NEWS RELEASES

Blyth Festival announces 2010 season

Thursday, November 26 2009

For immediate release
November 20, 2009
Contact:  Karen Stewart, Director of Marketing & Development
519.523.9300 / 1.877.862.5984

Skip Winter … go directly to summer
Blyth Festival announces 2010 season

“The Blyth Festival will mount another season of powerful Canadian theatre in 2010,” announced Artistic Director, Eric Coates.   In listening to the audience, Coates noted that “assessing its appetite for thought-provoking dramas versus knock-down comedies, he has to consider the many requests for revivals of past favourites and weigh these against the demands for exclusively new work.”  He added, “The range of tastes and opinions of the audience is staggering” – a testament to the great artists who have built this Company over the past 35 years, by extension creating a sophisticated palate of theatre-goers in Huron County.  For 2010, Coates has selected three world premieres and one revival from the late 1980’s.

Opening the 2010 season with comedy,  murder and mayhem is the world premiere production A Killing Snow by Paul Ciufo.  Paul’s 2007 hit, Reverend Jonah, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Now he is back, but this time, ladies and gentlemen, he ain’t so friendly…  Four travelers take refuge from a Huron County blizzard in the secluded home  of Gerald Goldie, retired Latin teacher.  All four of the strangers have some things in common – a working knowledge of Latin, a serious distaste for their host…and a growing animosity for each other. As ominous Latin phrases begin to appear on the walls, it becomes clear that someone has murder on the mind. And as the body count rises, our stranded guests are forced to choose between certain death in the blizzard, or tempting fate in the safety of Gerald’s home.

Our second offering is Bordertown Café by Kelly Rebar which premièred in Blyth in 1987, and  is now a Canadian classic. The bordertown café is home to seventeen- year-old Jimmy and his single mom, adrift on the difficult waters of teen/parent relations. Grandma Maxine, a reluctant immigrant from the States, carries on a loud and hilarious commentary while Grandpa Jim keeps his cool.  On the first day of school Jimmy’s eagerness to attend is dampened by the sudden news that his ne’er-do-well father, a trucker from the States, wants to take his son to a new home in the south. Wise words from Grandpa and wisecracks from Grandma help Jimmy make the toughest decision he’s ever faced.

Gary Kirkham’s Queen Milli of Galt was a hit with our audience in 2007. Like this earlier work that used local lore as inspiration, Pearl Gidley tells the heart-warming story of Pearl who lives a quiet life with her sister, taking in boarders, but avoiding contact with the outside world. When a mysteriously evasive young man from the US arrives as a new guest, suspicions mount that he may be a draft dodger. The spinsters’ curiosity about his past is matched only by his curiosity about the untouched piano and the sheet music that Pearl keeps on display. Gradually, they draw each other’s stories out, note by note. Like all of Blyth’s most popular plays, this one brings unexpected laughs along with the mystery.

The final production of 2010 is an engaging drama, The Book of Esther by Leanna Brodie.  Leanna’s 2006 Blyth hit, Schoolhouse, continued to soar at 4th Line Theatre in both 2007 and 2008.  In her newest play, Esther is a typical rebellious teenage fundamentalist Christian who sings and prays with a fervent desire to spread the word of God. When she suffers a severe crisis of faith, Esther runs from her rural home, seeking sanctuary in Toronto. When Esther’s parents arrive to bring their daughter home, a young delinquent and self-styled rescuer named A.D. whisks her away into the dark night of the big city. Both parents and child are unsure of themselves in the urban environment, leading to a re-examination of their own safety nets of religion and family. A provocative, but entirely balanced and sympathetic story of faith.

All of these playwrights have graced the Blyth Festival stage in the past.  Three of them have done so in the past four years.  Our audience has welcomed this new generation of writers into one of Canada’s most treasured theatres:  the Blyth Festival.

Buy Now and Save!  Playful Passes are on sale now.  And, Pass packages make great gifts for everyone on your Shopping List this season.  They’re flexible – you pick the play, the date and the time - and they always fit.  For more information visit www.blythfestival.com or call 1.877.862.5984 toll free (519.523.9300 local) for a brochure.

The Blyth Festival’s season is generously sponsored by Sparling’s Propane Company Limited and CTV.