorporate more of their own personal anecdotes into the show. I’ve always been interested in songwriters who can keep an audience engaged with their storytelling and banter,” he said. He is particularly thrilled to be offering the series at Base31. “This has the potential of being the hottest venue not only in the County, but possibly in the province. It is in the heart of the County, and this part of Ontario is stunning. There’s also a vibrant community, and I want to do my best to support the teams at Base31 and County Stage in continuing to nurture and expand the community. I want to provide the most unique form of entertainment. I want to put County Stage and Base31 on the map, with the hope that someday Prince Edward County will be regarded as Canada’s most vibrant region.”

The Mess Hall Sessions opens on May 26 and 27 with The Verandah Society, a Vinyl-Cafeesque show with stories by Megan Murphy and songs by Kate Suhr and musical accompaniment by Leah Grandmont. Hailey Gillis and Andrew Penner bring a reinterpretation of the songs of this century’s greatest songwriters in their show on July 21 and 22. They were co-creators and performers in last year’s production of The Shape of Home: Songs in the Search of Al Purdy. Rebecca Perry and Davis Kingsmill bring the songs from the James Bond series of movies to the Mess Hall stage on August 11 and 12. The final session features Juno award winner Hawksley Workman on September 8 and 9.

Megan Murphy said it’s a bit nerve-racking and at the same time thrilling to be opening the series at the Mess Hall. She has worked in radio and has done theatre and television as well—“all the things you need to do to create a living in the arts,” as she puts it. She also did some freelance writing, and realized that she loved making people laugh through her storytelling. The idea for The Verandah Society popped up when she was reading a book of stories written by her great-uncle. He worked for a newspaper in Peterborough in the ’80s and ’90s, writing true, anecdotal stories of times past. “He wrote this story about the ‘Verandah Society’ where he talked about growing up in the 1930s. There was no television and no phones, so people would spend a lot of time outside in the company of their neighbours, and they would stop in for a cup of tea and a chat on the verandah. And I realized during the pandemic, that was happening again, because the only place we could meet was outside, and so that was a rebirth of the ‘Verandah Society,’” she said. “So I started reading those stories again and walking past those places he wrote about. And then during the summer of 2020, my friend Kate Suhr—who is a great musician— and I thought what if we could take art to the people and we created a 45-minute set of stories and songs and we would drive to people’s houses and do these shows on their verandahs or their back decks or their driveways.”

Murphy wrote the stories and Suhr wrote the songs to blend in seamlessly. They initially figured they’d be happy to do just half a dozen shows, but soon they were booked every weekend with three shows per day. By Christmas of that year they were doing small indoor shows for “bubbles” of up to 15 people in the lounge of the Showplace Theatre in Peterborough. Subsequent lockdowns necessitated a move to Zoom, but finally last summer they were once again able to offer live performances in a theatre space. “There’s an alchemy that happens when you’re live with people in a space together,” said Murphy. She said the show is family-friendly, with songs, stories, humour and humanity, and she is very excited to be bringing the performance to the County from it’s symbolic home in Peterborough. “I think that no matter where we’re from, we’re all kind of the same. Our stories might be different, but there’s a universal heartbeat to all of us and all of our experiences, and I think that is what will translate. We’re thrilled and grateful people want to come and share some time on the proverbial verandah with us. We’ll be looking forward to seeing new people and hearing their stories as well, which is part of the fun for us.” For more information about dates and ticket prices, please visit countystage.ca.