If so, you’re invited!
Photo supplied.
When Robert Winslow has an idea about a new play, it often starts with an image, not a story. Sometimes that image defines the story, as in the image of Dr. Beatty burning the outstanding bills from his customers, which inspired the play “Crow Hill: The Telephone Play”.
The stories told in the plays are inspired by real events, but they plays are actually historical fiction. The stories are authentic, but not to be taken literally. As in the “telephone play”, the names are changed to protect the innocent, and that includes the playwrights.
This month, 4th Line Theatre’s Managing Artistic Director Kim Blackwell and founder/playwright Robert Winslow are exploring a new story set in the former Millbrook High School located on County Rd. 10 in Millbrook, which operated as such from 1960 to the early 1980 . It then was transformed into the elementary school operating as Millbrook/South Cavan Public School, which continues as such today.
Winslow completed high school at this location, and his grade thirteen class consisted of eight students. He has the yearbooks prove it. In the new play he is developing, there is no specific event he is hoping to portray, but rather an image of the era he would like to explore. The fashion, the music, the social mores of the time would all make for an interesting and fun backdrop to a story of the times that he has yet to discover. He is looking for help to develop that plot from people who had experience at this school in an event he and Blackwell are hosting on October 14th from 10 am to 1pm at the Centreville Presbyterian Church on County Rd. 28 just north of Bailieboro.
The hosts are hoping that participants will come equipped with Millbrook High-related stories, memories, personal experiences, recollections, keepsakes and photographs and more yearbooks. Reminiscences like these provide direct, first-hand accounts of events that allow plays to provide authentic, realistic stories, even when they are not bound by fact. The 4th Line Theatre has used this form of research in the development of plays including Doctor Barnardo’s Children, Schoolhouse, and The Hero of Hunter Street, to name a few.
This event is free-of-charge and registration is not required for the in-person event. Virtual participation is available by registering with the theatre company, which will provide a connection link to access the meeting via the Zoom video platform. For more information, visit the website at www. https://www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca or call the administrative office at 705-932-4448. KG
