Arts in review for 2018

January 17, 2019 · 0 Comments

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

Last year saw many marvels in the Arts Last year saw many marvels in the arts world in the Headwaters Region. Although there were likely other concerts, art shows and in-house events, this is, we hope, a fairly comprehensive list. If your establishment hosts events you would like to add next year, please get in touch with the Citizen and we will be happy to include it.

This week will feature Art from January 2018 to May. May to December will continue in next week’s issue.

Here, then, for the second year, is the Citizen’s Arts in Review.

January:

-12 to 21 – Orangeville Music Theatre (OMT) production of My Fair Lady, in which Professor Higgins turns an ignorant flower girl from the rough environment of East London into a lady like creature to whom men want to bring flowers.

-13 Headwaters Art Gallery (HAG) opening of the Synergy, about how things work together

-15 – Monday Night at the Movies (MNM) shows Breathe about Robert Cavendish who was diagnosed with polio when he was 28 and became a global advocate for disabled people.

-20 to 21 Alton Mills Arts Centre (AMAC): Fire & Ice Festival – artists were indoors, ready to talk to the public and show and sell their work and outside where there were ice sculptures and music, as well as a great barbecue and other delicious things to eat

-21 Noodle Gallery at AMAC opens with its Essential Reflections

-24 BookLore held a book talk with Kara Stanley about her book, Ghost Warning.

-26 to 28 OMT – Junior production of Peter Pan, with the young actors portraying the boy who never wanted to grow up.

-29 MNM brings The Viceroy’s House to the cinema, at the historic end of the British rule of India, Lord Mountbatten moves into the Viceroy’s with his wife and six year old daughter to “give India back to itself.” Pretty tough job…

February:

-8 Theatre Orangeville (TOV) – Little Red Theatre present Tales of Peter Rabbit with brought the stories from Beatrix Potter to life with “animated puppets, mysterious shadows and lots of laughter.”

-12 -MNM shows Loving Vincent – the first ever animated oil painting, telling the tragic tale of the life of Vincent van Gogh – an interesting take on the art of cinema

-15 to March 4 TOV production of Trudeau Stories, written and performed by Brooke Johnson about her friendship with Pierre Trudeau. Fascinating.

-15 to 24 Caledon Town Hall Players (CTHP) presented Accidental Hit-Man Blues – a dark comedy about a couple, down on their luck, who come by a new business, giving them new hope until they learn the nature of the business is to hire assassins..

– 17 HAG – open exhibition with member artist, Fragments.

– 26 MNM – Tulipani – a comedy about a Dutch farmer, having lost his farm to the floods of 1953, determined “never to have wet socks again,” cycles to the south of Italy, to where a young woman from Montreal also has her own errand.

-27 – BookLore hosts a presentation with mystery author, Steve Burrows at the Seniors’ Centre with the Upper Credit Field Naturalists.

March:

-Through the month- BookLore helped with the launch and selling the travel-adventure book Out of Bounds on the Silk Road by former Caledon resident and student, Kate Harris

– 4 TOV – One thing Leads to Another, a play developed for babies and toddlers, winning the Dora Mavor Moore New Play and Outstanding Performance, Ensemble for its innovative approach to performing for very young children . The play was produced at the theatre’s Rehearsal Hall, where the young audience sat in rapt attention for the whole performance. Developed from the original concept and research by Maja Ardal, who also performed in it with Audrey Dwyer, Julia Tribe and Frances Moore.

-7 to 9 -TOV with Creative Partners on Stage (C.P.O.S.) presenting Tale Spin, stories “from everywhere,” directed by Elisabeth Glenday and co-written and choreographed with Kristen Gamach. This is the ongoing partnership between Theatre Orangeville and Community Living Dufferin to create and enjoy theatrical productions with adults with developmental disabilities.

– 26 to May 28-Mondays: TOV: T.O.E.P. Program: Theatre Orangeville Exceptional Players is a theatre program, using games, music and improv for youth and adults with developmental disabilities, aimed improving communication skills and self confidence.

–10 -BookLore brought mystery writer, Ian Hamilton, for a presentation to Orangeville Public Library

– 18 Westminster United Church – Art of Song concert– a mix of music, vocal and instrumental in the specifically renovated church, with a number of singers classical, folk and pop.

-24 – AMAC – Headwaters Art Gallery – opening of Perspectives

-26 -MNM presented the movie Cardinals, about Valerie Walkers, home after eight years in prison for drunk driving causing death, to face her daughters, other people and their lives over those years.

April:

-5 to 22 – TOV Screwball Comedy by Norm Foster –a very funny play based on the “screwball comedies” of the 1920’s to ‘40’s. About an ambitious lady journalist wanting to get ahead and ready to buck the wise-cracking male competition.

-9 MNM brought in this The Mediation Park, a Chinese film in three languages, English Cantonese and Mandarin, about a wife betrayed and her renewed take on life.

– 23 MNM showed the film, Indian Horse, about the life of a young indigenous boy, a youthful hockey star caught in the web of a residential school and eventual stardom in the hockey rink. Based on the book of the same name by Richard Wagamese.

– 24 Dragonfly Arts – Window display of Michele van Maunik, with her larger than life flowers, recently shown at the Louvre in Paris.

-28 BookLore celebrating Canadian Independent Book Store Day. Nancy Frater, owner and co-founder of BookLore, was interviewed on CBC, Fresh Air, about the importance of Independent Book Stores.

-28 BookLore – launch of One County One Book with Orangeville, Shelburne and Grand Valley Public Libraries.

-28 AMAC- Headwaters Arts Gallery stages the opening of Kaleidoscopic Journey, an exhibition of exceptional pottery by Ann Randeraad

May –

-3 to 20 TOV’S production of The Birds and The Bees by Mark Crawford about a love life after 50, friendships old and new, and loyalty that is indifferent to time.

– 3 to 12 CTHP- produced the farce, Dilemma Over Dinner, definitively farcical with a planned dinner that could not go wrong but does so exquisitely: politics, old antagonisms – everything you could wish for.

– 4 TOV -Starlight Gala – dinner before the Opening Night of The Birds and The Bees and artistic Director, David Nairn, standing on a chair, announced the upcoming season.

-5 AMAC hosted their Spring Open House with a Celtic theme – Get Your Celtic On!

-5 AMAC installation of Fiona Leggs’ The Maze Project on the grounds of the Mill.

5- BookLore – launch of I Am Orangeville 2 by Les Sabo

– 7 MNM – May’s British film was Finding Your feet about a lady in mid-life who was persuaded to start again with very cheerful results.

-25 to 27 TOV’s Battle of the Bands with T.O.Y.S. battling out favourite songs from famous bands! Raising the roof.

-22 to June 15 –TOV – Theatre for Young Audiences took Boys and Girls and Other Mythological Creatures into elementary schools. TYA is a theatre touring company that brings productions dealing with “issued- based, age- appropriate topics, presenting them in a bright and entertaining way that ..students can engage with and understand.”

– 31 to June 2 – Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival. Now known internationally for the quality of the entertainment, organization and accessibility, this award winning festival brings musicians from all over the world, and thousands of visitors to Orangeville.