Hitting the road

Guest blogger -  Kathy Storring

In a parking lot behind a Kitchener apartment building, a hockey game has broken out. 

There is nothing fancy about the space. The players have ignored a pleasant stretch of nearby grass in favour of a section of pavement that sprawls between parked cars and a set of composters. 

A net has been dragged into place, not far from the tool shed. 

But clearly the setting is of no consequence when there’s a game to be played.

Joe Paul, 18, is in the net, putting his real hockey skills to the test while two teams gang up on him — his dad Lincoln, 49, and his brother Jesse, 16, plus their neighbours, the Phillips brothers, Adam, 14,  and Paul, 16. Later Mitch Paul, 14, returns from volleyball and joins the fray.

The game is at times intense, the steady scratch of sticks on pavement punctuating the autumn air as the players bunch, weave and shoot the orange ball at the net. There are other sound-effects, too, the whoop of goal scorers and the “Ohhhh” of defeat when the ball snakes past Joe’s net-minding skills. 

But most of the time it is easy to forget who is on which team. The mood is respectful and it is all about the fun. 

Now, one could ask — oh, and thanks for doing so — what this writer is doing at the game. Well, I’m here on the sidelines with Kathleen Sheehy, artistic director of Lost & Found Theatre,  and we are watching media artist Dwight Storring chase the hockey players with his camera, a sport all of its own.

Sometimes the players do the work for him, strapping on a GoPro camera to truly catch the action. Later Dwight pulls players aside and conducts interviews. It’s all part of the video stories he is collecting to celebrate road hockey in all of its glory. 

The project was inspired by the April premiere of Pocket Rocket, an engaging new play by acclaimed playwrights Lea Daniel of Kitchener and Gary Kirkham of Cambridge. Dwight’s collection of video stories about street hockey will be shown each night before the play, getting the audience in the mood.  (The video shown here will give you a taste.)

So, get your tickets! Pocket Rocket is not to be missed, whether you are a hockey player, an avid bystander or, most importantly, someone who loves great theatre. Lost and Found Theatre presents Pocket Rocket April 20-30, 2016, at the The Registry Theatre, 122 Frederick St., Kitchener. 

Click here to buy tickets.

Next blog: April 1: My interview with playwrights Gary Kirkham and Lea Daniel explores Pocket Rocket’s journey from clever idea  to the stage.

Let the games begin!

Guest blogger Kathy Storring

I didn't play road hockey as a child, but I have a good excuse. And, no, it’s not because I was a girl (and don’t ever suggest that again). 

It’s because I grew up on a farm. Country kids don’t have smooth, curbed streets to lure them. The fact is, gravel roads are hardly conducive to cars, let alone children with sports equipment.

On top of that, I had only one sibling as a handy playmate. And not only was he four years older (stronger and smarter) than I was, but he had also inherited every athletic gene the family could muster. Playing any game with Phil was just courting disaster.

So I was intrigued and maybe even a bit jealous when I first encountered an urban street hockey game. Such energy! Such team work! Such joie de vivre! These city kids really had created something special (even though I wasn’t invited to play).

So, why on earth am I dredging up my athletic failures? Blame it on Lost & Found Theatre and their April production of Pocket Rocket, with its nod to street hockey. The way I see it, it’s finally “game on” for me — I may be inept when it comes to athletics, but I do know how to enjoy theatre. In fact I am pretty darn good at it. 

Besides, I have every confidence that this play, premiering April 20, will be as eye-opening as this country kid’s first encounter with the shout, “CAR!” 

After all, when accomplished playwrights like Gary Kirkham of Cambridge and Lea Daniel of Kitchener use road hockey as a springboard for drama and comedy, you just know it will be about much more than sports. 

So, get your tickets! Pocket Rocket is not to be missed, whether you are a hockey player, an avid bystander or, most importantly, someone who loves great theatre. Lost & Found Theatre presents Pocket Rocket April 20-30, 2016, at the The Registry Theatre, 122 Frederick St., Kitchener. 

Click here for ticket info.

Next: Over the next few weeks, this occasional blog will go behind the scenes into the wonderful world of street hockey — as well as exploring the deep, dark secrets of collaborative playwriting.

Extra! Extra! To get you in the mood, here is a short video celebrating street hockey from artist Dwight Storring. Watch for other videos in the weeks ahead. As well, his collection of street hockey stories will be shown each night before the Pocket Rocket performance.

Dinner or Lunch and a Show!

Enjoy a delicious meal at Darlise Café before the matinee or evening performance on Saturday Dec 5 or 12.  Only $41.95 per person, including a complimentary glass of wine. 

Here's how it works:  Choose the Dickens Dinner and a Show in our online box office, select the date and time you want and the number of packages, and in the next window, make your menu selection.

And the selections are scrumptious!  Choose from:

• New York Striploin
• Christmas Inspired Chicken - baked chicken breast filled with cranberries and cream cheese
• Salmon Filet baked with spinach and goat cream cheese
• Grilled Pineapple filled with curried vegetables and rice pilaf

All meals are accompanied by  the Darlise Spinach Salad - spinach, red onions, candied apples, pecan brittle and Goat cheese served with cranberry vinaigrette and rolls and butter.  The non-vegetarian options also include  duchess potatoes and a medley of fresh vegetables.

NOTE: beverage, dessert and gratuity are not included.

After dining, the theatre is a short walk away, right around the corner on King Street.  Darlise Cafe is at 33 Queen Street South.  Online at http://www.darlisecafe.ca/

BOOK NOW!  Space at each seating is limited.

Why do you come to the theatre?

I read a statistic that says about 73% of people attend the arts to socialize, 64% attend to learn, and 63% to experience high quality art.  Obviously some people come for more than one reason, but socializing seems to have carried the most weight.

How about you?  Post a comment - we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Whatever your reason, here's what we have planned for you this season!

courtesy of Shutter Up Studios

Charles Dickens Writes: A Christmas Carol by Richard Quesnel.

You might recognize Gary Kirkham to the left there, portraying Dickens beavering away to meet the deadline set by his Scrooge-like publisher, Mr. Hall.  This shot was taken at a company holiday party at which some of us offered scenes from the play as the entertainment.

If you've enjoyed the staged readings of this play over the last few years, you'll love the full production!

December 2-12, 2015 at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts, 36 King St West, downtown Kitchener

art by Alan Daniel

Pocket Rocket by Lea Daniel and Gary Kirkham

Ever played street hockey?  Now that's Canadian, eh?  Meet five friends from the neighbourhood and follow them from the ages of 14 to 44 as they change and evolve along with this great country of Canada.

April 20-30, 2016 at the Registry Theatre, 126 Frederick Street, Kitchener

Tickets will be on sale soon!  Get on our elist.  Shoot us a message with Sign Me Up in the subject line: info@lostandfoundtheatre.ca

ANAGRAM CONTEST!

One of the characters in Kimberly Akimbo, 16-year old Jeff, is an anagram specialist.  He figures out that the letters in George Washington can be rearranged to spell Sweet Groaning Hog.  Not sure George would have appreciated that one.

Get in on the fun.  Submit an anagram of your name by midnight on Friday March 13 and our celebrity  judges will choose the winners!  Email your entry to ksheehy@lostandfoundtheatre.ca with ANAGRAM in the subject line.

MEET THE JUDGES

Lorraine Smith lives in the charming little town of Ambler, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs.  She and actor Kathleen Sheehy, who plays Kimberly in the show, met while studying at Penn State University.  They look just enough alike that Lorraine could be Kathleen's stunt double - if she knew any stunts.  What she does know is words.  Lorraine is a grade nine (or ninth grade as they say in her neck of the woods) English teacher, managing matters grammatical and maturational.  She also has a finely developed sense of humour (or humor as they say in her neck of the woods) and is well suited to the task of judging your entries.

Susan Fish of Waterloo, Ontario has been writing and editing for nearly two decades.  Susan heads up Storywell, a team of writers, editors and proofreaders who work to develop writers.  She's also the published author of Seeker of Stars, and blogs here.  Susan loves a good story and looks forward to the stories your names will tell!

Kimberly Akimbo opens March 18!!

Casting is complete for Kimberly Akimbo:

Kimberly: Kathleen Sheehy

Buddy: Andy Pogson

Pattie: Christy Ziss

Jeff: Alten Wilmot

Debra: Jen Cornish

Directed by Nicole Lee Quesnel

Check out this quick video with Kathleen talking about her upcoming role and stay tuned for more clips from other castmembers.

Tuning up for Charles Dickens Writes A Christmas Carol!

We've rummaged out the costumes (just for a little eye candy!) and lined up all the readers for this year's performance of Charles Dickens Writes A Christmas Carol, by our own Richard Quesnel.  The lineup includes Lost&Found ensemble members Christy Ziss, Kathleen Sheehy, Richard Quesnel, Hannah Ziss, and Terry Barna, with Alan Sapp as Scrooge.  Guest artists are Darren Keay, reprising his 2013 appearance as Dickens/Cratchit; Douglas Beattie, who can practically recite the whole story by heart; George Joyce, last seen in Boiler Room Suite; and the all-time favourite Ted Follows, bringing us his inimitable Marley and Fezziwig!

Music director Gary Sharpe belts it out at the first music rehearsal for the choristers who will be an integral part of the reading on December 20 and 21.  We'll see you at the Registry Theatre!  Info and tickets here.

Smiling altos and sopranos

Getting ready for SEASON 11!!

First we have to decide what shows we're going to do.  Then we have to tell you about them.  And that starts with a photo shoot!  Lost&Found Graphics Queen Nicole Lee Quesnel devised the concept and the amazing Tom Vogel of Vogel Creative made it happen with his trusty camera.  Many thanks to Maryanne at Factory163 in Stratford, the location for the shoot, and to Dustin, Joe and Abby for serving as living "props". We couldn't have done it without you!  Visit Tom at http://www.vogel-creative.com/

Below, Tom gets ready to shoot the promo photo for our March 2015 production of Kimberly Akimbo.  Factory163 is a hub for artists and performers and is filled with wonderful creations and all manner of equipment and junk!  Visit them at Factory163.

Tom is armed with his camera and Nicole with a fill flash as Abby and Joe walk by Kathleen Sheehy, playing Kimberly, the 16 year old with a disease that ages her prematurely. 

Here's one of the finished shots.

 

Factory163 had a huge de-commissioned boiler that worked perfectly for the Boiler Room Suite shot. Below, Dustin Culver and Kathleen Sheehy wait for the shot to be taken.  Boiler Room Suite tells the story of two tramps, holed up in the basement of an old hotel, who dream of what might have been...

Joe and Abby created the shadow silhouettes that will be used in the final shot. So cool to see what they actually look like compared to their shadows!

And voila, one of the finished shots for Boiler Room Suite.

A Requiem for Sherlock Holmes

Calling all Holmes fans!   

The game is afoot!  Join us for a staged reading of a new play by New York City playwright Greg Oliver Bodine.  Greg adapted the script from two stories in the Holmes canon: The Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House.  In Requiem, Holmes is determined to foil his nemesis Moriarty - even if it kills him!  Which it does.  Or does it?

When: Thursday May 15 at 7:30pm
Where: Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, at the Centre in the Square

Post-show talk back with the cast!*

This will be a fundraiser for the Actors' Fund of Canada.  Come to the reading and "pay what you will" OR purchase a guaranteed seat online in advance for only $10 here.

This event features many of your favourite Lost&Found actors: Alan Sapp, Terry Barna, Christy Ziss and Richard Quesnel.  We're delighted to have veteran actor Ted Follows in the cast, as well as Doug Beattie who will play the great detective.  Other guests include Robin Bennett, Darren Keay, Hannah Ziss, James Miniou and Ryan Bassett.

*Alas, the playwright has had to cancel his plans to travel here from New York City - his passport has expired!  Your feedback will be shared with him, however.

Find out more about the New York City development process of the play here.

Visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum online.  You can join the Sherlock Holmes Society of England whilst there.

A spot of trivia: Bram Stoker's Dracula never said, "I want to suck your blood", and Conan Doyle's Holmes never  said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."  Not in those exact words.  To get the real quote, click here.

How It Works:
Join Chris Cowie, Executive Director of Community Justice Initiatives, after the show on Friday, March 22.

Check out Robert Reid's review in The Record.

CTV's Nancy Richards drops in on rehearsal.  View the clip

Phil Bast interviews director Terry Barna and shows rehearsal clips here.

Richard Quesnel as Al and Heather Brezden as Brooke

How It Works by Daniel MacIvor, March 13-22, 2014 at the Registry Theatre

Is telling your story the best medicine?

Daniel MacIvor’s play How It Works suggests that telling our stories can lead to healing.  In it, 19 year old Brooke, the drug-addicted daughter of divorced parents Al and Donna, is encouraged by Al’s new girlfriend, Christine, to tell her story.  Christine is convinced that Brooke’s healing will begin if she shares her secret.  But is it really that “easy”?

Lissa Rankin, M.D., writes in the November 27, 2012 issue of Psychology Today:

Every time you tell your story and someone else who cares bears witness to it, you turn off the body’s stress responses, flipping off toxic stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine and flipping on relaxation responses that release healing hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, nitric oxide, and endorphins. Not only does this turn on the body’s innate self-repair mechanisms and function as preventative medicine—or treatment if you’re sick. It also relaxes your nervous system and helps heal your mind of depression, anxiety, fear, anger, and feelings of disconnection.

Keeping secrets can be toxic.  Dr. James Pennebaker, a professor in the Dept of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, noted that people who have powerful secrets are more prone to health problems.  So – would their health improve if they shared those secrets?  His research strongly suggests that the answer is yes. In his study of college students who wrote expressively about traumatic experiences, participants visited the doctor for illness half as often as the control group.  Further studies showed that expressive writing can help lower blood pressure, enhance immune function, and reduce symptoms of asthma and arthritis.  Watch a 3 minute video of Dr. Pennebaker here.

Art imitates life? 
At the top of the play, Christine tells the audience:

As far as I can figure, the way that it works is this: everyone has something that happened to them. The thing that we each carry... The thing that keeps you up at night, or makes you not trust people, or stops love. The thing that hurts. And to stop it, to stop the hurt you have to turn it into a story. And not just a story you play over and over for yourself, but a story that you tell. A story's not a story unless you tell it. And once you tell it, it’s not yours anymore. You give it away. And once you give it away it's not something that hurts you anymore, it's something that helps everyone who hears it.

Photo: Heather Brezden as the troubled Brooke 

"Naked" Reflections

For those that weren't able to make it out to "Naked", I hope you had a good excuse!  It was a great experience to work with Kathleen, Terry and Gord, the actors, and a real privilege to work with playwright Lea Daniel.  She has patiently watched this play grow from a one-act in the late 1990's, to a workshopped full length, characters added and subtracted, and finally to a full blown production in October, 2013.  For me, it was like watching the theatre from an all new perspective, since Lea has never gone through the process of sitting in on rehearsals and watching a play come into full production.  Having the play at the Conrad Centre meant the production values had to be solid as well, and special thanks go to Christy Ziss, Producer, and Nicole Lee-Quesnel, Production Manager, for supporting on the tech side and bringing in this show for as little $$ as possible.

Then there was the outstanding design work by Allan Hoch on lights, and Victoria Harrop on set.  I have never seen as elegant a set piece as the coffin that Victoria painted.

What do you think of that?

Anyway, it was a great ride!  Thanks again to everyone who helped make it possible!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

It's our 10th Anniversary!  Unbelievable, but true.  We're currently having a blast developing a new play by Kitchener playwright Lea Daniel called NAKED.  October 9-12, 2013 ONE WEEK ONLY!

Terry gets to channel his inner slob while Kathleen goes Type A.  It's going to be a barrel of laughs for the props person with a "work in progress" papier mache sculpture that grows throughout the play.  If you came to the reading of this script a few years ago at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, you have an idea of how funny it is.  But the script has grown and developed, so you'll be in for some surprises as well!

In March, we bring you Daniel MacIvor's HOW IT WORKS.  The audience at the staged reading of this script presented last year loved this play, so here it is in all its fully produced glory!

2012-13 Season Announced!

Cariboo Magi by Lucia Frangione
Nov.22 - Dec. 1, 2012

On The Inside by Dona Massel
March 21-30, 2013

All at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener.

You may have noticed a change in programming.  Not to worry: Lea Daniel's play Naked will come to our stage in fall 2013.  Various behind-the-scenes factors led us to make the switcheroo and move On The Inside into the March 2013 slot.

Season wrapped up with An Infinite Ache!

Pearl Gidley photo clip

Gord Cameron as George, Kathleen Sheehy as Pearl, Brad Cook as Andrew and Jen Cornish as Edith in Pearl Gidley by Gary Kirkham, November 2011.

Kirkham madness!!

Pearl Gidley closed November 5 to a sold-out house and a standing ovation. Need another Kirkham fix? Get on over to Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton for Gary's award-winning play, Queen Milli of Galt. Click here!

Lost and Found Theatre's Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Flashing swords and raging hormones!! Our production is cast age appropriately with ACTUAL TEENAGERS playing Romeo, Juliet, and their pals, along with a few real live grownups playing the older generation roles, like Juliet's dad, Romeo's mom, the Friar, and the Nurse. Tickets at the website!! Click here.

Poster Exhibit

Don't miss our show poster exhibit at Kitchener Public Library's main branch downtown, August 1-31, 2010. Get in on the fun: Do you have a story or memory about any of the shows on the list below? Send me your story by July 28, and I'll make every effort to include them in the exhibit. Email ksheehy@lostandfoundtheatre.ca with the subject line: show memory.

Here's a list of the posters on exhibit:
THEATRE & COMPANY
The Shunning
Godspell
Waiting for Godot
Three in the Back, Two in the Head
The Day Boy and the Night Girl (1999 production)
Dr. Faustus
The Foreigner
A Delicate Balance
Cherry Docs
Quilters (2001 production at Market Square)
Queen Milli of Galt (opened the King Street Theatre in 2001)
Problem Child
Beauty and the Beast
An Ideal Husband
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (King Street Theatre production)
Einstein's Gift
Fire
Proof
How I Learned to Drive
Girl in the Goldfish Bowl
Strawberries in January

LOST&FOUND THEATRE
Radio Leacock (both the 2004 and 2009 productions)
Falling: A Wake (world premiere 2007 production)
Twelfth Night
Some Assembly Required
Possible Worlds
The Lion, the Witch and the Orchestra (with the KW Symphony)
Vigil
Eleemosynary
Cotton Patch Gospel