All set for Music Man to hit stage

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

Fitting 31 students on a school stage, plus the set, props and room to prance around singing and dancing is tricky.
That was the challenge for this year’s Mainstage musical’s technical team at the Alberta High School of Fine Arts (AHSFA).
The musical, called The Music Man, is a story about a charismatic swindler whose plan to make off with the townspeople’s money is thwarted when his crooked heart accidentally swells with love for the librarian.
AHSFA drama teacher, Laura Myers, acting as both the artistic and technical director of the show, said the complexity of designing the set required an immense amount of planning and attention.
The story takes place in six different locations. For example, sets include inside a passenger train, in a library and on a bridge in a park, as the cast moves through the different locations 15 times. The challenge is compounded because they don’t have a backstage, so they can’t take anything off the stage.
Designing the set took a lot of thinking.
“You have to picture every element of the show,” said Myers. “If you design it well you know what you’re going to build and then it can go smoothly.”
Myers was the visionary. She headed a team of 14 students and parent Gord Hoover, who figured out how to build a set that would accommodate the needs of the story and the cast.
“Gord was integral to make sure we could built what we thought of,” said Myers. “It seems like he can do everything.”
The team created two round, rotating platforms with three scenes each and multi-use benches that act as bleachers, a footbridge as well as regular benches.

“The benches had to be light enough so the smallest actor could move them but strong enough so the biggest actors could stand on them,” said stage manager Levi Eisler, a Grade 12 student.
When it’s time to change the set the actors and the technical team work together to make it happen as smoothly as possible.
“The set changes this year are extremely difficult,” said Eisler.
Grade 11 student Paul Teixeira said a strong bond has formed through the process of getting the production ready to launch. Teixeira is sound technician for the musical and when his job is buttoned down he, like everybody else, helps out where he’s needed.
“It’s all about teamwork back here,” said Teixeira. “You have to respect and head-over-heels rely on the techie team.”
The technical team is a hard-working bunch, but they don’t get the same credit for their work as the actors since they are always behind the scenes. Usually the attention that does come their way is if something goes wrong, for example, if an actor can’t be heard.
“If we do our job right nobody knows we’re there. That’s the techie code,” said Teixeira.
The backstage team doesn’t want the spotlight, but they love the work and the friendships formed through devoting themselves to the challenge of the production.
“It’s worth putting in five hours (five days per week) after school for,” said Teixeira. “I quit my job so I could do this.”
“It’s a blast,” Eisler agreed, adding that this show in particular is impressive. “It’s the most amazing thing we’ve ever done in this high school.”
Performances run from April 9 to 19, Wednesday through to Saturday. Tickets for evening performances are $15 and tickets for the matinee performances are $8.
To reserve tickets or for information about sponsorship opportunities, leave a message at (403) 540-6574.

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

A choir of orphans from Uganda will perform a free show at St. Mary’s School Friday, April 18. Wheel file photo

A choir of children from Uganda will capture hearts with their laughing eyes and African-style gospel songs in Okotoks on Friday, April 18.
Two years ago the choir, called the Watoto Children’s Choir, won the affection and imagination of the audience in the Rotary Performing Arts Centre, and they are back to play a toe-tapping show of song and dance – for free – at St. Mary’s School.
The choir coming to Okotoks is made up of 17 children aged nine to 12-years-old, all who lost families to HIV/AIDS, though the children themselves don not carry the disease. The children are being cared for by an international organization called the Watoto Child Care Ministries.
The organization, based in Uganda, was started by Canadians in 1994 as an initiative to do something to help the near 60 million children in Africa orphaned by HIV/AIDS, conflict and disability, starting in one country, one child at a time. According to the Watoto website, their focus is to provide love, shelter, food and medical care as well as Christian teachings to help these children grow up to be leaders in their communities.
To accomplish this mission, Watoto developed what they call children’s villages, which feature a school, church, recreational area and homes where eight orphans live with a mother, often a widow.
By incorporating the choir into the children’s lives, the organization aims to broaden the children’s world view and instill confidence through touring the globe. They also hope it will help them to rise up out of their own situations of sadness and despair.
For the international community, the children’s choir provides the opportunity to have a personal look at the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.
The Okotoks United Church is making it possible for the Foothills communities to see the choir by organizing the event. Families in the congregation stepped forward to billet members of the choir.
“We so believe we’ve got to get out of our own culture and realize we’re part of a bigger world and that this AIDS crisis is part of our world,” said United Church Minster Doug Powell. “Whatever affects Africa affects Canada.”
Through a blend of contemporary gospel, Ugandan rhythms and traditional dance, the children share their personal stories and hopes.
“It’s definitely a family show,” said Powell. “It’s Africa – they’ve got rhythm in their bones. It’s very invigorating.”
The choir’s performances internationally raise awareness of the HIV/AIDS crisis as well as show the effects of the charity’s effort to give love and stability to the children affected by the crisis.
“You have to start somewhere and this is somewhere,” said Powell. “There is no ultimate answer, but there is a beginning.”
The audience will have the opportunity to make a donation to the Watoto program when a plate is passed at the performance.
“Every cent goes to the Watoto village and is used to support the village and its purpose, which is to feed, educate and care for the children,” said Powell. “But there is no pressure to donate.”
The performance will begin at 7 p.m. at St. Mary’s School, which is located at 42 Cimarron Trail. For more information about the show call Powell at the United Church, (403) 938-4357.
For more information about the Watoto organization go to www.watoto.com

O’Callaghan embraces cabaret

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

Patricia O’Callaghan will put on a vocal show with zest Saturday at the Bragg Creek Arts Centre. photo submitted

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

The sophisticated sounds of Toronto-based vocalist Patricia O’Callaghan will fill the Bragg Creek Centre on Saturday.
O’Callaghan’s edgy and refined performance is part of the Bragg Creek Spotlight Series which features a three-course dinner and a show.
O’Callaghan is technically a soprano, having 15 years of classical training from the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre, but her broad artistic interests, which include performing in live theatre and opera, songwriting and recording music, have influenced the show she brings to the stage.
These influences come together in O’Callaghan’s cabaret-style live show.
She will perform songs by Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Edith Piaf and Kurt Wiell - among others.
Songs by Cohen and Waits are often written from deep within the male psyche so, when attractive and alluring O’Callaghan delivers their thoughts in her soprano voice, it creates a unique experience.
“Sometimes I’ll do (Leonard Cohen’s song) I’m Your Man dressed as a man and sometimes I wear a gown; either way it’s an interesting perspective,” said O’Callaghan. “It gives you a different insight into it because… you hear it with new ears.”
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Her performance is about conveying a rich experience carried to the audience along the crest of melody, dipping into the different worlds at the heart of each song – because she doesn’t choose cheap, flat songs.
“It’s all about good songs, well-written in terms of the poetry and the music. It doesn’t matter the genre, whether it’s sophisticated pop, classical or chanson – which is a tradition of songwriting in France,” said O’Callaghan. “I try to tell the story of the song as much as I can and feature the words.”
O’Callaghan’s performance stands in contrast to the experience of sitting at home with the radio on; the show and dinner are a reason to leave the house.
“Radio formats are getting narrower and narrower, it makes me feel like I’m dead when I listen to it,” said O’Callaghan. “A lot of people are looking for something more interesting, they’re curious and they want to hear something fresh.
“What I do is not very common.”
Her uncommon approach to her career, which has even led her to dabble in performance art, may lend conceptual depth to her vocal interpretations that attract so much attention. A project she worked on has been nominated for a Juno award for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance. The album is collaboration with the Toronto-based Gryphon Trio, with O’Callaghan performing vocals on the recording of Christos Hatzis’s Constantinople.
On April 12 O’Callaghan will be performing with pianist Robert Kortgaard and bassist Andrew Downing.
Guests are welcome to enjoy a three-course meal prior to the show, or pop in just for dessert, or any combination of entrees. On this occasion the appetizer will be spanikopita served with spicy pineapple salad ($5), the entree will be Moroccan chicken with couscous and salad ($12) and dessert will be lemon tart ($5).
Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. and O’Callaghan’s performance will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets for just the performance are $30.
The Bragg Creek Centre is located at 23 White Avenue. To reserve tickets go to www.braggcreekperformingarts.com or call (403) 949-4114.