Newsletter
December
2004/January 2005
by Vinetta Strombergs
When is a gun not a weapon? When is it a
toy?
In the last year, I have had to deal with issues surrounding guns
in three completely different contexts:
- A drama teacher calls me to get a
clarification about plastic replicas and procedures on storing them when
used in a production. Where can one easily find this information?
- At a student showcase, one of the presenters is performing a number from Chicago and suddenly a prop gun appears—no one was forewarned! Why did this happen and why was it a
problem?
- A Summerworks show is using a gun onstage,
which prompts the production manager to email every show the following
information, in case it comes in handy later.
With thanks to Michelle Ramsay,
Production Manager of Summerworks and Derek Bruce, Production Manager of
the Fringe of Toronto, I would like to share the following information
about guns: Basically, if somebody brings in a prop gun (non-firing or
firing) they must have somebody in the company with a PAL (possession
and acquisition licence) who will be responsible for the
gun at all times.
UNLESS...they have rented the gun from
an authorized company. The company does not need to have
their own personal PAL, provided they are working under the supervision of a PAL-holder. When the renter signs the rental form for the gun,
they are stating that they have been properly instructed by the
rental company in the correct use and storage of the
gun.
Correct procedures state that when the gun is not in use it should be in a
lock box
(not left lying on a props table.) The company should not leave
their guns in storage at the theatre but should bring them to and from the
theatre for every performance.
Here is a link to instructors who offer the course: http://www.fseso.org/Instructors.htm. You then have to send in an application to the Canadian Gun folks. Here is a link to the application site:
http://www.cfc­-ccaf.gc.ca/en/forms_assistance/indiv_forms/1039.asp
If you are going to rent a
gun, please have the rental form available with the gun, or if someone in your
company has their PAL, have them bring their license with them to all
rehearsals with the gun. Proper storage and handling must always be
displayed. If you want to rent a gun, here is the number of a guy that will
be able to help you out. He will be able to provide you with a gun
and proper training so you don’t need to take the course: Fantastic
Creations, 95 River Street, Toronto, ON, M5A 3P4 or Phone: 416-410-6042.
If your gun is obviously a prop then it
doesn’t matter. Now what does that mean? "Obviously" if the
gun is bright orange or green, like those water pistols, we can tell it’s
not really dangerous (unless you just had your hair done or you’re wearing
silk.) However, if it’s possible for the gun to be mistaken for a
real gun, you MUST take appropriate precautions.
Remember: If that gun goes missing, and a crime is committed with
it, you may be held responsible.
If your show requires gunshots, you may also want to warn any
neighbours living around the theatre or rehearsal hall. These are
strange times. You do not want to bring harm or fear to
anyone. Be a good neighbour. Think first before you use guns
in your show. Be prepared and be responsible.
More information is available at www.theatresafety.ca, under
Best Practices.
Daniel Levinson of Rapier Wit, a member of Theatre Ontario and of the Talent Bank, provided some additional information on this complex subject.
As of July 1st, 2004 the following
maximum fees apply to the Canadian Firearms Safety Course program delivery
in Ontario: Canadian Firearms Safety Course (10 hrs) and
Test has a maximum fee of $120.00 (for non-restricted
weapons, such as rifles and shotguns, but it does not cover handguns); the
Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course (10 hrs) and
Test also has a maximum fee of $120.00 and can only be done
if you have taken the first course (for non-restricted weapons.) Both Canadian Firearms Safety Course and & Restricted Course (Includes both tests &
Minimum 16 hours classroom instruction) has a maximum fee of $200.00.
Manuals are not included in these prices. Manuals are presently $15
each, with separate books for non-restricted and restricted
firearms. There is also a separate cost of $80 that goes to the
government. It is the third
course that theatres should request when asking about PALs,
because it covers both non-restricted and restricted.
The PAL does not does not cover prohibited firearms or devices, such as replica firearms. There is no course that gives you a license for prohibited firearms or devices. But there is a special business license available for the entertainment industry that can be obtained from the Chief Firearms Office.
If a PAL does not cover replica firearms, why should a theatre bother having someone licensed on staff? It is in the best interests of the theatre to have a PAL
holder on staff because it shows that the theatre has taken steps to
ensure they have someone who is trained and licensed in the safe handling
and storage of a firearm. If
a theatre company is planning on using a non-restricted or
restricted firearm, they must have a person with a PAL. PALs
are not transferable; you may use a firearm under the supervision of a PAL
holder, but you can not simply do without one. To transfer a restricted firearm such as a handgun, the theatre company needs to get a
transfer document from the office of the Chief Firearms Officer. A transfer will not be authorized
without someone having the right license on the theatre's end. Prohibited devices, such as blank guns, may be short-term transferred with the proper business license held
by the device's owner. This license goes with all rented firing
or non-firing replicas, switch blades, or any other prohibited
device.
If a firearm has been rendered "deactivated"
(according to the rules of the Chief Firearms Office) and de-registered
with the CFO, you do not need a PAL to transfer or use it, because it is
no longer considered a firearm.
Rapier Wit conducts PAL courses, with an additional component specifically dedicated for the use of firearms in theatre and films.
by Barbara Anderson-Huget
I’ve been reminded that we create theatre for all sorts of reasons.
Over the past month, I’ve heard two pieces on CBC Radio 1 on
non-traditional theatre production. Then, last week, one of my Humber
students handed in a paper profiling a theatre project at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
Before I give the details on these projects, let’s first review all of
our equally valid reasons to make theatre. Here’s my list: theatre to
entertain; theatre to build community through a community-arts play; theatre for tourism and economic development in your town; theatre to
chronicle contemporary society; theatre to re-enact history; theatre for
education; theatre to provide young people with an after-school activity; and for some, a life-long passion: theatre for therapeutic purposes,
and—best of all—theatre for art’s sake. (If you have reasons to create
theatre, to add to my list, please e-mail or write them in as letters to
the editor I’d be delighted to add them to my advocacy
materials.) Theatre to teach that touchy subject…Sex Ed
In Ottawa, Planned Parenthood (PP) recognized that Sex Education
classes in high schools were often considered a joke by students and an
uncomfortable challenge by teachers. PP founded two theatre
companies in the early ‘80s, one to serve the English middle and high
schools, and one to serve the French. Today, they perform for 8,000
people in the Ottawa area including performances at community centers,
youth groups, colleges and universities.
"Each young person in the troupes participates in two months of
summer training where they’re coached in drama and improvisation, and they
learn about the issues that they’re going to be exploring in their
show. Experts from the community come in to teach the youth and
engage them in workshops and discussions. At the end of the summer
when the final members of the troupes are selected, all the information is
turned into a series of creative dramatic scenes, and the show is born…the
troupes don’t just deal with the public health side of sexuality, they
also deal with the social side. Topics of scenes range from
contraception, HIV/STI’s and unintended pregnancy options, to sexual
readiness, peer pressure, discrimination, sexual orientation, relationship
abuse, depression and almost anything else that affects teen life.
All of these factors contribute to healthy decision-making."
As the CBC Radio interview revealed, teachers use the shared experience
of seeing the play to get discussions going and information flowing. Students open up more readily when they can talk about the characters in
the play and not themselves. (Quotations from
www.ppottawa.on.ca.) Workman Theatre Project at the Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health The Workman Theatre Project (WTP) is part of an integrated arts program
at the Queen Street site of CAMH which includes film, visual arts, art
classes and theatre. "It is known for putting a human face on mental
health issues by producing professional theatre that not only focuses on
mental health but is staged by a company comprised of professional actors
and people who receive mental health services. WTP is able to get to the
heart and soul of the issues while maintaining a high standard of theatre. This unique arts company, led by founder/artistic producer Lisa Brown, has
attracted national and international attention. Based in Toronto at the
Joseph Workman Auditorium, at Queen Street Site for the CAMH, WTP has
performed to audiences in Canada and has connected to the rest of the
world through its international festivals: Madness and Arts 2003 World
Festival and the Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival."
The Joseph Workman Auditorium is named for Dr. Joseph Workman who was
superintendent of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum (now CAMH), in the late
19th century. He was a brilliant, energetic man who scorned the then accepted
practices of blood letting and purging and introduced programs of useful
employment, recreation and activities of various kinds, including a
patient library. Workman encouraged social and entertainment programs (not
to mention the allotment of 'a judicious amount of wine.')" (Quotations
from www.workmantheatre.com.) William Head on Stage at William Head Penitentiary, Victoria,
BC William Head Penitentiary runs a unique program that attracts inmates
and public alike. It is a theatre society known as WhoS (William Head on
Stage), and it was created in 1981 by the prisoners themselves. Visiting
directors oversee the productions, and women are imported to take female
roles. But otherwise it is the inmates who make up the cast and crew of
the plays and run the show.
This penitentiary has recently been changed from a medium security to a
minimum-security facility housing people whose sentences are less than two
years. This is posing a problem for WhoS. Previously, they could train
crew and performers over years and develop their theatre company. In fact
the program was so popular, that inmates would request to be sentenced or
transferred to William Head. Now the turnover in inmates is eroding the
company. It is likely going to close next year.
This example of a prison-based theatre program lead me to look up a
couple in Ontario. Theatre Kingston has done a special series of workshops
in some of Kingston’s prisons. The Cyrano Method has been tried at
Kingston Penitentiary and in several Quebec correctional institutions. It
is "a therapeutic approach that uses theatre participation to help
offenders release repressed emotions, and get to know themselves and
others better. The resulting enhanced awareness may facilitate changes in
their behaviour."
(Quote from
www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/regional/summary8_e.shtml)
For most of us, theatre is not as issue-based. It
is about creating art and entertainment. But whatever your reason,
whatever the season, you and many, many others are engrossed in creating
theatre.
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Empire Theatre - Site
of
Theatre Ontario Festival 2005 |
In the early 1950s, a group of friends
gathered together on a beautiful summer evening at the home of Gladys and
Bert Simpson to read a play for pleasure. They enjoyed the evening so much
that they decided to form a group and perform the play for the enjoyment
of others. Following a
planning meeting at the Dickens Tea Room in downtown Belleville, attended
by Elaine Jardine, a trained theatre director, and Mrs. Doyle, who became
the group’s first President, they held a public meeting in the Corby
Library. At that meeting, on an early fall day in 1951, the group established the Belleville Theatre Guild for the pleasure and entertainment of the area’s
population.
The Voice of The People
, a play by Robertson Davies, was one of
the first one-act plays performed. It went on to win the Eastern Ontario Drama League (EODL) Festival
and was invited to the Dominion Drama Festival in Saint John, New
Brunswick, the next spring. Other successes would quickly follow. Rebecca, the first
three-act play, was performed at Belleville Collegiate Institute and
Vocational School. It was
only performed for one night, and sold out. The fifties were gloriously
successful for the company.
In the sixties, the group found it
hard to compete with the increasing popularity of television. There was little or no money and no home from which to operate. Performances were
held in places that ranged from the third story of a downtown building
(that burned down with everything that the Guild owned!) to a donated room
at the back of a building on Campbell Street (that leaked.) The group’s motto could have been "what is pleasure if there is no struggle involved?"
In 1969, the City of Belleville
donated the D.L. Storey Building, on Pinnacle Street, to the group. It was named "The Pinnacle
Playhouse" and with the hard work, dedication and commitment of its
members, it has been one of the sources of Belleville Theatre Guild’s
success ever since. The
Playhouse is never empty.
There is always someone working on one of the five plays produced
every season, each for a three-week run. Members of Belleville Theatre
Guild perform plays that are entertaining for their audiences, as well as
those which provide a challenge for their members.
During the past year, major
reconstruction has taken place at the Playhouse. An elevator has been added to
allow better access to the theatre. There are now improved washroom facilities and a renovated box office. All of these changes
will greatly assist the elderly and physically challenged patrons. This work was accomplished with a
generous grant from the Trillium Foundation and the hard work of a
fundraising committee, which has now covered the costs of the
project.
Belleville Theatre Guild is thrilled
to be hosting Theatre Ontario Festival 2005, the "Fab Four Fest." This four-day festival will be
held at the Empire Theatre and Centre For The Performing Arts from May 18
to 22, 2005, and is a joint venture by Theatre Ontario, the Eastern
Ontario Drama League (EODL), and Belleville Theatre Guild.
The Festival will showcase the talents
of select community theatre groups from EODL, the Western Ontario Drama
League (WODL), the Association of Community Theatres—Central Ontario
(ACT-CO) and the Quebec Northern Ontario Theatre Association
(QUONTA). The adjudicator for
this festival will be Jane Carnwath, who is well known to community groups
across the province. The host
hotel will be The Clarion Inn with the Awards Brunch being held at the
Royal Canadian Legion. Watch
Theatre Ontario’s website for further information.
About The Empire Theatre
The building which houses the Empire
Theatre originally opened its doors as the McCarthy Theatre in 1938, a
venue for both feature films and live performance. After twenty-four years of
operations, the McCarthy closed its doors in 1962, and remained vacant
until 1974 when it became Stephen Licence Ltd., a sports and hobby
store. Some minor changes
were made to the building, but most of the interior was left
intact.
In March of 2002, Royal Lepage
ProAlliance broker/owner Mark Rashotte purchased the building, with a
dream of bringing to Belleville a state-of-the-art theatre for live
performance and cinema. Rashotte, also a touring professional musician and recording
artist, developed a unique insight as to what a performing arts centre
should provide to both the audience and entertainer.
In the fall of 2002, a highly skilled
design and construction team began the task of transforming the McCarthy
building into the new Empire Theatre and Centre For Performing Arts. With respect for the building’s past and an eye to the future, the 700-seat Empire Theatre opened its
doors in September 2003. The
dream had become a reality. The theatre is the new home of the Quinte Film Alternative and the Quinte Symphony.
Theatre Ontario, the Eastern Ontario
Drama League, and Belleville Theatre Guild are excited to be using this
wonderful venue for Festival
2005.
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