GORE BAY—For several years (23 by most accounts) The Manitoulin Expositor has been reviewing the offerings of the Gore Bay Theatre’s Summer Theatre held in the Gore Bay community hall. This year, the review of the theatre productions are a little delayed, largely by the unlikely confusion generated by this writer’s participation in one of the eight one-act plays as an ‘embedded’ reporter.
“We are trying something a little different this year,” said Gore Bay Theatre’s Walter Maskel, who was sharing directorial and production duties with theatric veteran Andrea Emmerton. Mr. Maskel explained that this year, the Gore Bay Theatre was offering two separate evenings of four one-act plays. The first set of four one-acts is on the theme of ‘Love and Laughter,’ in which this writer performs with his wife in the first play, and the second series is called ‘Dreams and Duets.’
Both sets of plays feature actors who have never been on the stage before along with some very familiar faces. “Walter and I wanted to work with some new people and develop new talent,” said Ms. Emmerton.
The recruiting call from Mr. Maskel engendered a quick text exchange between this writer and his wife. Through a short lapse of sanity, the both of us agreed to take on the challenge, despite schedules that would have warned off the mentally well balanced. That said, it was a lot of fun.
Mr. Maskel showed up at our front door with the script for Lynda Martens’ ‘Just For You’ a good 11 weeks prior to the first performance. “‘Piece of cake’,” I said to myself. “Piece of cake,” said my wife Linda. “That’s lots of time,” we chanted in blithe unison. Enter baptisms, baby showers, weddings, the plethora of visiting family and friends familiar to any Island resident, mix in a steady and unremitting diet of committee, council and volunteer organization meetings and most of those weeks had evaporated like a rain shower’s puddle on a hot summer day.
The patience and perseverance of community theatre directors should be legendary. Mr. Maskel patiently explained the techniques most likely to get us ‘off-book’ before the fast looming opening night performance. One had to examine the veteran director’s features very closely in order to discern any tightening of his neck musculature. “Never let them see you sweat,” may go the old saw, well Mr. Maskel and Ms. Emmerton could audition for any antiperspirant commercial in a heartbeat. Calmly, coolly, the duo provided us with stage blocking and acting lessons literally on the fly—never seeming to doubt that the end product would come together. When one considers that this pair was simultaneously dealing with eight productions, along with numerous other neophyte thespians, awe cannot help but be inspired.
“Good actors make it look easy,” said Mr. Maskel. “But learning 22 pages of lines requires a tremendous amount of hard work and focus.” He should know, in addition to his directing and production duties, Mr. Maskel also acts in both the extremely challenging Dreams and Duets’ ‘Blind Date’ with its intricate timing along with the very talented Tara Bernatchez and the touching Love and Laughter offering ‘Post Its, Notes on a Marriage.’
The last few weeks were rather intense, if not tense, as Linda and I struggled to get the lines down pat.
“I don’t want to go upstairs, mom and dad are fighting,” said our youngest daughter to our son when she arrived home from an evening shift at the Anchor Inn. “Dad got another speeding ticket and mom is really ticked.” Our son laughed as he explained that we were simply running lines. Apparently we were successfully convincing in our deliveries.
After several weeks of helping monitor our lines, our daughter-in-law Kierstyn is probably capable of stepping in for either of our roles now. She is coming to this week’s Friday night performance, but under strict admonition to refrain from any coaching from the audience.
Not to suggest that our first performance was not completely as rehearsed, but the vision over Linda’s shoulder of Mr. Maskel frantically flipping through pages of the script backstage as he desperately tried to figure out where we had leapfrogged our lines to will inhabit my darkest dreams for years to come.
Somehow, miraculously, we managed to bring the ship back on keel and hit all of the laugh lines and cues in something remotely resembling a cohesive order and Mr. Maskel’s coronary event was blissfully postponed to another season. The second performance brought its own interesting variations on the theme of middle-aged memories, yet again it somehow came together. Regular church attendance probably played a role, although Mr. Maskel insists that it comes from actually knowing the script inside out and backwards. Linda and I are certain that he and Ms. Emmerton are offering up their own prayers that we will soon know our lines right side out and frontwards. It is curious how running lines at the kitchen table can flow seamlessly, while standing before the glare of the footlights places a whole new dimension on the production.
Giving a review on a production in which one takes part is in itself challenging—although Linda and myself are the only two actors in our particular contribution. We did sneak down to watch the other plays following our own performance and took in an evening of the other four performances.
Without fear of bias I can freely say that Linda and I are brilliant—that’s what our closest friends are telling us to our faces in any event, but a cautionary note on the subject matter, this is ‘acting’ people. Enough said. But be forewarned, ‘Just For You’ deals with adult subject matter and is not suitable for young children (or perhaps the actors’ own adult children either).
The second part of act two is ‘How I Spent My Winter,’ both written and performed by the very talented Susan Garlock. The play centres on the experiences of a newcomer to Manitoulin Island and the many challenges of operating a business in the teeth of a Northern winter. Singing is involved.
Mr. Maskel and Susan Garlock deliver poignant performances in Love and Laughter’s act two, ‘Post Its, Notes on a Marriage.’ Chemistry is decidedly easier when the two acting are actually married, as is the case with Linda and I, but Mr. Maskel and Ms. Garlock carry it off with aplomb.
Jack Clark, former military man and august politician that he is, carries off the classic ‘Casey at Bat’ with timing that demonstrates Canadian military training has plenty of applications outside of uniform.
The final one-act of Love and Laughter, Jena Lenox Toddie’s ‘The Scent of Honeysuckle,’ will strike a deep chord with many baby boomers facing the challenge of dealing with aging parents and the terrible dilemma faced by those no longer able to live on their own in a rural setting, but whose ghosts bind them tightly to the family homestead. First time thespian Emily Weber is ably backstopped in her spirited role by veteran actresses Susan Garlock and Kay Valentine.
Dreams and Duets’ first one-act is another play by the talented Jena Lenox Toddie, ‘A Little Something for the Ducks,’ and Kay Valentine and Vincent Belenson deliver very solid performances in this lovely tale of December romance.
The aforementioned ‘Blind Date’ is largely a duet between the incredibly talented Ms. Bernatchez and Mr. Maskel, with a short sojourn by Mr. Belenson. The timing of the lines delivered by the two participants in a blind date, largely originating within the minds of the protagonists is outstanding, particularly since most are delivered without the assistance of visual clues from their opposites.
Act two of Dreams and Duets begins with ‘Big 8,’ a solo performance by Ms. Bernatchez that showcases her tremendous depth of talent and versatility as the protagonist deals with the encroachment of corporate culture into the heart of rural life.
The grand finale of Dreams and Duets comes in the form of Ellen Byron’s ‘Graceland’ with Lori Evans and Kayla Greenman delivering outstanding turns as a middle-aged Elvis fan jousts for position at the head of the line for the opening of Graceland with a young would be interloper.
As for this writer’s performance, you the audience will have to be the judge. Linda and I next step under the stage lights for Love and Laughter at 7:30 pm on July 24, 25 and August 1. Best to come to each performance if you want to know if we missed a line. Dreams and Duets takes to the stage on Saturday, July 26, 30 and August 2, also at 7:30 pm.
