Tir-na-nOg’s Festival of Plays delighted Bowen once again

“We’ll begin these rites as we do trust they’ll end, in true delights,” said the good duke to his assembled friends in a valiant attempt to gather the tangled ends of a Shakespearean plot that has coaxed a quartet of couples to the marriage table for 400 years, more or less. And as this hopeful little rhyme drew the curtain on yet another radiant run of the classic comedy As You Like It on this past Canada Day, so did it draw to a close the 20th anniversary Tir-na-nOg Festival of Plays, which in so many years has brought over 350 public performances of live theatre by young people to the community of Bowen Island. While the final resonance of the good duke’s benediction fades into the woodwork and the plush seats and the shutters come down from the windows, while costumes go back to racks and props to boxes, and the mop comes out to ready the floor for another summer season, it is time for the thank yous.

The first round of applause, of course, is for the young actors who, between them, have brought 40 hours of live theatre to the stage over the past two months, presenting seven complete plays in 21 performances, four of which were special performances for the local schools and 17 public performances for the community. Stage acting takes a good measure of courage and dedication, demands tight work within a group and lots of plain hard work in preparation. So how ’bout a hand for these, our fellow citizens of this emerald isle, who, in opening their hearts to us in so many ways, opened ours in turn?

The second round is for all of the good people, young and old, who came to enjoy and to support youth theatre by filling the seats, for live theatre needs an audience. It is our ardent hope that more than a few were happy that they did.

Heartfelt thanks, now, to the many individuals and organizations that have supported the Festival in so many ways and who, in their loving attention to myriad details, have helped to bring this ambitious dream to realization: to Blue Eyed Marys, our Tuck Shop sponsor, whose generous donation of delectable desserts delighted Festival audiences from start to finish; to the Bowen Island Community Foundation for a $500 grant in support of production expenses for the Festival; the Bowen Island Municipality, the Seymour Bay Foundation and the Smooth Stones Foundation for their support of the Tir-na-nOg Theatre School Society’s programs; Phoenix on Bowen for ticket sales; George Siverson for his generous loan of stage lighting equipment; Brenda Louie and family with Coral Louie of the Sign Shop for the splendid Festival sign in the Cove; Shirley Wrinch and Melina Toliusis for their work on costumes; Karai Killy for props for Enough Said; the Undercurrent; Rosemary Leverton; Hazel Willings; David Wrinch for assistance electrical; Jennifer Carlington for sparkling windows; Stacy Beamer for his work onstage in a tough spot; Gareth Holden; Calder Stewart, our other Tuck Shop sponsor as well as energetic actor; Samantha Spear, Teal Patterson and Kailey Spear for work backstage; Amy Carachelo for help with archival photography; for their work at Front-of-House to Brenda Morrison, Laura O’Neill, Kimberly Morales, Finn Morales, Deanna Adams, Jacqueline Massey, Frankie Biddiscombe, Jesse Oliver, Katie Brougham, Maya McMurray, Alex Clark, Mara Brenner, Amy Nosek, Emily McCullum, Caitlin Frost, Finn Corrigan-Frost, Lina Simms, Amy Carachelo, Devon Anderson, Sandra Kirkwood & Trish Sahlstrom; to the Corrigan-Frost family with Norah Rendell and her band for the family dance, a fundraiser for the Tir-na-nOg Theatre School Society, which opened the Festival. Appreciation is due, also, to the many Tir-na-nOg students who, through the SAVI program, worked backstage, onstage and at Front-of-House to support the production of plays other than their own; and to all of the parents for their support through the extra rehearsals and performances.