Saturday, October 24, 2015

FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre celebrates downtown St. Catharines

When the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre announced their inaugural season line-up earlier this year, it included a special presentation of The Tale of a Town, a joint venture with Fixt Point Theatre Company and our own Suitcase in Point Theatre Company.

This celebration of downtown St. Catharines has been a work in progress for a few years now, as it was one of the projects undertaken at the annual In the Soil Arts Festival back in 2011.  Since then, it has developed into a fully-fledged one-act play that just completed a run at the Oddfellows Hall on James Street in downtown St. Catharines.

Fixt Point is a professional theatre and media company based in Toronto, and they have been working with the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, aiming to capture the collective community memory of Canada's Main Streets, one story at a time.  In each community they go to, they gather stories and audio clips from locals from which they weave together the story of that community's main street.

In St. Catharines, Fixt Point joined with our local theatre troupe Suitcase in Point to produce the St. Catharines edition of the show, recording stories and gathering information from locals from many walks of life at this year's In the Soil Arts Festival back in April.

I was one of those invited to offer some memories of St. Paul Street for the show, and I was especially interested in hearing and seeing the end result of all that collaborative work that has gone on the past several months.

The past two weeks The Tale of a Town - St. Catharines has played to often sold-out houses downtown, and the run concluded last evening with yet another sell out.  Sophie and I were invited to this final show, and along with 80 or so others crowded into the upper-level auditorium on James Street, we sat back and enjoyed, as well as participated in - the local production of The Tale of a Town.

The concept is deceptively simple:  fashion the story-line around the reminiscences offered by the people you interview, and add some artistic touches to make the whole one-hour-and-a-bit show highly entertaining.

The devil is in the details, of course, and the details along with execution both make for a compelling celebration of life in downtown St. Catharines.

As the story begins, we are in the newsroom of the St. Catharines Standard newspaper, newly reacquired by Henry Burgoyne III from those nasty corporate giants in order to publish a "quality" daily newspaper the old-fashioned way.  That means bringing back the old printing press many of us remember hearing and seeing through the glass on William Street up until about 20 years ago.

Ah yes, those vivid memories I have of that venerable old printing press!

The cast of characters here, Henry Burgoyne III (Dan Watson); his wife Betsy (Deanna Jones); reporter Ron (Robert Feetham); green intern Johnny Knickers (Dawn Chrysler) and photographer Skip (Edwin Conroy Jr.) work together to produce the first edition of the "new" old Standard, but they need a lead story (mistakenly referred to here as a "cover story") and that causes the memories from those recorded earlier to flow freely.

It was nice to hear all the memories of Art Smith, who ran Art's Diner on Geneva Street until he passed away a few years ago at the age of 88.  I never met Art, but you really didn't have to.  He was certainly larger than life, with a heart larger still as he gave back to the community in so many ways.  I often feel Art was not recognized enough for his charitable work in the community,  but the play does a nice job of paying tribute to him.

Next, we hear of the rivalry between downtown St. Catharines and the Pen Centre as the penultimate shopping destination in St. Catharines.  Sure, the Pen drained many of the retailers and ultimately shoppers from our downtown core over the years, but the play correctly suggests they can co-exist quite happily as the downtown reinvents itself as an entertainment hub for the city, with specialty shops designed to cater to that clientele.

You can't find everything you need downtown like you used to (going to Beattie's Basics, for example, or Coy Brothers, but you can get world-class doughnuts now at Beechwood Doughnuts and dine at any number of quality establishments such as Rise Above.  Both businesses get special mention in the show, as does the Garden City Food Co-op, set to open downtown early next year.

What I like about the show is although it is pretty madcap comedy, it drives home the message we have plenty to enjoy downtown today, and a lot to be proud of.  When the new FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre opens next month, there will be even more to explore downtown.

On that topic, the PAC announced just yesterday Serena Ryder will kick off the new venue's season with a concert at Partridge Hall on Saturday, November 14th at 8pm.  The performance will cap off a day full of ribbon cuttings, toasts, interactive performances and more throughout the PAC.

The next day, Sunday November 15th, an Open House will be held at the PAC, which will be free and open to the public.  One of the highlights will be Niagara Sings! from 2 to 5 pm, bringing together Chorus Niagara and five other Niagara-based choirs totalling over 300 voices, performing throughout the PAC that day.  There will also be an art fair throughout the venue showcasing many of the groups who will call the PAC home in the future.

From 5 to 8 pm on Sunday, the grand finale massed choir will perform in Partridge Hall, again free and open to the public.

If you want tickets to the Saturday performance by Serena Ryder, you'll have to wait until those signed up as Members get first crack.  Any tickets left over will go on sale to the general public the week of the performance.

So if you thought the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre wasn't going to make a huge impact on our downtown, think again.  This is only the beginning, and lots more to come this season and for many more seasons in the future.

What a nice way to celebrate downtown St. Catharines!

October 24th, 2015.

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