From the moment two child actors met in rehearsal this summer, they have become best friends who will be sharing the key role of Gloria, a spunky 9-year-old girl in the Classic Theatre Festival staging of the gripping Frederick Knott play Wait Until Dark, opening August 7 and running until August 30. For Perth’s Madison Miernik and Smiths Falls’ Samantha Salter, both aged 11, discovering that both wore green the first day they worked together, their birthdays are one day apart, and they’ll be on the same hockey team this fall, were enough coincidences to seal the deal of a solid friendship and working relationship.  They’ve also discovered they were in the same show with the Perth Academy of Musical Theatre a couple of years ago, but were too shy at the time to get to know one another. It’s a big step for the duo, who have appeared in numerous community theatre productions in Perth and Smiths Falls. But that’s all changed with the daily regimen of rehearsal with a professional company, with a director, stage manager, and actors from Ottawa, Toronto, and other parts of the province sharing in the task of bringing a play to life. Asked what they most enjoy about the new experience, Miernik enthuses, “You can’t even name a specific thing, it’s just all been so cool and you meet awesome people.” Salter agrees, adding,  “It is so exciting to learn new things about the play and from the other actors. It’s really easy to learn off them because they act so well.” Miernik likes working with professional actors – with a cast that includes Classic Theatre Festival veterans Greg Campbell, Richard Gelinas, Alastair Love, as well as Alison Smyth, Scott Clarkson and Sean Jacklin – because “they’re like role models, they know what they’re doing, and this is a first time for me. I’ve been doing a lot of community theatre where there’s not as much expected of me.” Both Miernik and Salter view Gloria as a bit of a bratty girl who exhibits a ‘don’t do it to me or you’ll get it back’ attitude that she inherits from her parents, who are often involved in squabbles in what during the 1960s would have been termed a ‘broken home,’ with fighting, violence, and a father coming and going. “It’s hard on her so I think that is why she takes things out on Suzy,” says Miernik in reference to the main character, a blind woman who must, with Gloria’s help, fend off criminals who have invaded her home. “I don’t think she likes Suzy because she’s got all this stuff happening in her life, and now she has to help this blind lady and doesn’t want to do that, it’s not voluntary,” Miernik says. Salter agrees, and says, “She doesn’t have a lot of heart in her, and then she does things like rearranging the furniture on a blind woman. Sometimes Gloria sneaks around and tries not to let Suzy know.” At… Continue reading

By Morgan MacDonald The road to my playing a number of characters in historical period costume on the streets of Perth  began when I first heard about the Classic Theatre Festival through a presentation Laurel Smith (Artistic Producer and playwright) gave in my high school drama class. She talked about the history of their theatre, the different shows they put on throughout the summer, and the Perth through the Ages historic walking tour, which is now in its second year with a new show called The Maid and the Merchant, running Wednesday to Sunday at 11 am starting at Mathseon House, 11 Gore Street East. I was interested in a job with the theatre as acting is a hobby of mine, and it was a wonderful opportunity to turn it into a part time job.  It was my good fortune to audition for and earn the position of historic animator in the walking tour, as well as in the production of the theatre’s very first Lonely Ghosts Walk (which happens every Friday at 8 pm).  It has been a marvellous adventure so far. I have the privilege to play three characters in the tours: the adventurous, Nancy Drew-inspired Nora Shaw in the Walking Tour  and in the Ghost walk,  Mrs. Adamson, the harsh owner of the Adamson Inn (oldest building in Perth), and Col. Roderick Matheson, one of the founding fathers of Perth. We started rehearsals in May and I’ve had some interesting experiences since then. For example, in the opening show of the Walking Tour, the final scene is at the court house, but what we didn’t realize was that the court house is a secure location and civilians aren’t supposed to be there.  As I rounded the corner I noticed there were police officers present. One of the officers approached me and asked, “Are you part of the tour, ma’am?” Now the trouble with that was we’re not supposed to break character and interact with anyone who is not in the show, but he was a police officer, so naturally I was a little torn. I nodded my head in response, unsure of what to do. He then gestured me to come over and talk to him. I was trapped; I would be forced to break character, but thankfully a woman on the tour realized what was going on and ran over to talk to the officer. We managed to finish the final scene without being kicked out or arrested, but we weren’t allowed back again, so now we do the scene on the other side of the court house, in front of the old gaol, on Beckwith Street. That small mishap is not the only thing that has happened on the tours; on a quite recent tour there was an older woman in the audience who was standing in front of a drawer that I had to open in order to take out a letter. This may not sound so bad, but the letter in that drawer is… Continue reading