An Afternoon Affair with Theatre Orangeville

By Constance Scrafield

Theatre Orangeville asks us, “Can you feel the excitement?”

The theatre's artistic director David Nairn and Canadian actress Sheila McCarthy recently sat down to chat about their upcoming fundraiser.

The fundraiser, called An Afternoon Affair, is being held next Sunday, Sept. 15 at the beautiful Adamo Estate Winery. The very elegant winery is located at 793366 3rd Line EHS, off Hockley Road, just south up a hill from Hockley Valley Resort.

Known for the excellence of its menus and the quality of the wines Adamo Estate Winery produces, this Afternoon Affair is a luncheon to be remembered with three courses of delicacies and wine matching, accompanied by commentary on the wines by Adamo's winemaker.

McCarthy, who was formerly a fellow high school student with Nairn, had a friendship from all those years. McCarthy played many roles at Stratford Festival; She was Sarah Hamoudi in Little Mosque on the Prairie and starred in “Die Hard 2” with Bruce Willis.

Recently, she attended the Oscars this year, as a cast member in the film “Women Talking,” directed by Sarah Polley, who won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

And McCarthy is coming to the Afternoon Affair luncheon with those of you who buy tickets for this event.

There are still some tickets available to this Afternoon Affair, from a total of 100 seats, at $165 each. They will bring you to one of the most interesting properties for a great distance around. There, you will dine well and be entertained by the stories to be heard about Theatre Orangeville – its history, life, and the lives of the people in the theatre that have influenced it for the better; some of those people will be there to tell the stories themselves.

This is a fundraiser, of course, but the ambiance and the stories are the focus and in a conversation with David Nairn, he was keen especially for the stories to be heard.

He noted with real pleasure that there is a significant increase in ticket sales, all round to subscription, single tickets, the ‘Twas Gala – this year to be held at the Hockley Valley Resort – among younger people, many of whom never knew there is a professional theatre in Orangeville.

“We wanted this to be an opportunity for understanding what Theatre Orangeville is all about. That's the focus. The value Theatre Orangeville is to the community,” he said.

“I just want people to be excited about TOV, about those dreams – like, what does it mean to be a member of Creative Partners in Stage (CPOS)?”

This is the theatre company of Neuro-divergent adults, under the umbrella of Theatre Orangeville and its unique partnership with Community Living Dufferin (CLD).

David and Sheila made a video of their chat about the Afternoon Affair and agreed “It is an important to see this as a conversation among new and old friends.”

Said David, “I am fully confident that's what will happen.”

For tickets, call the Box Office at 519-942-3423 ext 2803.

Tickets are $165, with a $50 tax receipt or tables of 10 at $1,500 with a tax receipt of $50.