|
|
|
|
|
Northern Daughter is a one woman musical production that has been in process since 2005
The play sprang from the song of the same name and is the modern story of the life of a girl in the deep woods of Canada. Based loosely on my childhood, ND is currently a 50 minute one woman show. It is narrated by middle aged Liz who has arrived back home in her black performance gown and work boots, pick up truck and red checked shirt to assist her aging father. Theatre doesn't come much more honestly Canadian than this.
Our Northern Daughter has legs and a mind of her own. As she grows she has traversed from London ON with Lesley Andrew , to Bancroft ON, to New York City where Louise Fagan and Molly Peacock worked with me to further develop the piece; off to Italy in June 2009 to be further developed with the assistance of Vern Theissen.
Northern Daughter has come to land.... with Lisa O'Connell at Pat the Dog in Kitchener ON. Our major goal is to expand the piece into completion, 90 minutes or more for full production.
I performed a 20 minute excerpt from the play as part of 'piece/meal', the playwright reading series at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Kitchener. It was so well received I was floating on air for days.
|
Remembrance Day 2010
"As I listened to the Last Post at 11am this morning, as I do every Remembrance Day, images of Hearts Made Great came to mind and tears filled my eyes. I wanted to touch base with you, the people who helped create such a moving experience in my performance career, to thank you. I can scarcely put into words the profound and lasting effect the productions have had on me.
My participation, along with you wonderful artists, has made an indelible mark on me. Thank you all.
Lest we forget.
Paul Grambo (Hearts Made Great: Victor)"
|
|
|
|
A staged work presented with orchestra and four performers. “Hearts Made Great” is a line from the poem “Greater Love” by the esteemed WWI poet Wilfred Owen.
A young Canadian man and his Red Cross nurse sister ship off to England to await the time when they are called into active duty in World War II. They leave behind their mother who lost her husband to WWI. Via the intimacy of letters and music, the story of a Canadian family’s odyssey comes to life.
We hope that the combination of story and song will spark the imaginations of generations who have never experienced war and touch the memories of those who have.
Greater Love - Wilfred Owen
Red lips are not so red
As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.
Kindness of wooed and wooer
Seems shame to their love pure.
O Love, your eyes lose lure
When I behold eyes blinded in my stead!
Your slender attitude
Trembles not exquisite like limbs knife-skewed,
Rolling and rolling there
Where God seems not to care:
Till the fierce love they bear
Cramps them in death’s extreme decrepitude.
Your voice sings not so soft,
Though even as wind murmuring through raftered loft,
Your dear voice is not dear,
Gentle, and evening clear,
As theirs whom none now hear,
Now earth has stopped their piteous mouths that coughed.
Heart, you were never hot
Nor large, nor full like hearts made great with shot;
And though your hand be pale,
Paler are all which trail
Your cross through flame and hail:
Weep, you may weep, for you may touch them not
|
REVIEW
Hearts Made Great shouldn't be missed
Sat, November 12, 2005
If you can't go tonight, go tomorrow afternoon or both.
By JAMES REANEY, FREE PRESS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
One of the finest ways Londoners could ever salute the Year of the Veteran is on the stage at Centennial Hall this weekend.
Based on yesterday afternoon's presentation, Orchestra London's Hearts Made Great -- a fictional London region family's wartime saga in words and music, new and old -- is not to be missed. If you can't go tonight, go tomorrow afternoon -- or both times.
The music by composer and conductor Jeff Christmas and words by UWO grad Jennifer Venner call up a Remembrance Day universe of emotions -- sorrow, pride, fear, patriotism, hope and relief among them.
Hearts Made Great fulfills the ambitions of the orchestra's partnership with two London singers, Jo-Ann Lawton and Donna Creighton, two of Hearts Made Great's stars this weekend, and folk duo Sirens at other times.
Lawton, Creighton and the orchestra first discussed the idea of using music from the Second World War era in a concert setting.
Remarkably, Hearts Made Great grew into an original combination of period music from the 1940s, new compositions for the orchestra, powerfully restrained words, documentary touches and some glorious singing and playing.
|
1
In Good Company
In Good Company
In Good Company
In Good Company
|
Over the Wall Theatre Company (OTW) was a 9-week summer theatre training program & touring company that employed a total of 70 high school students over 3 summers. The Directors launched the project with HRDC funding in 1995. As a touring Company, OTW's mandate was to perform free, interactive plays for kids and families in local neighborhoods throughout the summer season.
|
Over The Wall - over the years.
|
