By Dave Babbitt – Special to the Sydenham Current
My bailiwick is music, but this week, I’m going to cautiously move into my column mate Dan White’s area of expertise, drama, and more specifically, theatre. My own personal experience as an actor in the world of theatre is extremely limited, so I do not lay claim to any expertise. But that is not the point of my column this week.
I was cast in a Glencoe production of “The Music Man” as a member of the Barbershop Quartet, and in 2020 as a cast member of our band’s fundraising Murder Mystery dinner theatre presentation. In both cases, I was terrified. It makes zero sense to most that I’m comfortable alone with a microphone in front of hundreds of people, yet I cannot don a costume to disguise myself and pretend to be someone else. I’m only comfortable being me. Not to mention the thought of memorizing lines and lines of dialogue for a big production would give me nightmares and endless, sleepless nights. Those are the reasons why I have so much respect for those who take to the theatrical stage.
By now, I would hope that everyone in the Wallaceburg area is aware of the WDSS Drama troupe that has recently been recognized for their Outstanding Performance of “The Boy in the Treehouse” as part of the NTS Drama Festival. When I was still teaching, I was always aware of what was called the “Sears Drama Festival” and what a focus it was for the Drama Department of most High Schools. This was the Drama Department’s equivalent of Music’s focus on the Kiwanis Music Festival.
In my last several years of teaching, I was asked to supply a team of brass musicians to play fanfares before the beginning of each school’s presentation at the Sears Drama Festival (held at the Kiwanis Theatre in Chatham), just as they do in Stratford. Playing the fanfares was fun, but my initial frustration was that me and my merry band of musicians had to stick around all evening for 2-3 nights in a row just to play a 30-second fanfare at the beginning of each show. And sometimes, there were four plays per evening. With nothing else to do, I started paying attention to the productions and eventually came to appreciate the effort that went into the plays, and recognized the passion and emotion invested by the students. Some of the productions were brilliant, and the announcement of which production was moving on to the regional competition was an electric moment for everyone involved. It wasn’t much different than a hockey, soccer, or lacrosse team winning a championship.
Fast forward beyond my retirement and the entire COVID era. Sears is, of course, no longer an entity, let alone the sponsor of this once very important national competition. Thankfully, the National Theatre School based in Montreal has taken on direction and sponsorship of what is now called the National Theatre School DramaFest.
The recent award for WDSS’s production of “The Boy in the Treehouse” by playwright Drew Hayden Taylor is of historical significance for the school, as it is the first time they have reached this level of recognition. Our school has always presented fine productions, but like the Maple Leafs, always seemed to fall short in the end (with apologies to Maple Leaf fans like myself). Being a friend and having been colleagues for many years, I want to give personal kudos to WDSS Drama teacher Nicki Lane for heading up this production.
In speaking with Nicki, she told me that this play has long been a favorite of hers. She has had a copy of it on her shelf for many years and has been waiting for the right cast to come along to mount a production of it. This year, the stars finally aligned! Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor is part Ojibwe and part Caucasian, which is perfectly represented in the makeup of the cast and crew of this production.
Taylor writes about First Nations culture, and uniquely in WDSS history, the entire cast of the WDSS production is Indigenous. However, as any cast member of a production knows, the crew behind a production is as integral as the actors themselves and deserves equal recognition. So, to the cast, crew, and Director Nicki Lane, I say BRAVO! But as the winner of round 1 of any playoff series knows, the task is not complete. The production will now move on to the South Regionals in Hamilton from April 24th to 26th for the next phase of the competition.
But there is a potential problem. Firstly, anyone who has been on any kind of Championship sports team knows that with great success comes great costs and little time to prepare. As a sports team moves through successive playoff series, travel, accommodation, and food costs mount quickly. And let’s not forget the Championship rings, jackets, crests, and plaques after the fact.
For the cast and crew of “The Boy in the Treehouse,” they are now scrambling to raise the estimated $10,000 it will take to move their production to Hamilton for the next phase of the NTS competition. If this were a sports team, there would likely be many avenues to pursue to raise funds quickly, including the Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame, their parent organization, dozens of kids and parents fundraising, perhaps Service Clubs, and generous sports lovers.
I love sports, love to see local teams do well, and like to support them when asked, but this is an Arts group, not a sports team, and I can assure readers that the troupe does not have the same resources available to them. The numbers involved are relatively small (9 cast and 5 crew), and they do not have a “parent” organization to fall back on for help.
This is where, as an “Arts” guy, I ask our citizens to consider helping support the cast and crew to raise the required funds to move on. As of this writing, I know that the Branch 18 Royal Canadian Legion and the Wallaceburg Arts Council have come to the plate, but the troupe needs other organizations and individuals to rise to the occasion as well. But they do not have much time.
If you are a patron of the Arts, I respectfully ask you to consider supporting the cast and crew of “The Boy in the Treehouse” by contacting WDSS directly. Let’s send the cast, crew, Director, truck, and set to Hamilton for round 2!
