Season set to get underway for Centre for the Arts at Brock University

This weekend, the 2014-15 Hot Ticket Professional Entertainment Season gets underway up at Brock University, before the whole thing moves downtown to their swanky new digs on St. Paul Street next fall.

I don't know about you, but I have mixed feelings about the move downtown, and I am speaking personally here.  I like the venues up on the hill at the Centre for the Arts, but for me, being able to walk to the new downtown complex from my house is just going to be so nice.  Now I know, I know, not everyone lives downtown (although more should seriously consider it!) and that means you will have to drive downtown and park.  But hey, we have a new parking garage steps away on Carlisle, so there should be no shortage of parking nearby.  And a bonus, it will be covered, too!

But I am getting ahead of myself here.  In the meantime, we have a great line-up of artists to enjoy at the Centre for the Arts up at Brock University, and it all begins Saturday evening with the first of two performances of Eric Begosian's Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Talk Radio, starring some local guy I've heard a little about, Tim Denis.

Tim is one of the theatrical minds behind Lakeside Players, the small but ambitious theatre troupe that once occupied the tiny theatre space at the Port Mansion in Port Dalhousie.  When a good part of Port Dalhousie was largely demolished to make way for the maybe-someday-to-be-built condo tower project, Lakeside Players was put in limbo as they tried to find a new home.  So now they get to open the Hot Ticket Season at Brock, and that is great news for local theatre lovers.

Tim, a gifted actor/director who often goes without sufficient sleep to feed his love of live theatre, directed and starred in a production of Talk Radio a year or so ago in the Hamilton-Burlington area, and now he brings the controversial play home to Niagara for one night and one afternoon performance this Saturday and Sunday.  It has been selling very well, I am told, but tickets should still be available for either Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon performances at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre.

Talk Radio, parts of which were based on the 1984 assassination of radio host Alan Berg, tells the story of fictional Cleveland-area shock jock Barry Champlain who is on the brink of having his controversial show go into national syndication.  He has enemies on both sides of the microphone, it seems, and therein lies the basis for the story.

Denis, popular host of the morning show at CKTB Radio in St. Catharines, and whose show I myself produced for a number of years, knows exactly what is needed to keep Talk Radio from going off the rails, and provides sure-handed direction for the production.

If this two-performance run is a success, who knows?  Perhaps Lakeside Players will have found a new home at one of the smaller downtown venues next season.  In the meantime, you can order tickets for the show by calling the Brock box office at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257, or going to www.Arts.Brocku.ca.

Elsewhere this season, the Hot Ticket series includes a little something for everyone, from live theatre to popular and jazz music to children's theatre to dance.  This is what makes the Centre for the Arts such a local treasure:  the variety and wealth of talent taking to the stages at Brock over the course of the season is quite impressive.  You can imagine how much more they'll be able to do next season when things do move downtown.

Some of the other performances this fall include Stuart McLean:  The Vinyl Cafe - Live on Stage for two performances on October 2nd and 3rd; the Official Blues Brothers Revue on October 15th; Colm Wilkinson:  Broadway & Beyond November 26th; and Natalie McMaster & Donnell Leahy:  A Family Christmas for two performances December 11th and 12th.

In the new year, things kick off with Jill Barber on January 14th; La Bottine Souriante January 29th; and Jann Arden February 25th.

For a complete listing of the season's performances, go to www.Arts.BrockU.ca, or you can go to the Calendar page of my website, www.finemusic.ca.

Centre for the Arts at Brock University - bringing the world of the Arts to Niagara, and soon to celebrate the Arts right here in downtown St. Catharines.

See you at the theatre!

September 12th, 2014.