Sunamabeach, by Charly Chiarelli, Mar 25-Apr 5, 2009

Posted on February 22, 2009 by editor

March 25 to April 5, 2009, an Artword Theatre Production:
Sunamabeach, a new play written and performed by Charly Chiarelli.
An irreverent look at Hamilton through the eyes of Charly Chiarelli, who grew up in the Sicilian North End. Charly comes back and finds that life is a “sunamabeach”.

Directed by Ronald Weihs, produced and designed by Judith Sandiford.
Performed at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street, Hamilton
Wed at 8:00 pm all tickets $10, Thurs, Fri & Sat at 8:00 pm, Sun at 3:00 pm: $20 reg /$15 std/sen.

Charly Chiarelli, in the Artword Theatre production of Sunamabeach

From March 25 to April 5, 2009, Artword presents Charly Chiarelli’s new show Sunamabeach, the latest in the continuing saga of a Sicilian in Hamilton. Charly’s first two shows Cu’Fu? and Mangiacake, originated at Artword Theatre in Toronto, and were directed and dramaturged by Ronald Weihs. The first in the trilogy is Cu’Fu? (So Who Did It?), a hilarious and touching one-man show about growing up Sicilian in Hamilton. “Cu’Fu?” – “So who did it?” – is a Sicilian response to bad salami or the origin of the universe – and most everything in between. These tales of Charly’s weird and wonderful family coping with life in a new country, punctuated by his virtuoso blues harmonica, became one of Artword’s most-loved show. You don’t have to be Sicilian to love Cu’Fu. Everybody loved it.

The second in the trilogy — Mangiacake! — tells how an immigrant kid tries to shed his Sicilian identity – only to discover that he wants it back again. Charly comes to terms with his Canadian identity, and goes back to Italy to find his roots, only to discover that he too is – a mangiacake! “Mangiacake”, for anyone who hasn’t seen Cu’fu?, means “cake eaters”. It’s what Italians call non-Italians (when they’re being nice).

Charly Chiarelli began his career as a performer playing virtuoso harmonica in blues and jazz bands. He was in at the founding of the storytelling movement in Toronto. Initially, he accompanied storytellers with his harmonica, but soon he was telling stories himself, all about his crazy childhood in Hamilton.

Besides repeat runs at Artword Theatre in Toronto, both Cu’Fu? and Mangiacake! have been filmed for Bravo! Television. And Charly has performed the shows all across Canada in numerous venues.

REVIEW by Robin Pittis: SUNAMABEACH
http://www.viewmag.com/theatre.php
View Magazine Vol. 15 No. 14 • April 2 – 8, 2009
By Robin Pittis
In every industry and endeavour there are artists whose talent and ability get recognition beyond their hometown and circle of friends. That isn’t to say that there’s anything wrong with entertaining friends, family and neighbours; far from it. Charly Chiarelli, though, is the rarest of things in Hamilton theatre — an export. So it’s nice that this high calibre talent has returned and given us a reverently irreverent theatrical homage to his hometown.
Chiarelli is a prodigiously talented raconteur, musician and comedian. You might well have heard or seen his shows Cufu or Mangiacake, either in their theatrical forms or in broadcast media like Bravo TV. They are one man shows where he shares stories and music from his life and days growing up a Sicilian immigrant in Hamilton’s North End directly with the audience. He’s toured nationwide and appeared in feature films.
Not too big to return home, though, his newest show, Sunamabeach, the third of his Hamilton–based trilogy, opened last weekend at the Pearl Company. Working with his long-time collaborators, Ron Weihs and Judith Sandiford of the Artword Theatre, Chiarelli has delivered another raucously funny, wryly observed and touchingly intimate evening of theatre.

From the gymnastic blues riffs of the opening song and leitmotiv “Life is a sunamabeach”, Charly, or Calogero, is intensely committed to his performance, physically and emotionally. He’s got a lot of natural charisma and tightly wound up Italian spontaneity, which he uses to grab and hold his audience.
As a playwright too, this is a generous performance. Writing from life, and in this case drawing particularly from experiences gleaned in his day job as a high level administrator orchestrating governmental efforts to confront addictions and mental health issues, Chiarelli gives his audience flirtatious glimpses of his naked life. He gives up little gems about his own successes and failures, his family, friends, and fellow musicians.

Particularly interesting are his reminiscences of Hamilton past: Mayor Vic Copps, street fights with bikers on Locke Street, and what the city was like before the wrecking balls and the malls reconfigured the downtown core.
With a minimal set, projected images of Chiarelli’s own photographs of the downtown core taken from his Market Street apartment, and his office in the Ellen Fairclough building add an important layer of metaphor. This is a portrait of our city his from his particular perspective. Paradoxically, this particularity makes it accessible to everyone.
The story of his meeting with the late Hamilton blues and harmonica legend King Biscuit Boy was particularly memorable, and a terrific addition to Hamilton music lore. Given how impressive Chiarelli’s work on the mouth organ is, it beggars the imagination how good this King guy must have been.
If there are any complaints about the evening at all, it is only that this is a new work, and there were certainly a couple of rough transitions, or slightly misremembered wordings. This is not unusual as artists gain confidence with new works. There’s also a lot of F–bombs. While it’s totally believable north end speak, it does mean this show isn’t destined for Bravo, which is a pity. Chiarelli’s perspectives on our city and the ongoing worldwide battle with addiction and mental health, sharpened to a point could make a powerful point beyond — and because of — the entertainment value of this piece.
All in all, this is an impressive performance by a skilled and talented performer, and a loving look at our troubled but still beautiful times and city. This is locally engaged theatre at it’s best.
For future reference, Wednesday night tickets for Artword performances are $10, half the usual going price. [ROBIN PITTIS]

Artword Theatre’s season “Artword @ The Pearl” 2008-2009
Sunamabeach is the third of four productions for the 2008-2009 “Artword @ The Pearl” season.
You Are What You Do, (Oct & Dec 2008) an original musical by Ronald Weihs celebrating the lives of working people, launched the season in October 2008 to rave reviews and remounted in December.
Rascals and Numskulls (Feb 12 to 22, 2009), a now original work written and directed by Ronald Weihs, tells the thrilling adventures of Robert Land spy for the British in the American Revolution, friend of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, United Empire Loyalist, first white settler in Hamilton, performed by the Artword Theatre Ensemble, with music by Gary Santucci.
Tobacco Troubadour (April 16 to 26, 2009), a new play based on the songs and stories of J.P. Riemens (of J.P.Riemens and The Barflies), about growing up in Ontario’s tobacco country and its lively dance hall scene, is scheduled for April 16 to 26, 2009. Script and direction by Ronald Weihs.

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Article: Rascals and Numskulls, The Robert Land Project

Posted on February 11, 2009 by editor

Landing a Pearl of a story: Play explores history of Robert Land, the first white settler here

February 11, 2009 Gary Smith, The Hamilton Spectator

Ronald Weihs and Judith Sandiford are neither rascals nor numskulls. Head honchos of Artword Theatre, now working out of The Pearl Company on Steven Street, they strike me as rather gentle, cultured folk.

Their fascination with various rascals and numskulls, you see, has to do with a new play they’ve created that just happens to have that intriguing title. In choosing to explore the life of Robert Land, the first white settler in Hamilton, Weihs and Sandiford have taken a personal historical journey.

“When we came to Hamilton from Toronto to establish our theatre company here, we always intended to get caught up in Hamilton affairs,” Weihs says. “Our idea of theatre is one that addresses audiences directly. We’re concerned with how a culture talks about itself. One of our reasons to be so interested in Hamilton is the city has stories to tell.”

Sandiford picks up the thought: “We are working at The Pearl, and it’s in Landsdale. Why, we wondered? Of course, it’s named after Robert Land. We wanted to know his story. It turned out his tale was like something out of a Boys’ Own Adventure book, a real yarn. We just hit such a bonanza.”

Sandiford and Weihs took a history walk of the neighbourhood. They gained input from a book about Land, the tales of a local storyteller and a trunk full of research.

“Land was a spy or agent for the British, probably a member of Joseph Brant’s volunteers,” Weihs says. “Condemned to death at court martial, he escaped. It’s quite a tale.”

“It’s also a real romantic adventure,” Sandiford says. “It involves his wife, Phoebe. You couldn’t make up a story as fascinating as this.”

Sandiford and Weihs specialize in this type of intimate theatre created from grand-scale ideas.

“We take a huge story and reduce it to human terms. From such huge scale, we find what is personal. The play tells Robert and Phoebe’s story against the issues in which they are caught,” Weihs says.

Weihs writes the play, Sandiford provides a design concept that gives the story a place to happen, and together they solve the problems of getting it onstage.

In reading some diaries of the times, Sandiford got a clear picture of the wit and style of those days. From protest poems came the title Rascals and Numskulls.

“The Americans are the rascals, and the British the numskulls,” Sandiford laughs.

“When it came to the American Revolution, it embodied some of the finest ideals people ever had,” says Weihs. “But the fathers of independence were mega-land owners, and you know, you can see parallels with the Bush administration. It was about taking care of business. When you bully a nation, they hunker down. It’s a lesson powerful nations need to learn over and over.”

Seven people in the acting company play all the roles in Weihs’ drama.

“They sing songs, some from the period, some written for the production by Gary Santucci. And Judith has written square-dance calls that tell aspects of the story,” Weihs says.

“Slavish historical accuracy isn’t the point,” Sandiford adds. “But you need enough of that to give people a clue as to the time and place we’ll be in. We just can’t get too hung up on waistcoats and corsets, that’s all. This may be a dark story, but we want to have fun with it.”

Sandiford and Weihs were still working on the play during a month spent in London, England. In their flat they were typing pages of text and sending them back to Hamilton, where the cast awaited the next development in the Land story.

“Working on something so local and historic is our way of trying to understand where we are,” Weihs says.

 

Rascals and Numskulls: The Robert Land Project

Performed by The Artword Theatre Ensemble: Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, Nea Reid, with Princess Land and Seneca Sundown.
Where: Artword @ The Pearl Company, 16 Steven St.
When: Feb. 12 through 22, Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.

Gary Smith has written on theatre and dance for The Hamilton Spectator for more than 25 years.

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Rascals and Numskulls, the story of Robert Land, Feb 12-22, 2009

Posted on January 2, 2009 by editor

February 12 to 22, 2009. Artword Theatre’s new theatrical entertainment, Rascals and Numskulls: Being the thrilling adventures of Robert Land, spy for the British in the American Revolution, friend of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, United Empire Loyalist, first white settler in Hamilton. Written and directed by Ronald Weihs, music by Gary Santucci, produced and designed by Judith Sandiford

Performed by The Artword Theatre Ensemble: Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, Nea Reid, with Princess Land and Seneca Sundown.

Thurs at 7:30 pm, all tickets $10; Fri & Sat at 7:30 pm: $20 reg / $15 std/sen; Sun at 2:00 pm: $20 reg / $15 std/sen.
at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven St, Hamilton

Rascals and Numskulls press release:
Artword Theatre’s second production in its inaugural season is a new original play Rascals and Numskulls, the thrilling adventures of Hamilton’s first white settlers – United Empire Loyalists Robert and Phoebe Land. This high-spirited production alternates between light-hearted comedy and realism, featuring original music by Gary Santucci, square dances and period songs.

The show is written and directed by Ronald Weihs, designed by Judith Sandiford, and performed by a cast of eight, the Artword Theatre Ensemble. The production runs February 12 to 22, 2009, Thursday to Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2:00 pm, at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street, Hamilton. To reserve, call Artword at 905-548-0341.

Robert Land was a secret agent for the British army in the American Revolution. Captured and condemned to death, he escaped the hangman and fought in Joseph Brant’s guerrilla army, Brant’s Volunteers. Phoebe Land fought an equally courageous battle protecting her family in the midst of a terrible civil war. It’s a story of heroism and endurance by ordinary people caught in a clash of empires.

Paula Grove at Lord North, Valeri Kay as George III

The “Rascals and Numskulls” of the play’s title are the American and British leaders. The pompous and arrogant leaders are presented in comedy style. Our Rascals are John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. On the other side, our Numskulls are King George III and Prime Minister Lord North. (The words – and spelling – are typical of the vigorous insults of the time.)

Artword Theatre is the resident theatre company (2008-2009) at The Pearl, on Steven Street at King William, in the Landsdale area of Hamilton. Recently transplanted from Toronto, Artword Theatre has formed an alliance with Gary Santucci and Barbara Milne of The Pearl Company in their effort to revitalize the area through the arts.

The Landsdale neighbourhood is named after Robert Land. “When we dug into the story of Robert Land, we became fascinated,” explains Artistic Director Ronald Weihs. “What a tale. It has everything – pioneering on the frontier, war, spies, vigilante vengeance, death sentences, narrow escapes, refugee hardships, evacuations and starting over, long-lost family rediscoveries – and the revolt of the Thirteen Colonies in America against Britain.”

Judith Sandiford, Artword’s resident designer, did extensive research into the American Revolution. “There are a lot of contemporary parallels”, she declares. “Britain had the greatest army in the world, and they thought they could simply ‘shock and awe’ the rebels. They discovered that it was not so easy.”

In the midst of this is the related story of the Six Nations Confederacy of upstate New York. When Britain lost the war, the British promise that all land west of the Appalachian divide would be Aboriginal land forever was also lost. Mohawk leader Joseph Brant fought for the British, and in return was granted the Haldimand tract along the Grand River. The implications of this relocation of the Six Nations is still an issue today.

Rascals and Numskulls is performed by the Artword Theatre Ensemble, the six actors who performed in Artword Theatre’s hit production last fall You Are What You Do. Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard and Nea Reid, plus Princess Land and Seneca Sundown.

Some brief history: Robert and Phoebe Land settled on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1757, in the town of Cushetunk. They homesteaded and raised a family of eight. When the war broke out, Robert Land remained loyal to Britain (a Tory) and became a secret agent for the British army. Meanwhile when their home was burned to the ground by Patriots, Phoebe Land fled with her children to New York City, along with thousands of refugees. Transported to New Brunswick after the war in 1783, Phoebe eventually made her way to the Head of the Lake in Upper Canada, where she she is reunited with her long-lost husband, who was living near where Barton and Leeming Streets in Hamilton are today.

Background: Brief Artistic Bios
The Artword Theatre Ensemble playing many roles: Paula Grove (singer, actor, The Full Monty; Cabaret, Jacques Brel. Getting Married, Berkeley Square, Stealing Home, Detaining Mr. Trotsky); Valeri Kay (actor Nietzsche: Behold the Man, The Way of all Fish, A Change of Plans, Romeo and Juliet); Tanis MacArthur (actor, dancer, choreographer, costumier, dada dance, indicaba dance theatre, among others); Allan Merovitz (actor, singer, writer and performer If Cows Could Fly, leader of klezmer bands KlezMerovitz in Calgary and the Merovitz Project in Montreal); Gordon Odegaard (actor, singer, musician, numerous projects in Brantford area); and Nea Reid (actor, My Matisse, Nietzsche Behold The Man, Gerald Hilroy’s Guide to the Art of Seduction and director The Hobbit and Godzilla). Two stage newcomers are also in the show: Princess Land (yes, a possible distant relation) as young teenager Rebecca Land, and Seneca Sundown as Mohawk leader Joseph Brant.

Gary Santucci (guitarist, banjo player, composer) is co-owner of The Pearl Company and is well-known for his world-beat music group Zarabanda. Ronald Weihs (playwright, director, fiddler) is Artistic Director of Artword Theatre with many writing and directing credits. Judith Sandiford (artist and designer) is Managing Director of Artword Theatre and designer of all Artword’s shows.

Background: Artword Theatre’s season 2008-2009
Rascals and Numskulls is the second of four productions for the 2008-2009 “Artword @ The Pearl” season. You Are What You Do, an original musical by Ronald Weihs celebrating the lives of working people, launched the season in October 2008 to rave reviews and remounted in December. From March 25 to April 5, 2009, Artword presents Charly Chiarelli’s new show Sunamabeach, the latest in the continuing saga of a Sicilian in Hamilton (following Cu’Fu? and Mangiacake, which originated at Artword Theatre in Toronto, also directed by Ronald Weihs). Tobacco Troubadour, a new play based on the songs and stories of J.P. Riemens (of J.P.Riemens and The Barflies), about growing up in Ontario’s tobacco country and its lively dance hall scene, is scheduled for April 16 to 26, 2009.

Background: Artword Theatre and The Pearl Company

Artword Theatre, the creative team of director Ronald Weihs and designer Judith Sandiford, has been producing original theatre since 1993. Until 2006, Weihs and Sandiford operated a facility (Artword Theatre and Artword Gallery) in downtown Toronto, when their theatre was closed to make way for a condo. After 12 years in downtown Toronto, Artword has pulled up stakes, moved to Hamilton and teamed up with Gary Santucci and Barbara Milne at The Pearl Company.

The Pearl Company is an arts and performance facility owned by guitarist and composer Gary Santucci and arts activist Barbara Milne, located at 16 Steven Street in the heart of the Landsdale neighbourhood of downtown Hamilton. Renovated in 2006, the facility has devoted two of its three floors to the arts. The Pearl Company has launched a number of arts initiatives, including the well-known Art Bus two Fridays a month, the Opus Mundi Festival, theatre workshops and productions, concerts and events and outdoor festivals. For more information about The Pearl Company, visit www.thepearlcompany.ca.

 

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You Are What You Do, returns Dec 4 to 7, 2008

Posted on November 10, 2008 by editor

BACK for 4 shows Dec 4 to 7, 2008: Artword Theatre presents its 2008 production of You Are What You Do, a celebration of working men and women in story and song,
written and directed by Ronald Weihs, produced and designed by Judith Sandiford

Thurs at 7:30 pm, $10; Fri & Sat at 7:30: $20 reg / $15 std/sen
Sun at 2:00 pm: $20 reg / $15 std/sen, Group discounts: 12 or more $15 each.
Call Artword at 905-548-0531

Venue: The Pearl, 16 Steven Street, Hamilton
Running time is about 90 minutes.

Performed by Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, Nea Reid, with Jennifer Lockman on piano and Ronald Weihs on fiddle.

Artword Theatre’s musical play You Are What You Do is coming back to The Pearl for four shows: December 4 to 7, 2008. We want to give you a chance to see the show that the Hamilton press loved:

“There’s a smart little show at The Pearl these days. It’s filled with sometimes joyous, sometimes sad reflections about how people absorb the identity of their work. It’s beautifully written and directed by Ronald Weihs with an ensemble cast that quiver with earnest emotion. Set against an evocative steel and wood landscape designed by Judith Sandiford, with projections that comment on the action onstage, it is a visually arresting experience. It’s well worth your time.” Gary Smith, Hamilton Spectator, Oct. 22, 2008.

“…Something truly new and original on the local arts scene … It successfully weaves many disparate elements to become something that is greater then the sum of its parts. Using songs and personal narrative, it gives us an insight into the lives of ordinary working Canadians. The cast of six (Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, and Nea Reid) effortlessly portray at least 20 characters that are believable and compelling throughout. In the end though, it is the songs themselves that you carry away with you leaving the theatre. You Are What You Do is a must-see. It is a meticulously constructed piece of theatre that asks some real questions of its audience, and you cannot help but be enriched after experiencing it.” Brian Morton, View Magazine, October 23-29, 2008

You Are What You Do is an original musical play celebrating the lives of working people. You Are What You Do, written and directed by Artword’s Artistic Director Ronald Weihs, is a theatrical collage of stories gathered from men and women about how work has shaped their lives. The result is a high-spirited ensemble production, with a cast of six, that uses songs, mime and inventive staging to celebrate the energy and imagination of real people.

Performed by Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, Nea Reid
with Jennifer Lockman on piano and Ronald Weihs on fiddle.

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You Are What You Do, Oct 16-16, 2008

Posted on September 21, 2008 by editor

October 16 to 26, 2008, Artword Theatre presents  You Are What You Do, an original Canadian musical written and directed by Ronald Weihs, is a celebration of working men and women in story and song. The show launches the Artword @ The Pearl theatre season. The play, first performed in 1994, is a theatrical collage of stories gathered from men and women about how work has shaped their lives.

“Better not pick that up, he goes
You just might drop it and smash your toes.
Don’t touch that, don’t climb on that beam,
On and on until I’m ready to scream…”

Valerie Kay and Paula Grove

The Radio Plays Love Songs, a jaunty country tune, is sung by a woman carpenter who was completing her third year apprenticeship and describes her confrontation with one journeyman who wouldn’t let her try anything difficult. Other characters include a plumber, a punch press operator, a high steel painter, a bus driver, a cocktail waitress, a street-wise counsellor for runaway girls, a parking lot attendant, a garbage collector, a factory worker, and one man who describes himself as a “putterer”.

You Are What You Do, a musical play, is:
written and directed by Ronald Weihs,
produced and designed by Judith Sandiford,
performed by Paula Grove, Valeri Kay,
Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz,
Gordon Odegaard, Nea Reid,
with Jennifer Lockman on piano and Ronald Weihs on fiddle.

Gordon Odegaard, Valeri Kay, Ronald Weihs, and at the piano Jennifer Lockman

Thurs at 7:30 pm, pwyc; Fri & Sat at 7:30 $15 reg / $10 std/sen; Sun at 2:00 pm all tickets $10, at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street, Hamilton. Runs 90 minutes.

Artword Theatre’s first production in its new home, Artword @ The Pearl, is an original musical play celebrating the lives of working people, written and directed by Artword’s Artistic Director Ronald Weihs. The play, first performed in 1994, is a theatrical collage of stories gathered from men and women about how work has shaped their lives. The result is a high-spirited ensemble production, with a cast of six, that uses songs, mime and inventive staging to celebrate the energy and imagination of real people.

Tanis Macarthur

Back in 1994, You Are What You Do was Artword Theatre’s first production in its first home at 81 Portland Street in Toronto. After 12 years of intense activity in Toronto, Artword has moved to Hamilton and teamed up with The Pearl Company. Artword’s co-founders, Ronald Weihs and Judith Sandiford, chose You Are What You Do as a fitting way to inaugurate their new home in Hamilton.

“This is the kind of theatre we like to do. We use an ensemble approach in which the actors and musicians together interpret the life of the people around them. We believe in a theatre that is full of fun and theatricality, while it deals with things that matter.” says director Ronald Weihs.

For more information about Artword Theatre, call Judith Sandiford at 905-543-8512

You Are What You Do: review by Gary Smith, The Hamilton Spectator, Wed. Oct. 22, 2008

There’s a smart little show at The Pearl these days. It’s filled with sometimes joyous, sometimes sad reflections about how people absorb the identity of their work It’s beautifully written and directed by Ronald Weihs with an ensemble cast that quiver with earnest emotion.

Set against an evocative steel and wood landscape designed by Judith Sandiford, with projections that comment on the action onstage, it is a visually arresting experience.

It’s well worth your time. You Are What You Do continues Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 p.m. Artword at The Pearl, 16 Steven St.  http://www.thespec.com/Entertainment/article/453370

You Are What You Do: Review by Brian Morton, View Magazine Oct 23-29, 2008

It’s rare to be there at the birth of something. But the first Artword production at the newly renovated theatre space at the Pearl Company is just that: the birth of something truly new and original on the local arts scene. The Artword Theatre Company is the latest in a series of cultural refugees from the Toronto Arts scene, who have now found a safe refuge in Hamilton’s fertile cultural soil.

You Are What You Do is a new play, with music by Artword Artistic Director Ron Weihs. It is a rare experience at the theatre, in that it successfully weaves many disparate elements to become something that is greater then the sum of its parts. Using songs and personal narrative, it gives us an insight into the lives of ordinary working Canadians; much like the characters that peopled the songs of the late great Hamilton folksinger Stan Rogers.

In Weihs’ play we find the “little people” who do what they have to in order to survive and yet still try to be happy in an imperfect world. Addiction, sexism, desperation, unemployment and homelessness are just a few of the issues the play addresses, but always with characters that have a keen awareness of their own vulnerabilities and needs. In the end they realise, sometimes you have to take whatever job you can get, and try to make something from the choice.

Several of the characters don’t survive the struggle, but along the way they discover something of what it is to be Canadian, what is it to be working class, and what it is to have to make a living in the real world. Based upon actual field recordings of workers on the job made over 20 years ago, playwright Weihs has constructed a drama that verges upon the poetic, as he perfectly captures the nuances of real people authentically speaking about their lives.

The play is structured as a 1970s style docudrama firmly rooted upon the models of Canadian theatre pioneers like George Luscombe at Toronto Workshop Productions (who Ron Weihs apprenticed with), following in the footsteps of such works as their play Ten Lost Years, or the 25th Street Theatre’s Paper Wheat. This form of script creation is one that has fallen out of style in the recent years, as it depends on an ongoing commitment from an ensemble of actors who must remain a part of each incarnation of the play in order for it to work successfully. I myself found it ironic that many of the cast were not even alive when this kind of theatre was at its height, and in that sense the play is both hip and contemporary, and yet is

Many jobs are represented in the play: Construction worker, bridge painter, factory worker, musician, and retail sales clerk are just some of the experiences we share with the ensemble. A real balance is created between the individual stories, some of which are quite tragic, with the real humor of everyday life in the workplace.

The cast of six (Paula Grove, Valeri Kay, Tanis MacArthur, Allan Merovitz, Gordon Odegaard, and Nea Reid), effortlessly portray at least 20 characters that are believable and compelling throughout. These are performances that are genuine, thoroughly professional and they certainly deserve a wider audience. Particular note should be made of the unusual mix of voices and vocal styles, which shouldn’t obviously work and yet somehow do within the context of the play; as well as the clever use of space and objects and video projected imagery in Judith Sandiford’s set and lighting.

In the end though, it is the songs themselves that you carry away with you leaving the theatre. It’s a much richer experience then the typical Broadway style musical revue in that all of the music is original, it and skillfully continues the experience of the workers, although now through the medium of melody and lyric.

As something that is not the usual fare offered on the local scene, You Are What You Do is a must-see. It is a meticulously constructed piece of theatre that asks some real questions of its audience, and you cannot help but be enriched after experiencing it. … [BRIAN MORTON]

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Artword Theatre’s first show in Hamilton, fall 2008

Posted on September 19, 2008 by editor

First show in Artword’s new Hamilton home

October 15, 2008 Jeff Mahoney, The Hamilton Spectator

For those whose energies can’t be contained by just one creative activity, there’s the idea that the individual arts (painting, music, writing, etc.) make up a family. The potential of each is best fulfilled when it comes out of its separate room to interact with the others.

[Image: rehearsal at The Pearl of You Are What You Do, opening October 16, 2008.]

Theatre, film, opera, stage shows — collaborative forms of all kinds — appeal to the integrative impulse of the most ambitious in the arts.

Ronald Weihs and Judith Sandiford know it well. It is, in a way, a basis for their relationship. She’s a visual artist and set designer. He’s a playwright, director and producer.

Together they were living their vision — an alternative, multi-stream laboratory of theatre/art — in the old garment district of Toronto. On Portland Street. They ran plays, arts shows and some publishing projects (Artword magazine) out of a performance/studio space in a renovated factory — a 30-foot span with no pillars, with 16-foot ceilings, sprung dance floor, raked seats, a 70-foot long building.

“No one believed we could have such supportive landlords,” says Sandiford. “They respected how hard we worked.”

It was called Artword, and it lasted from 1993 to 2006, first at a 60-seat theatre at 81 Portland, then at the larger building [next door] at 75 Portland, which housed a 150-seat multipurpose space, a 60-seat studio theatre and a 1,500-square-foot art gallery.

They were highly thought of and staged many popular productions, both their own and the work of other groups to whom they rented space, such as the African Theatre Ensemble. They did Allan Merovitz’s If Cows Could Fly, Weihs’ Sur (based on Ursula K. Le Guin) and Cu’Fu, by Hamilton’s own Charly Chiarelli. Much more. Not to mention the numerous art exhibitions.

Then, in 2006, their landlords, helpful as they’d been, could no longer resist market pressures. They sold the building to a condo developer. The new owner gave them four months’ notice.

“We locked up the back doors of a 48-foot trailer and drove out into sunset with our theatre and art gallery in it,” says Weihs.

This weekend Artword kicks off its first season in Hamilton, at The Pearl Company, 16 Steven St. When Sandiford and Weihs went looking for a new home, they scoured the MLS listings of the GTA, but one day they literally turned around on the QEW, came to Hamilton and ended up putting an offer in on a building.

That offer didn’t go through, but instead they found a house on Prospect Street three times the size and half the price of anything they’d been looking at in Toronto.

And then they found Gary Santucci and Barbara Milne, who own and run The Pearl Company, another renovated factory being used for the family of the arts, this one in Hamilton. So, they decided to use that space.

“We thought we were unique,” says Weihs. “But here in Hamilton there’s a couple as crazy as we are.”

So the vision continues. Sandiford and Weihs have assembled an ensemble cast for the musical You Are What You Do. It’s a new play by Weihs, who has written many over the years, including The Beavers (an Aristophanes-style satire), The Wobbly (with George Luscombe) and Highball!, a musical about logging, which he toured through B.C. logging country in the ’80s. Sandiford, whose art draws on themes from physics and cosmology, has helped create an innovative set with graphics for the unique stage.

You Are What You Do is a theatrical collage of stories based on the lives of working people. It previews tomorrow, opens Friday and runs to Oct. 26, with shows Thursday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. …

“We believe in a theatre that is full of fun and theatricality while it deals with things that matter.” says Weihs.

The approach, a tad Brechtian, is more horizontal and involving of the audience than conventional theatre.

Are Weihs and Sandiford part of the Toronto wave, attracted by affordability, which Hamiltonians have come almost coltishly to expect as our salvation? Well, there are Sky Gilbert, Ian Jarvis, others. Wave? Not yet. Maybe something between a smattering and an influx. But we’re glad to have them.

jmahoney@thespec.com      http://www.thespec.com/Entertainment/article/450514

Posted in 2008-2009 at The Pearl, News and updates, You Are What You Do | Comments Off on Artword Theatre’s first show in Hamilton, fall 2008