Winter is upon us, and despite conflicting reports from groundhogs across North America, it will be here a while longer. Rural Root is starting our 11th season, and the weather has not slowed the team putting together our spring show, The Affections of May by Norm Foster. Director Helen Weeden and Producer Ian Glen are off and running, with auditions scheduled for early February and rehearsals beginning shortly thereafter. Be sure to check out the show’s page for more information or opportunities to get involved.
Coming off the success of our first ever Christmas show last November, The Affections of May takes us back to Rural Root’s roots, the two act comedy. It will be the third Norm Foster play that we have produced, so we know audiences and the actors will thoroughly enjoy this one. Be sure to get your tickets when the box office opens in April!
– Ivo Mokros, RRTC Board President
January 17 AGM Results
The RRTC held its annual AGM on December 17. Thanks to all members who joined us for some social time and an update on our activities in 2015. President Ivo Mokros outlined Rural Root’s achievements and plans for 2016, board members presented highlights of the past year and elections were held. Many thanks to long serving board members Jenn McMillan and Kellie Shrimpton who resigned this year to focus their energies elsewhere.
Your new Board of Directors for 2016 includes:
Position | Name | Contact |
---|---|---|
President | Ivo Mokros | president@ruralroot.org |
Treasurer | Elizabeth Sweetnam | treasurer@ruralroot.org |
Secretary | Lee Powell | secretary@ruralroot.org |
Publicity | Pamela Stowers | publicity@ruralroot.org |
Membership | Judy Puritt | volunteers@ruralroot.org |
Artistic Director | Helen Weeden | plays@ruralroot.org |
Technical | Martin Weeden | tech@ruralroot.org |
Box Office | Amanda Sauvé | boxoffice@ruralroot.org |
Director-at-large | Greg Geisler | sponsorship@ruralroot.org |
Associate Director | Barb O’Dell | bod@ruralroot.org |
Associate Director | Dee Staigh | bod@ruralroot.org |
Associate Director | Sarah Finan | bod@ruralroot.org |
Associate Director | Carolyn Walsh | bod@ruralroot.org |
Associate Director | Peter Veale | bod@ruralroot.org |
Congratulations to everyone!
Interested in learning more about the workings of your theatre community?
Based on questions and comments raised at the AGM, the board explicitly invites any member of the RRTC community to attend board meetings to develop a better understanding. Board meetings are open to the entire membership, although only board members are able to vote. Immediately following the AGM, the new board had a quick meeting. All RRTC members in attendance were invited to stay. Our next board meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 22 and is open to all members in good standing. Details and RSVP requests will be posted on our Website.
The Affections of May: Excitement is mounting as we gear up for Spring
Our Spring show, The Affections of May, is a delightful Norm Foster comedy. First performed in 1990, the story still rings true today. Foster’s plays are always big hits with the audience, and we are looking forward to success with this production too!
The Affections of May synopsis
May and her husband Brian have moved to small town Ontario. They moved from the city some time ago to get away and started a B&B. Brian one morning decides he has had enough and leaves May. Shortly after Brian has left Quinn shows up (he has heard May is now on her own) looking for room and board for doing work around the place.
The word is out and before you know it there are other suitors at her door. A nerdy bank employee Hank (who hasn’t had a lot of luck in his love live) will now hope to win over May.
Director Helen Weeden and Producer Ian Glen are now looking to cast the play and fill the crew spots.
Auditions
Auditions are to be held on Sunday, February 7 and Wednesday, February 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the CBBBC. Rehearsals for February and March will be held at 7:00 p.m. three times a week—Sundays in Constance Bay, and Mondays and Wednesdays in Carp. More information is available here.
Crew
We are looking for folks to fill ALL crew positions from Costumes to FOH, from ASM to Lights, etc. There will be opportunities in set design, construction and decor as we try to make our set one to be admired. If you have never done any of these jobs before but would like to give it a try, sign up and we will try to find a mentor for you. If you are experienced, then this is the show for you! You can sign up on line – or come out to the auditions and complete a form. Or, you can simply contact Ian directly at 613.832.1225 or via e-mail at affections@ruralroot.org.
Web Series 2016
A new project to create and film a web series is underway and RRTC is being called upon for time and talent. As you may or may not know a web series is video content that is released as a series of episodes over the internet. Unlike television, where episodes are usually 30 or 60 minutes long, web series episodes are short, typically between 2 and 10 minutes and viewers ‘tune-in’ to the show on their tablets, phones and computers. A five-episode script is in progress and should be finalized over the coming weeks. Filming is expected to take place over the summer and into the fall. Anyone interested in auditioning for a part or helping out in any capacity is asked to email Peter Veale at WebSeriesProject2016@gmail.com.
Big new lighting advancements!
One of the challenges we have had with lighting our productions in the past has been a lack of distance between the stage and where the lights can be installed. As a result, we frequently use more lights, aim lights at steep angles and often mount lights at eye-level which is hard on the people on-stage.
Last year we developed an idea to overcome some of the problems, ran it by members of the Community Association’s Board and got the nod to go ahead with the work.
During the Christmas and New Year break, several of us got to work and on Friday, January 29, we installed the last piece of pipe to improve the stage lighting for future productions.
Below is a summary of the work completed. We
- removed the first two rows of ceiling tiles to create a space 28 feet wide, a ceiling-gap of 8 feet ahead of the first (was third) row of tiles and extending at least 3 feet high from the ceiling to the roof.
- constructed a suspended wall around the space. The wall stabilizes the tile ceiling, blocks noise and stray light coming from above the ceiling, results in a fairly tidy and open space painted black – of course!
- suspended a grid of steel pipe from the roof beams. Two pipes separated by about 3 feet run the full width and four shorter pipes tie the two long ones together and extend almost to the new wall (above) and the wall that used to support the first row of ceiling tiles.
Before we can mount any lights on the grid, we have some painting and final tidy-up to do.
Still, for our next production we will definitely make use of this new installation and enjoy the benefits of considerable hard work!
Many thanks to all those who came out to help, including Helen for the occasional food supplies and to Verna for her patience as we made a mess of the space – although we always tried to clean up.
Some photos of the construction
Christmas Joy (and Costumes) Like Only Rural Root Theatre Can!
You wouldn’t know it to look out the window today, but the 2015 Christmas Parade season was unseasonably warm and without a flake a snow. Still, we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. We had a wonderful showing at both the Constance Bay Santa parade and the Carp Santa Parade. Of course our Christmas spirit was especially high after a successful run of the Fall show, First Annual Boughs of Holly Country Club Christmas.
Pat Weir worked her usual magic re-purposing Elf costumes and a myriad of other seasonal paraphernalia. Pat and her crew of helpers (did I see a couple of Santa’s elves on loan from the North Pole??) decked the halls, or rather the trailer float.
In Constance Bay, on December 5, The Cat (Martin Weeden) and The Mouse (Aiden Hill) were playing nice. Frosty the Snowman (Helen Weeden) was all smiles and waves! Pat Weir, Pamela Stowers, Stephanie Fulcher, Morgan Fulcher and Carol Mair all added their joy and Christmas Spirit on the Constance Bay RRTC float.
Carp boasted their largest parade ever both in the number of floats (25) and attendance. The dedicated group at RRTC, most notably Helen, Martin and Pat who participated in both parades, donned their festive garb and paraded along the streets of Carp on December 12. They were joined this time by Kellie Shrimpton, Thomas, Matthieu and Jacob Gagnon, Nicole, Justin and Noah d’Entremont, and Carrie Ann Munro.
The strange December weather (averaging 11 degrees C in mid-December) meant an impressive number of people were out to wave and cheer for the parade floats. Energy was high. Rural Root certainly kept up the joyful momentum from the late-Fall show right through the holidays.
New and expanded hearing assist equipment
In January 2016, we received a donation from Kanata Theatre: their retired ‘Phonic Ear’ system. Over the last few years, we have offered our patrons the use of our ‘hearing assist’ system. That system has had several problems, some of which we have overcome with equipment modifications. However, we remain limited to four easy-to-use receivers and two more complex ones. Also, if the transmitter happens to do some weird things (and it has during almost every run!), we have to shut the transmitter down and interrupt the service.
Now, after some testing and minor repairs we have a second more-modern transmitter plus twelve more receivers (with rechargeable AA batteries) and all this is fully compatible with our old gear! We will have to buy headsets for these receivers, but then we can provide reliable ‘hearing assist’ to 16 patrons.
A note of thanks has been sent to Kanata Theatre’s Board.
Feedback or ideas?
Send us a note at bod@ruralroot.org. We’d love to hear from you.