By Dan Age, danage.com
The 66th Annual Sears Drama Festival kicked off tonight with performances from UCC, JMSS and CKSS. There was a large turnout for this year’s opening night, especially since there is only 8 performances this year including two from each UCC and JMSS. This means there will only be two schools advancing to the Regional showcase.
UCC
Written and Directed by Christopher Brackett
There have been many renditions of Dr. Seus’s classic and unfortunately this one did not stand out. Most of UCC’s productions have been very impressive over the years so maybe I had my hopes too high, but this show left me wanting more. The choreography, make up, hair and costuming was great. The set could have been laid out better and could have made use of rotating panels to create indoor versus outdoor environments. I have to give Mr. Brackett credit for the large burden he undertook writing, directing, stage managing all the while being the narrator of the play, great voice Mr. Brackett. I was disappointed to see the use of wireless mics on certain characters, I’ve always been of the opinion that if you can’t project to the back of the theatre get off the stage.
JMSS Mission : I’m Possible
Written By JMSS Grade 12 Double Drama Class Directed By: Mr. Ostropolec
Every year JMSS’ grade 12 double drama class produces an anti bullying play and travels around the province to share the message with students. Once again they hit hard and made the point that bullying needs to end. This was the first time Mrs. Lewis or Mama Lew as JMSS students call her wasn’t involved. Due to a loss in the family Mama Lew was unable to participate in the production process of the show, as a former JMSS student I could tell it was missing that Lewis polish, but none the less congratulations to Mr. Ostropolec for enduring the brutal task of producing, rehearsing and touring 27 schools in less than 5 months!
CKSS: Beyond Tolerance
Written by : Alan Haenel
Directed By: Alaura Tiffin
Beyond Tolerance is a deep, dark, drama. The message behind this production is that common sense is only common sense when it is common. The costumes were wonderfully designed and coordinated, as well the use of masks was executed very well. Some times the use of masks can be done very poorly or ineffectively but the ensemble work combined with the uniform masks created a very anonymous overall to the characters but we could see the uniqueness in the characters through their actions and demeanour. The lighting accented each scene perfectly and helped to create multiple environments. My only qualm with this production would be the tableau work. The director may want to consider placing characters in more comfortable positions, I believe the strange poses were used to create a more dystopian feeling but it failed when the actors were unable to hold the poses.
The Adjudicator this year is David Langlois an Artistic Director of Meta Physical Theatre and graduate of Concordia University. David also studied mime at the Canadian Mime School in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He attended Dell’ Arte School in Blue Lake, California and studied with Jacques Lecoq in Paris and the renowned mask maker Donato Sartori of Italy.
David has been active professionally since 1976 for ten years he performed with Mime Co.Unlimited of Toronto and toured Canadian secondary schools.
He is currently the director of Metaphysical Theatre, which he founded in 1987. Since creating the company he has been responsible for producing and touring seven original productions “Excess Baggage” (1987), “No Direction Home” (1989), “Earthlings” (1991), “Julius Rex” (1996), “The Seven Lively Sins” (1997), “Fools Gold” (2000) and “Pierrot et La Lune” (2012)
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