Newsletter GARDEN TOUR BLOOMS. May Inside this issue: Mark your calendars! June 12, 2010

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George Jackson
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Shaw Guild, has a secret or two. And Lynne LeGallais, chair of the Garden Tour committee, says the variety of gardens from modern and minimalist to historic and Shavian, is exceptional!

On page two of this issue you will see details of these special gardens. Please have a look, and don t forget to get your tickets!

1 Newsletter GARDEN TOUR BLOOMS. May 2010 Inside this issue: Mark your calendars! June 12, 2010 SECRET GARDENS! 2 PRESIDENT S MESSAGE 3 LUNCHEON PHOTOS 4 DOCENT NOTES FOR THE WOMEN 5 Peggy Bell and Marion Barwell Garden Tour committee SHOW AND TELL PHOTOS 6 This year s Garden Tour, the major fundraiser of the Shaw Guild, has a secret or two. And Lynne LeGallais, chair of the Garden Tour committee, says the variety of gardens from modern and minimalist to historic and Shavian, is exceptional! Exceptional, you say? Yes. One of the secret gardens on the tour, for instance, is a seldom seen garden at the Shaw Festival Theatre and there are more! On page two of this issue you will see details of these special gardens. Please have a look, and don t forget to get your tickets! This is a wonderful opportunity to invite your friends and neighbours for a special day out and see the town at its loveliest. Speaking of tickets, there is a change this year for those of you who are hosting a garden. In previous years volunteers were offered complimentary tickets for their toil amongst the trellises. This year garden hosts will have the opportunity to purchase a halfprice ticket to see the remaining gardens, and enjoy the wine tasting and other tour activities. In this way we can increase ticket sales and make the most of the government program for matching funds. If you have questions regarding this year s tour, please contact Lynne LeGallais. l.legallais@sympatico.ca (cell) A TALE OF TWO HOSTS 8 OFF TO MINNEAPOLIS! 9

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It was great to see such a good turnout of members at our luncheon on April 18 to kick off our season. Several plays are up and running. Harvey is my favourite, so far.

3 It was great to see such a good turnout of members at our luncheon on April 18 to kick off our season. Several plays are up and running. Harvey is my favourite, so far. It s a lot of fun and I m taking the grandchildren, when they visit. I ve also seen An Ideal Husband and I loved it. There are still some preview tickets available, before the openings, so I urge you to take advantage of the discounted price. President s message Eight of us are getting ready to leave for Minneapolis for the CAVORT conference, where we will encourage members of this international group to come to Shaw in Lynne LeGallais, Peggy Bell and the rest of the Garden Tour committee are hard at work to make this year s tour the best ever. I hope to see you there on June 12. Shaw Guild Events 2010 June 9 Dress Rehearsal The Doctor s Dilemma Doors open at 7:30 for 8:00 performance June 12 The Secret Gardens of Niagara-on-the-Lake Garden Tour July 7 Aug. 16 Oct. 16 Set Changeover Venus to Harvey Members BBQ Guild Members Day Nov. 21 Annual Meeting Page 3

4 PRESIDENT S LUNCHEON APRIL 18, 2010 New members Susan White and Louise Wylie Nancy Ployart and Alan Mills Dennis Kam Ken Bell and Glenna Collins Dena Broeders Garden tour display Marion Barwell Len kooperman Page 4

5 Excerpts from notes on THE WOMEN prepared by Dave Hunter for Shaw Guild docents The Women was written by Claire Boothe Luce, actress, playwright, member of U.S. House of Representatives and ambassador. Made into a 1939 film directed by George Cukor, it was one of the great successes of its day The play was done in the Niagara-on-the-Lake Courthouse in the late 80 s, was very well received, moved briefly to the Festival Theatre and then on to the Royal Alex. Its design was dominated by the jungle red nail colour featured in the play. Jackie Maxwell describes the play as a stylish, elegant, yet no-holds barred comedy set in the New York upper class of salons and bathrooms. As she noted it was the first time that men had seen inside those kinds of places. There will be 18/19 women in the cast, reflecting the many strong female members of the ensemble in the required age group. Alisa Palmer directs and Kevin Lamotte will design the lighting. Bill Schmuck characterizes the group of women as a cross-section of high-end society who do not work but have hopefully married well. Women in a bad marriage at that time had few options... Alisa Palmer makes reference to the Wizard of Oz. Mary, the central character, moves through the scenes in the play hair salon, dress shop, power room yet in a way never really seems to leave Kansas. As the play progresses, Bill re-uses set and props so that the audience might have the sense that Mary s life has not really changed... The scenes that involve Mary are designed with one colour scheme while the other scenes are in strong, primary colours. The Art Deco style of design creates a rich setting for these wealthy, pampered women. Even the walls reflect this intent in that they are not painted but are covered with bold floral fabrics reflecting the work of Dorothy Draper, an eminent 1930 s designer. A central element of the design is the constant movement of sets on and off the stage..in five different directions. The sets rest on air trucks, pulled on and off stage by cables in half-inch slots in the floor. The trucks will be computer controlled wirelessly so that they can be raised, moved, lowered and locked into place. Lesslie Tunmer contrasted this automation with actormation, the movement of sets and props by actors or stagehands. Automation has the advantages of repeatability and predictability, ensuring that sets arrive in the same spot for safety, lighting, etc....the play opens with a black stage that has two Plexiglas mirrored trucks... Other effects include rear projection which is used twice to show Reno, Nevada and New York City. One scene uses bubble wrap, a foam machine and a small bucket of water with a sponge to create the effect of a bubble bath... The considerable use of wood and steel, carpentry and welding, produced a budget of about $100,000 for materials and labour. The very large number of sets required by the design created a backlog in the Set shop that required outsourcing for the first time in Tunmer s 23 years at the Shaw.... Page 5

6 l to r Laurie Paton, Deborah Hay and Julie Martell The Women by Clare Boothe Luce, directed by Alisa Palmer I don t ask any man to understand me. How could he? I m a woman. Who are we? PHOTOS FROM APRIL 18 SHOW AND TELL Guild members with set and costume designs Warren Fraser and Bruce Townsend Colleen Blake Page 6

7 Virginia Woolf loved Heartbreak House What s your favourite Shaw play? Page 7

HOSTING NOTES SHAW GUILD HOSTING 2010 The hosting season is now building up with five plays opening in May.

As I mentioned before, this year we began calling hosts whose surname began with the letter L and the current captain is roughly at the letter S.

Moyra McEachern Hosting Chair 905 468 1148 e-mail: billandmoyra@aol.com Moyra McEachern Hosting Chair 2010 CAUGHT IN THE ACT.

8 HOSTING NOTES SHAW GUILD HOSTING 2010 The hosting season is now building up with five plays opening in May. If you are asked to host on an opening night, please remember this is a black tie event for patrons and I would request that hosting gentlemen wear jacket and tie. As I mentioned before, this year we began calling hosts whose surname began with the letter L and the current captain is roughly at the letter S. If your surname begins with the letter L - R and you have not been contacted by a hosting captain, please let me know as it may be we have incorrect contact details. Thank you for your volunteer time. Moyra McEachern Hosting Chair billandmoyra@aol.com Moyra McEachern Hosting Chair 2010 CAUGHT IN THE ACT. A tale of two hosts When asked if there is anything about hosting she doesn t like, veteran Shaw Guild member and host Shirley Rock quickly answers No! When you host, she says, you feel part of everything,... it s an exciting time. Everyone s happy to be there, they re in a good mood Shirley has been hosting at the Shaw since about At that time, Shaw hosts met the patrons at inner doors of the theatres, causing much traffic congestion. Luckily, all that has changed, and Shirley feels the job is much easier as a result. Shirley quickly took on the responsibility of being hosting chair, and reminisces about those long gone days of computer printouts with holes in them, and tells how Jack Harmer came up with the idea of adding a check box to the form, to keep track of hosts and hosting schedules.. We caught up with Shirley and her friend and long time host Geri Powell at the Royal George Theatre on a Wednesday afternoon. As usual, the two friends were offering a warm welcome to Shaw patrons. Do people come to the wrong theatre very often? From her experience, Shirley feels it happens not infrequently, and most often involves confusion between the Royal George and the Courthouse Theatres. She encourages everyone to volunteer to host. As she says, everyone is happy to be there. Shirley Rock Geri Powell and patron Gerry King Page 8

...OFF TO MINNEAPOLIS CAVORT (Committee About Volunteers of Regional Theatre) is made up of representatives from theatre support groups, just like our Guild.

9 ...OFF TO MINNEAPOLIS CAVORT (Committee About Volunteers of Regional Theatre) is made up of representatives from theatre support groups, just like our Guild. They meet every two years in a different city to network, see outstanding theatre, visit a new city, make new friends across North America, and to generally have fun. Charmian Entine and Suzanne Hébert get ready for their presentation in Minneapolis in May. Other CAVORT committee members participating are Carol Reid, Judy and Peter Gill, Sally and Jack Harmer, and Marguerite Luczay. We wish them all well! The Shaw Guild is gearing up to host the 2012 CAVORT Conference here in Niagara-on-the Lake Page 9

10 PRINT AT HOME TICKETS : A MESSAGE ABOUT PAH FROM CHUCK MEWETT, SENIOR MANAGER, AUDIENCE SERVICES AND FACILITIES May 7, 2010 Hi everyone, We have a new feature starting today for ticketing. Patrons can now order their tickets online and print at home (PAH). You ve likely seen this option for movie theatre tickets and for other events. I ve attached an example of what the PAH tickets look like. They print on a regular size piece of paper (8.5 x 11 ) and seem very easy to read. They have a bar code at the top which could be scanned if we had hand held scanners. We are looking into the hand held scanners and I will keep you updated on those. In the meantime, please ask the ushers or Guild members to read the ticket info as they would if a regular ticket were being presented and give it a small tear down through the bar code from the top of the page. I suspect that we won t see many of these initially but they may become more popular as the season goes on. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Chuck Chuck Mewett Senior Manager, Audience Services and Facilities Page 10

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12 Volunteers working to support and promote the Shaw Festival Shaw Guild Events 2010 Look what s coming up for Guild Members on June 9!!!! Dress Rehearsal The Doctor s Dilemma Doors open at 7:30 p.m. for 8:00 performance June 9 June 12 The Secret Gardens of Niagara-on-the-Lake Garden Tour July 7 Aug. 16 Oct. 16 Nov. 21 Set Changeover Venus to Harvey Members BBQ Guild Members Day Annual Meeting For full details, visit us on the web! Shaw Festival Study Guides for selected plays The Shaw Festival Study Guides are prepared by theatre professionals and educators for students and teachers. Each guide contains background information on the play, suggested themes and topics for discussion, and both pre-show and postshow curriculum-based lessons and activities for use in the classroom. Study guides are available online and sent to schools on a CD upon booking a play. In 2010, study guides will be available for An Ideal Husband, The Women, The Doctor s Dilemma and Harvey. Do you have a story, photo, or idea for the newsletter? Please send it along! Page 12 shawguild@bell.net

Guild Dress Rehearsal. Guild Members Day

Guild Dress Rehearsal. Guild Members Day Newsletter PRESIDENT S MESSAGE May 2011 Inside this issue: June 11 June 21 UPCOMING EVENTS Shaw Garden Tour Guild Dress Rehearsal CAVORT REPORT 2 HOSTING NOTES 3 Aug 1 Oct 22 Shaw Homecoming Event Guild