A Night at the Theatre

It was a night at the theatre for yours truly last week when I attended Dionysus in Stony Mountain at the Rachel Browne Theatre. Usually my idea of going out and being entertained would consist of a cold beer and a hockey or football game, but I must admit I have seen some theatre in my day, including plays at Manitoba Theatre Centre, and Rainbow Stage.


This was a different kind of theatre than I am used to. Any show I have seen have had music, dancing and flashy sets and lights, so when I walked into the theatre I knew this would be something completely different.

I knew that the show was going to have to have good acting to be entertaining and luckily for me and the rest of the audience it did. 

Ross McMillan gave a powerful performance in two seperate roles. It was his show in the first act as the show felt like a McMillan monolougue. The female character in act one could have been played by a pilon with similar effect.

What amazes me most about the acting profession is that there are definitely actors who are not as talented as McMillan who are making millions acting in Hollywood.

The actress Sarah Constible had a much larger role in act two and her acting is also very good. I appreciate that the lack of effects and color made the actors have to be that much better and they pulled it off. 

I also noticed how much music can add emotion to a situation. There was no music in act one until the very end and it immediately made the dialogue seem more important and impactful.

The best part of the whole experience for me was having to step out of my comfort zone. There is a whole segment of people out there who are entertained in ways other than sports and reality T.V and going to see people entertained in a way that I am not used to was the biggest eye opener for me. 

Jets fly into the Ellice Theatre

When Winnipegers head out to the cinema they often go to catch the next action blockbuster or rom com, but if they make the trip to the Ellice Cafe and Theatre they can watch the Winnipeg Jets.

Ellice Theatre and Cafe

Ellice Theatre and Cafe manager Tim Theissen decided to show Jets games for free in the theatre because he thought seeing a game on the big theatre screen would be a great experince for Jets fans, but also because he knows that many of the people who live around the theatre can't afford to subscribe to TSN Jets.

“Alot of the people around here can't even afford cable, never mind the Jets channel.” said Theissen, “I wanted to give people the opportunity to see the games and with all the hype around the Jets right now, I feel bad that some people can't watch the games.”

Theissen also thought that the chance for Jets fans to sit together in a theatre setting and watch the game was a cool and original idea.

“People usually watch the games at home or in a bar, but this is something totally different. You can sit and watch the game on the big theatre screen and get all the usual theatre snacks like popcorn and soda. It's a completely different way to watch the game.

Theissen says that it has been a slow build in terms of people coming out to watch the games but he also knows he started late in the season and that it will take time to get the word out.

“It's been a slow build for sure but there seems to be more people every game and I really think it will keep building next year when we do it right from the start of the season. Hey were not silver city, were a small independent theatre, but the screen is still really big amd it's great for watching hockey.”

Winnipeg musician and West End resident Mike Cann attends many different events at the Ellice Cafe and Theatre and thinks this is just one more reason to go to the theatre.

Winnipeg Musician Mike Cann

“I can't tell you how many concerts I've gone to there. It's a great venue and now I will definately take in a few games there. Hey I'm a musician, I can't afford cable so it's nice that I can walk down the street and take in a game.”

For more information on the Ellice Cafe and Theatre check out ellicetheatre.com

Every Parent's Worst Nightmare

All of us in first year CreComm read the book Journey for Justice by Winnipeg Free Press crime reporter Mike McIntyre. The book covers the kidnapping and murder of Candace Derksen. As a parent I found the book hard to read at times. This is without a doubt every parents worst nightmare, and I think it would be hard for many couples to deal with something like this and still keep their love strong and family together. What I got out of the book above all else is a respect for Cliff and Wilma Derksen for the way they dealt with something so horrific.

The book is split into three parts and part one is by far the most readable. It covers the period when Candace went missing and what her family went through before the discovery of her body. What was the most interesting to me about this was how people can deal with not knowing. If a loved one went missing the mind would never turn off. Every doorbell of phone call would be a glimmer of hope followed by disappointment when it wasn't the news that you want to hear. This could lead many people to extreme anxiety or depression.

The book works so well in part one because it reads like a story and really makes the reader feel for what this family is dealing with. It also creates emotion by showing how the Winnipeg Police dealt with the family and some of the accusations that were made towards them. Losing a loved one would be hard enough and would only be made worse if the person who lost their loved one was being accused of wrong doing. The whole scenario is simply unthinkable.

Cliff and Wilma Derksen

The other thing that came through clear in the book was the role that faith played in helping the Derksens heal. I am not a religious person but the book gave me true sense of how faith in God helped the Derksens through this tragedy. I also got a sense of how faith helped them to forgive Mark Grant, the man who caused them years of pain and suffering.

Mark Grant

The book did seem harder to read in the parts two and three, as it got into more of the logistics of the Mark Grant trail and verdict, and also seemed to use long passages of quotes that sometimes seemed unnecessary. This changed the tone of the book. It seemed like a novel in part one but by the end it almost felt like I was reading a text book at times.

As an aspiring journalists the book taught me that quotes are great if they progress a story but should never feel like they are there just there for the sake of it. With that being said, I think the book was very well written and I believe that a book like this would be difficult to write, considering that many people involved would probably be reluctant to talk.

Journey for Justice works because it comes from an author who is friends with the parents of the victim. This gives the book some heart which is something that many crime books lack. An example of this is a book I read called The Killer Book of Cold Cases. This book goes purely for the sensationalist and gory details of crime stories and even features a cover with skulls and police tape. It works for what it is trying to accomplish but is a completely different kind of book than Journey for Justice.

Journey for Justice is also different from McIntyre's stories in the Winnipeg Free Press because a book can show so much more of the emotional side of stories. When he spoke to us he said that when he writes articles he is forced to leave lots of information out of stories because his word limit won't allow for much more than the basic information of a story.

The most powerful part of all of this for me was hearing Wilma Derksen speak to us. She is a picture of strength and poise. She talked fondly about the memories of her daughter and also spoke about her respect for Mike McIntyre and the work that he has done She said about his book "When I read it I was amazed. What a wonderful summary of something that took twenty-six years to live."

For Mike McIntyre I'm sure there can be no greater endorsement of his work. 

 

Check out Winnipeg White Out

I want to use my blog post this week to promote a great Jets website that is getting a lot of attention from hockey fans. The site is called winnipegwhiteout.com, named obviously after the great Winnipeg tradition of whiting out the Arena during the playoffs. A tradition that I hope will be re-ignited this spring.

Winnipeg WhiteOut is very nicely laid out and easy to navigate. Two of the writers are my buddies Tyler Esquivel and Joey Traa both which i know from from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. Tyler has had two of his articles linked to thescore.com, which would obviously increase the hits for his articles.

It was also genius for the creators of the site to call it Winnipeg Whiteout. The Whiteout is a long standing playoff tradition in Winnipeg and they have maximised their hits by calling the site something that people will often search, even if they aren't looking for their specific site.


Check out winnipegwhiteout.com hockey fans. You won't be disappointed.

The Hull "Snubb"

The True North group that runs the Winnipeg Jets has consistently said that they want to focus on the team on the ice and not spend too much time focusing on the history of the old Winnipeg Jets. I can understand this, as this is not the old Jets, it is the franchise that called Atlanta home for the  last decade.

With that being said, I think the True North group really dropped the ball when they did not make every effort to try to get Bobby Hull to a game last week when he was in town. When Hull was asked at a book signing if he had been to a Jets game yet, he said that he had not been invited and did not sound very happy about it. The first thought of many Winnipeggers was- why would True North not invite Bobby Hull to a game?  I think the PR implications of this are going to turn out bad for the Jets.

Bobby Hull is arguably the biggest hockey icon in the history of Winnipeg. Only Hawerchuk and Selanne are revered in this town as much as Hull. Having Hull at a game would have been a win-win for the Jets. It would have brought even more excitement into a building that is already the loudest building in the league. We all remember what happened when Selanne was in town a while back. Plus it would have pleased thousands of Jets fans who are already so supportive of the True North group. It just would have been another feather in the cap of the True North group as it would have had the whole town buzzing if Hull was at a game.

Part of the excitement about the new Jets is due to the nostalgia that this city has for the old Jets. I have been reading the comment boards and the majority of comments about this issue are on Hull's side and speaking negatively about True North on this issue.

True North has every right to run their team the way that they want to, but having a Winnipeg legend like Hull claim that he was snubbed by the team is bad for the PR of this organization. The True North group should be looking at the present and the future but they should not make it seem like they are ignoring the past.