Drama and History
If for some crazy reason, you have not been to a performance at Theatre Orangeville, or not explored the rich local history at the museum, you’re missing out on two of our most exceptional local treasures!
Last week I had the good fortune to attend a sold-out, one-night-only performance at Theatre Orangeville, and I came away with tears of joy and laughter in my eyes. It was the Academy Spring Showcase, and if you haven’t heard of it, it’s probably because you don’t have kids. I was there because my granddaughter Kate was among the dozens of young people who took to the stage that night to show off the skills they’d acquired during the latest drama programs for young people offered by Theatre Orangeville.
But it wasn’t just Kate who brought tears to my eyes. It was the whole kit and caboodle of it: the kids with their pre-show energy and babble, their moments of brilliance on stage and their momentary flubs, the adoring parents, the obviously passionate teachers – and artistic director David Nairn introducing it all with exactly the same enthusiasm he had shown a few weeks before in his introduction to the superb professional performance of Dan Needles’s latest play.
Above all, it was the sense of community – of people, young and old, come together to participate in something warm and good.
Theatre Orangeville has been bringing the community together in just that way now for 20 years. And up the road, Dufferin County Museum and Archives has been doing the same thing in its own way for the same 20 years.
Kate is eight, and has been to the museum with me countless times since she was a toddler – for the Christmas arts and craft show, for talks about frogs and about caterpillars, to watch historic re-enactments, to explore the log house from top to bottom, to see the marvellous animal art in last year’s Beauty in the Beast exhibit, to climb to the top of the silo for a bird’s-eye view of the countryside (as high as a country kid can get around here). She’ll come with me again this month to see Ken Hall’s giant whale installation.
But you don’t need a granddaughter to enjoy the theatre or the museum. If for some crazy reason, you have not been to a performance at Theatre Orangeville, or not explored the rich local history at the museum, you’re missing out on two of our most exceptional local treasures – you won’t find their double-barrelled like in any other rural community in Canada.
We’re very lucky to have them both and we wish them a very hearty happy 20th birthday, with many, many more to come.