Wonder’neath Performance - Sketchbook Time Machine

Back in March we wrapped up our residency at Wonder’neath with a one night performance of a new original piece, Sketchbook Time Machine. This performance was the culmination of our 4 weeks of sifting through the full Canadian collection of the Sketchbook Project which is housed at Wonder’neath in Halifax. We encountered so many beautiful and touching sketchbooks submitted over a 15 year period from children and seniors, professional artists and hobbyists and on topics ranging from being new parents to how to play capture the flag in outer space.

We are grateful for our friends Burgundy, Alice, Erik, Rachel, Behrooz and Daphne who performed with us in this little soiree of story telling. A big thanks to Heather, Kaya and Olive for hosting us so nicely at Wonder’neath!

Spring Fling Afternoon Tea Fundraiser

We were back again this year with our afternoon tea fundraiser in support of our youth programs! Tea was drunk, chicken salad sandwiches were eaten and cakes were munched. Thanks to all the folks that came out for afternoon tea and those that support from afar, you helped us raise $3,099.73! Due to last year’s success we offered two seatings this year and both were sold out!

This annual fundraiser helps support our youth programs by allow us to hire specialized guest teachers for our evening classes, to fund our Young Company’s school tour, to organize field trips to see local theatre, to subsidize our overnight weekend at the Deanery Project and to pay for the copious amount of snacks that teenagers need eat. If you would still like to support this program you can donate online and receive a charitable tax deduction. Donate here by choosing #28 Gale Force Theatre.

Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards

On March 30th we celebrated the Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards in style! While We Wait and Icarus, Falling of Birds were nominated for 8 Merritt Awards!

• Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotia - Lily Falk, Franziska Glen and Laura Stinson, While We Wait

• Outstanding Direction - Franziska Glen, While We Wait

• Outstanding Lighting Design - MacKenzie Cornfield, While We Wait

• Outstanding Original Score - Erin Donovan, While We Wait

• Outstanding Original Score - Rachel Bruch, Icarus, Falling of Birds

• Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role - Lily Falk, While We Wait

• Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role - Laura Stinson, While We Wait

• Outstanding Independent Production - While We Wait

We were thrilled to take home the award for Outstanding Independent Production for While We Wait! We felt heartened to have a piece of children’s theatre so highly recognized by our community. It also comes at a time when we are re-rehearsing the show to take it on tour to the Wee Festival in Toronto and the Niagara Children’s Festival in St. Catherines.

Young Company Tour

Just after Easter we loaded up our Young Company and went on tour! For the last 6.5 months we have been meeting weekly with a group of seven teenagers aged 13-15 to create an original play to be performed for young audience. During that time we created Alphie’s Wish, a tale of a girl’s quest to overcome her fears. It was an adventure filled story with a magical wish-granting turtle, a shady shop keeper, a brave younger brother and many more colourful characters. We performed at three different schools in Dartmouth, Bedford and Fall River to hundreds of students in Kindergarten to grade 3 and then had one final public performance at DANSpace.

We look forward to running this program again next year! Many thanks to the Adventure Earth Centre for funding this program.

Gale Force heads out on Tour!

We are in our second week of re-rehearsal for While We Wait before we head to Ontario in May. Catch Lupinder’s Tent at the Wee Festival in Toronto on May 9-10 at the Meridian Arts Centre and While We Wait at the Niagara Children’s Festival in St. Catherines on May 16-17 at Brock University. While We Wait will also be performed at the Wee Festival but exclusively for school groups.

That’s all folks!