See where this is going?

Gerda Klassen and Jayne Evans
A lot of education happens outside of the classroom. Carousel Players is an exciting and valuable partner in our students’ education. They bring theatre opportunities to a wide range of children. Carousel makes curriculum come alive and helps to build character through the arts. They meet the needs of our communities by exploring poignant and timely themes in ways that are not only challenging to our students but also fun! Thank you Carousel Players and congratulations on your anniversary!

While the mirror exercise above is a nice metaphor for how Gerda and Jayne work together, it’s also a good parallel to how they help us. Sometimes we lead, say with our programming plans or outreach initiatives, but their counsel often leads us to adjust how we thought we would deliver those programs. Sometimes they come to us with concerns and desires from their schools and we do our best to accommodate those needs. A great example of this back and forth conversation happened when Gerda and Jayne inquired about a show they had heard about that had strong connections to the poverty initiatives at their schools. I had wanted to program Danny, King of the Basement for a while, but our friends at Roseneath Theatre had been touring their production extensively and we were still waiting for the right time. Jayne and Gerda’s inquiry inspired me to follow up again, and Carousel Players ended up having a very successful run of Danny, King of the Basement in our 2009-2010 season.

Who led? Who followed? Does it matter?

Jayne, Gerda: thanks for all your dedication and hard work on behalf of NCDSB and DSBN. We are proud to count you among our friends.

Pablo Felices-Luna
(Terrible Mime but
Always Glad to Share the Lead)

Ryan Bondy and Aaron Stern In Spelling 2-5-5 by Jennifer Overton. Set & Costume Design by melanie McNeill. Photo by Claus Andersen

Accepting the award on Carousel’s behalf at the Rotary meeting in St. Catharines, Carousel’s General Manager Jane Gardner said, “this donation has made it possible for us to bring our play about autism to Niagara schools and to sell out our entire 6 week school tour in Ontario. Five schools and representatives from Autism Ontario’s Niagara chapter will benefit from seeing a performance of Spelling 2-5-5 as our guests thanks to this gift.

Mr. Etherington was a huge champion of differently abled children during his lifetime and his legacy continues through the sharing of this play with over 8000 children at 55 performances.”

Ryan Bondy and Aaron Stern In Spelling 2-5-5 by Jennifer Overton. Set & Costume Design by Melanie McNeill. Photo by Claus Andersen

Take a look at a new preview video of Spelling 2-5-5 by Jennifer Overton.

NEWSFLASH – Spelling 2-5-5 is part of the SuperNova Theatre Festival in Halifax from May 9 – 13 with performances at Neptune Studio Theatre.

Susan Ferley and Deb Harvey
Congratulations Carousel on your 40th Birthday. Such a milestone!

The Grand Theatre presented its first Carousel production as part of our season in 1991/92. That season we presented their production of SNOWSUITS, BIRTHDAYS AND GIANTS.   The Grand’s partnership with Carousel has become more solid with each passing season.

At The Grand, we appreciate Carousel’s commitment to young audiences and the quality theatre productions that address key issues that will appeal to, educate, and entertain youth.  We also appreciate that our long-standing partnership gives us the ability to plan long term. Carousel always has new plays in development and we can always be confident that relevant and topical subjects will be tackled. We are particularly interested in securing shows for the K-3 age group to encourage the very young to get involved in theatre.

We need great shows for children with high production values that we can rely on. This year we presented two fine plays, Here to Hear and Spelling 2-5-5.  Next season, we will present a play about the War of 1812, yet another example of Carousel’s proactive approach to timely subjects.

We depend on Carousel to help us reach our young audiences and Carousel delivers every time.

The kind of support we have received from Susan and Deb extends beyond their loyalty to Carousel Players. Whenever we are loading in a show, I try to sneak a little visit to their offices to say hello. We have frank conversations about our successes and challenges, about our relationship to our audiences and always, always about the work.

For instance, when we were loading in Peg and the Yeti last year, we started talking about our new K-3 show, Here to Hear. Deb and Susan were excited to program it into their season: a participation play about making music that revolves around a father and daughter musical act seemed like a logical fit for The Grand and their audiences. And it was. Remember this?

But even though Deb and Susan mostly look for work for the younger age range, when we told them about the great things we were hoping to accomplish with on our production of Spelling 255 for grades 4-8, when we talked about the kind of impact we thought the play would have in starting a dialogue about children living with autism and their families, they booked that show as well, and then went the extra mile.

On Friday March 30th, The Grand Theatre held a Gala in benefit of Autism Speaks Canada. Playwright Jennifer Overton flew from Halifax and spoke passionately to the audience about her desire to promote autism awareness for students and families through theatre. The gala also celebrated volunteer leaders from the autism community in London, and brought together adults, families and community leaders to kickoff the tour. Susan and Deb created an opportunity to reach deeper into their community with this play, and the gala set the tone for a tour that has been engaging our audiences in sincere conversations about autism.

And we couldn’t have done that without them.

Pablo Felices-Luna
(TYA AD seeking like-minded
Artistic Partners)

Look at playwright Jennifer Overton beaming! Week 1 (March 29th to 31st) We start our tour with six shows at the McManus Theatre in London, Ontario. One of these shows is a Gala performance benefiting Autism Speaks Canada. The staff from the Grand Theatre spoils us with flowers and overall kindness for our opening!

I don't think they are excited to be on the road. Not at all... Week 2 (April 2nd to 5th) Just before Easter, Spelling 2-5-5 hits the schools. We visit Grand Avenue (Grimsby), Vineland (Vineland), Briardale (St. Catharines), Quaker Road (Welland), Msgr Clancy (Thorold), Westdale (St. Catharines), Lincoln Centennial (St. Catharines) and Valley Way (Niagara Falls).

Elsa shows Carrie where the set needs a little TLC. Week 3 (April 10th to 13th) Easter Monday means the cast gets a second straight week of eight shows. This time, they perform at the DSBN Academy (Welland), DeWitt Carter (Port Colborne), Senator Gibson (Beamsville), Nelles (Grimsby), St. Mary (Niagara Falls), Alexandra (St. Catharines), Westmount (Thorold) and Bertie (Ridgeway).

Nancy Gill accepts the Norah Morgan Award after a performance of Spelling 255. Week 4 (April 16th to 20th) The nice thing about starting the tour around the Easter holidays is that the cast gets a chance to find their touring legs in time for… their first 10 show week! They performed at Prince of Wales (St. Catharines), Prince of Wales (Thorold; that is not an error, both schools had the same name), Caistor Centre (Caistor Centre), Power Glen (St. Catharines), Queen Victoria (Hamilton), Our Lady of Fatima (Grimsby), St. Joan of Arc (Oakville), Pineland (Burlington), EI McCulley (St. Catharines) and St. Denis (St. Catharines).

If you have seen the show, you know why they are opening that. Week 5 (April 23rd to 27th) That backdrop is hard to miss, isn’t it? That’s three weeks in a row with pictures featuring Melanie McNeil’s beautiful backdrop, so we may need to try something different soon. This week, Spelling 2-5-5 traveled to Bennetto (Hamilton), Dr. JE Davey (Hamilton), Holbrook (Hamilton), Mountain View (Stoney Creek), Princess Margaret (Niagara Falls), Fitch St (Welland), Balaclava (Carlisle), Kilbride (Kilbride), Heximer (Niagara Falls) and St. Theresa (St. Catharines).

Members of our 11am audience pose in front of Melanie McNeil's awesome set. Week 6 (April 30th to May 5th) As our local tour winds up, the cast performs at two more schools: Cathy Wever (Hamilton) and Queen Mary (Hamilton). We load the show into the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre and perform for audiences from St. Nicholas (St. Catharines), the Pathstone program (Thorold), Connaught (St. Catharines), Memorial (St. Catharines), Canadian Martyrs (St. Catharines) and Victoria (Niagara Falls). On Saturday, we perform twice for public audiences and send the cast out to Halifax!

Week 7 (May 9th to 13th)

Next week: Halifax!

The sold-out Spelling 2-5-5 school tour in April and May 2012 includes performances in Beamsville, Burlington, Caistor Centre, Carlisle, Grimsby, Hamilton, Kilbride, Niagara Falls, Oakville, Port Colborne, Ridgeway, St. Catharines, Stoney Creek, Thorold, Welland, and Vineland.

There are still a limited number of single tickets available to public performances of Spelling 2-5-5 at Grand Theatre in London (March 29-31), Carousel Players in St. Catharines (May 5) and SuperNova Theatre Festival hosted by Eastern Front Theatre inHalifax (May 9-13). Tickets to performances at the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre inSt. Catharines are $12 each and available at 905-682-8326 X26.

“One in 110 children today is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)” says writer Jennifer Overton. “Every child at school is going to have someone in their class or in their circle of friends or know a family that is touched by autism. That is why it is so important to raise public awareness about autism, to support schools and families and to help maximize the potential of children living with autism.  Spelling 2-5-5 provides insight into autism and offers a unique perspective of siblings – their challenges at home, with friends or at school and the joys of growing up with someone who is different.” Overton’s award winning and published play, God’s Middle Name enjoyed a highly successful national tour. It was inspired by her book, Snapshots of Autism: A Family Album, about life with her autistic son Nicholas. She is the proud recipient of Autism NovaScotia’s 2007 Sobey’s Green Jacket Award in recognition of her commitment to the Autism community.

Join Daniel Abadie and Genna Giampaolo for a camp inspired by Disney musicals. We’ll get you moving to the music with choreography, develop your singing technique, give everyone in the ensemble an opportunity to shine on stage and expand your acting abilities. Classes are Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm. Registration $175. 

Five other summer camps offered by Carousel. Details available at http://www.carouselplayers.com/arts-education/theatre-school.

Carousel Players encourages children and teachers to tell us what they liked about the plays we bring to their schools. We were pleased to receive artwork, musical creations, stories and questions about the play from children.

Here is some artwork we received from Crossroads School in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Students from Port Weller School in St. Catharines sent us a musical thank you using ideas from the play. Enjoy listening to what they created. PortWellerH2Hearthx

“Thank you for that wonderful play that you put on. It was great. I liked it even more than spectacular. My favourite part was when the little globe got bigger and bigger until it was huge. My favourite person was the girl’s dad because he was super funny.” Student at Here to Hear performance in Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre.

Featured in the photo are students from General Vanier School in Fort Erie with actors William Vickers and Amy Lee.

If you’ve been reading these Faces of Carousel posts, you know I tend to write a lot of context. This month, we’re going to let the actors speak for themselves.

Colin Doyle
HAPPY 40th CAROUSEL PLAYERS! There are not enough words for me to express my love and gratitude for Carousel. My first production was with Kim Selody, Dib and Dob and the Journey Home by David S. Craig. It was this incredible production that introduced me to some of the most important people in my life both as a person and as an artist. I met Kim and his wife, Linda Carson, David Craig (and eventually Roseneath Theatre), Adrian Churchill, current Artistic Director Pablo Felices Luna and current Production Manager Carrie Costello. The friendship that developed thanks to this theatre company has been invaluable to my life. These people, along with Donna Vandecoevering and Jane Gardner, have nurtured, supported, encouraged, and lifted my love for theatre for young audiences to a whole other level. They have seen me grow in my work, in my commitment, and desire to put fourth quality theatre to young people. Carousel Players is a place I will never outgrow as it is in my heart always.

Patricia LaRiviere
Carousel played an important part in my life. I was a recent transplant to Toronto from Montreal, having moved for love. This was October 1988. In November, I was hired to do two shows with Carousel: Ring of Song and Nobody’s Children. TYA, theatre for young audiences, was not new for me but participation theatre which was Carousel’s style in those days, was. It was also my first Equity show which was a thrilling event.

Duncan McGregor was the Artistic Director at the time and was very passionate about the work and style of the shows and shared that enthusiasm with his cast. It was a 6 month tour of 3 shows per day, 5 days a week. Playing both shows most days. That was a challenge in itself, switching sets and costumes and ages of the audience. Ring of Song was for Grades JK to 3 and Nobody’s Children played to Grades 4 to 8. It was wonderful to do two plays that were so very different from one another, very age appropriate, each committed to not only teaching stories and engaging imaginations but to showing respect for the audience. There are so many stories I could tell but space is limited!

Another benefit to working with the company has been the lifelong friendships I made and have maintained to this day. No small thing for a newly moved and homesick Montrealer! Thank you, Carousel! Here’s to many, many more years of nurturing our audiences.

Now, I would normally say something pithy about these lovely testimonials, but Pat has outdone me. She dug up this gem:

Patricia LaRiviere, Dan Van Wyck, Diane Konkin, Mark Latter, Trinity Dempster, Darlene Dempsey from the 1988-1989 school tour.

It has left me speechless. Those are (some of) the faces of Carousel.

Pablo Felices-Luna
(Delighted there are no pictures
of him from 1988 in the office)