As the days grow dark and the cool air settles in, Yukoners begin to turn their attention from campfires to pumpkins, embracing the spirit of Halloween. The City of Whitehorse bristles with spooky events for all ages. One of the largest and most-sought-after Halloween fixtures is the annual MAD Haunted House, presented by the Music, …
Lust, grief, denial and repression (not to mention demonic possession) in the bible-belt town of Cypress, Texas. Oh, yes. Don’t forget the puppets. These are all elements of the Guild Theatre’s upcoming production of Hand to God, a dark comedy by Robert Askins, who actually grew up in the Houston-area community in which he set …
While Whitehorse’s newest yoga studio True North Massage and Yoga just opened, it’s already setting itself apart from the other offerings in town. The yoga studio, located at 407 Black Street, opened mid-January. Since opening, its owners Sheila MacLean and Stephanie Padfield have set their sights on community partnerships and a hybrid approach to the …
Whitehorse, it seems, has such an insatiable appetite for high-camp horror that the Guild Theatre has added another week to its run of Evil Dead: The Musical. The spring break-themed romp comes with a caution: if you intend to sit in the first few rows, be prepared for laundry afterward. You’ll be in what’s called …
It was the promise of bannock that first lured Melaina Sheldon into the orbit of Gwaandak Theatre in 2010. The show’s limited budget also allowed Sheldon to use some of the design skills she had developed in a one-year diploma course in fashion design in Vancouver. “I’m a Salvation Army thrift store shopper, for sure, …
School’s out for the summer, which means that summer camp is IN! An exciting new day camp is taking centre-stage this year in Whitehorse – specifically, it is taking the stage at the Frantic Follies Theatre, home to the Frantic Follies vaudeville revue. For almost 50 years, Frantic Follies has been delighting Whitehorse audiences with …
Longtime Yukon teacher Mary Sloan and rapper Eminem have something in common. They both got their careers started in Detroit’s notorious 8-Mile district. However, Sloan’s teaching environment from the beginning to the end could not have been more different. Growing up in Michigan, Sloan was just 20 years old when she began her first teaching …
Students in rural schools can miss out on a number of things in terms of course offerings and opportunities. There are specialty programs in the city that attract a number of rural students to spend time in Whitehorse. Our daughter, for instance, spent half of her Grade 11 year attending the Music Arts and Drama …
Curious Fact #1: stories about plucky orphan kids make wildly popular musical theatre fare. Witness Oliver!, Anne of Green Gables, and Annie. Curious Fact #2: two out of three musicals about plucky orphans involve adorable, authoritydefying redheads who find love in less-than-conventional families. “I don’t happen to be a tiny, adorable redhead, but I am …
When you think of plays, you think of The Guild and Nakai Theatre. More and more people are thinking of Music Arts and Drama at the Wood Street Centre as the high-schoolers in the experiential program put on beloved plays for the general public. However, not enough people are thinking of Moving Parts Theatre. This …
Last year’s Nakai Theatre Pivot Festival was not well-received. It featured a blind comic who portrayed cancer. It had a snow-shovelling demonstration. A sexualized Betty Rubble. A lonely, lonely lounge singer. A human piñata. Nakai Theatre wanted to bring out-of-the-box, professional theatre to the Yukon … and it did. But it wasn’t appreciated by the …
Theatre isn’t just about the actors on stage. And while Moving Parts Theatre concentrates on methods and techniques for its players, it also provides community members with important roles behind the scenes. Balancing school work and rehearsals is Wren Hookey’s latest priority. The 17-year-old high school student just began her fourth year with the popular …
The Music Arts Drama students swirled in their dresses in the Wood Street Centre hallway and they laughed at the newness of it. Just a year ago, some of these same students laughed at the wild costumes from Seussical, which, really, is just another world that these actors created for the stage . This year, …
Laughter, tears, dancing and push-ups. The celebration was just how Reid Curtis Parent would have wanted it, as if his spirit were guiding us. To all who knew him, Reid was a shining light, as unique a character as the Northern Lights he grew up under. Many people in the music and arts communities in …
Kindhearted pirates, timorous policemen, pretty maidens, star-crossed lovers and a thoroughly modern Major-General. All these are onstage this week at Wood Street School as the Music, Art, Drama, Dance program (MAD) program presents the Gilbert and Sullivan classic, The Pirates of Penzance. When director Mary Sloan and musical director Jeff Nordlund picked the comic operetta …
They’re dusting off their blazers and strapping on their tap shoes. Next week, the Grade 11 and 12 students of the Music Arts and Drama (MAD) program at Wood Street School will be going all-out to entertain with their year-end production of the 1980 Broadway musical hit, 42nd Street. Essentially a play-within-a-play, 42nd Street tells …
”Hello, everybody. Welcome to mayhem and madness.” It’s precisely 7 pm and Anton Solomon is just kicking off a rehearsal for the Moving Parts Theatre production of Noises Off, which is scheduled to open 15 days later. “We’ve got two weeks. Lots of time,” Solomon adds encouragingly. For the nine-member cast, this is the most …
It’s not always easy for a 19-year-old to decide what to do next; especially a 19-year-old like Graham Rudge. Should an award-winning year at art school be followed by a mechanical engineering degree, or a stint at circus school? Of course, that would have to be after a semester learning how to be a butcher. …
It sounds nasty. A small group of northerners is scheming to infect a major southern city with Syphilis next month. But there’s no need to alert public health officials. Ramshackle Theatre is merely hoping to spread an infectious dose of laughter to audiences at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, by means of Whitehorse playwright Peter …
Are you worried about the state of our youth today? I have a cure for you. It is something that works for me every time: I attend a MAD performance at Wood Street Centre. Music Arts Drama is an experiential program advocated for, and now run by, Mary Sloan and Jeff Nordlund. Two semesters a …
