Playwright, Leanna Brodie as Anthea Dalzell

This week is the final week for The Book of Esther by Leanna Brodie! If you haven’t yet had a chance to see it, be sure to check it out before it closes on Saturday, July 30th at Mount Tabor Playhouse in Milford! And did we mention it’s air-conditioned?

In the rural community of Baker’s Creek the Dalzell family struggle to keep their farm, family and faith intact. To top it all off, their 15 year-old daughter Esther has just run away from home. This heart-warming story, from the writer who brought us Schoolhouse, takes us on a young girl’s journey to find herself.

Esther plays Wednesay, July 27th @ 2:00pm & 8:00pm, Thursday, July 28th @ 8:00pm, Friday, July 29th @ 8:00pm & Saturday, July 30th @8:00pm.

For tickets call 613-471-1991/1-866-584-1991, buy online at www.countytix.ca or stop by at the Box Office at 289 Main Street, Picton (inside Books & Company).

We hope to see you there!

*Photo by Michael Grills Photography

The Book of Esther – In the rural community of Baker’s Creek the Dalzell family struggle to keep their farm, family and faith intact. To top it all off, their 15 year-old daughter Esther has just run away from home. This heart-warming story, from the writer who brought us Schoolhouse, takes us on a young girl’s journey to find herself.

Doors at 7:30pm – Showtime at 8:00pm

Come and enjoy this fantastic show and show your support for a truly wonderful cause!

Tickets are on sale now!

Adults: $29.95 +HST
Seniors (65+): $23.75 +HST
Students (21 and under)*: $23.75 +HST

*Valid Student ID required.

For tickets please call 613-471-1991/1-866-584-1991 or buy online today at www.countytix.ca

For more info. about TaborFix please visit http://taborfix.blogspot.c?om/

We hope to see you there!

Leanna Brodie

Leanna Brodie has never been onstage in one of her own shows before. But all that is about to change. The playwright, who penned the audience favourite Schoolhouse, produced by Festival Players in 2009, is excited about performing in her own piece. The Book of Esther, opens Wednesday July 13^th and runs until July 30^th at Mt.Tabor Playhouse in Milford.

“I’m not sure what I expected, acting in my own play,” laughs playwright Leanna Brodie. “I can now see that the part of your brain that acts out stories is not the same part that makes them up from scratch! I don’t even think those parts of the brain know each other’s address! But I can tell you one thing: when I’m up there, talking to Roger or Abbee or Mark or Gord, everything gets very still in my head, because all of my attention is on them and on getting what my character wants from them. I’m not acting their parts, only my own. And that’s kind of wonderful, just being one piece of the story.”

The Book of Esther is a heart-warming play, challenging and humourous. June 1981. Toronto’s first Pride Day. The farm crisis. Charles and Di. Everything’s changing, including 15-year-old Esther, who has just run away from home. In this intensely personal exploration of the urban/rural divide, a stoic farmer, his conservative Christian wife, a middle-aged gay man in Toronto and a young street hustler are thrown together with one thing in common…Esther. Esther Dalzell. And yep…it’s a love story.

“We’re so excited to have Leanna here. She’s brilliant. To have the playwright up there with the rest of the cast, working through the piece…amazing. It’s like we’ve shaken up the roles. Brad Rudy, who’s directing the show, starred in it last year at the Blyth Festival. They’re so close to the play, engage with it on such a profound level, I love it,” says Artistic Director Sarah Phillips. “It’s wonderfully funny, and thought-provoking. We’re so glad to have this play here for our audiences. I think they’re really going
to enjoy it.”

Joining Ms. Brodie on stage this summer are veteran Stratfordactors, Gordon Miller and Roger Shank and newcomers/youngsters Abigail Fernandes and Mark Rotil. Director Brad Rudy, also familiar toStratford andBlyth audiences, takes the helm.

For ticket and schedule information about the 2011 season visit www.festivalplayers.ca or call 613.471.1991/1.866.584.1991. Flex Passes, discounted passes for 3 tickets to the 2011 season, are still available.

Tomorrow night we are hosting a ”Ladies Night with Amelia”. With each purchase of a ticket your name will be entered into a draw to win a basket of goodies (including wine from Rosehall Run Vineyards, 2 tickets to The Book of Esther, 2 tickets to The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw, 1 Picturefest Pass, and a selection of body productions from Sensitive Scents!), Rosehall Run Vineyards will also be joining us to do wine tastings.

Next week The Book of Esther by Leanna Brodie opens with a Preview Performance on Tuesday, July 12 at 8pm at Mt. Tabor Playhouse in Milford! Tickets are only $20.00+HST. We hope to see you there!

The season will begin with a remount of Amelia: The Girl Who Wants to Fly by Governor General’s Award winning playwright John Gray. Gray’s entertaining and engaging musical about iconic aviatrix Amelia Earhart will have only ten performances prior to its national tour. Festival Players premiered the original work last year to sold out houses. Ottawa actor Eliza-Jane Scott will revive the role she originated last year. Amelia: The Girl Who Wants to Fly will run June 28^th to July 8^th at Fields on West Lake, in Bloomfield.

Leanna Brodie’s powerful and moving story of a young girl’s journey to find herself in The Book of Esther will be the second show of the 2011 season. Set in the rural community of Baker’s Creek, the Dalzell family struggle to keep their farm, family and faith intact when their 15 year-old daughter Esther runs away from home. Festival Players audiences are familiar with Brodie’s razor-sharp wit – in the 2009 season, her Schoolhouse was a runaway audience favourite. The Book of Esther will run July 12^th to 30^th at Mt.Tabor Playhouse, in Milford.

The third show of the 2011 season will be The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw by Peter Anderson and Dora Award winner John Millard. This comical and clever take on the Faust legend tells the story of a young country boy who sells his soul to the devil to play the banjo. Originally produced by Caravan Farm Theatre in British Columbia, to strong audience and critical acclaim, the performance will feature a live bluegrass band. The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw will run August 3^rd to 28^th at Rosehall Run Vineyards, in Wellington.

“Our 5^th anniversary season is a celebration of stellar talent. We are thrilled to be creating and presenting original Canadian work in a unique and vibrant community, anchored in both rural life and artistic excellence. It’s here that our theatre artists continue to inspire, entertain, and engage a rapidly growing audience,” says Artistic Director Sarah Phillips. “We’ve got a few other things up our sleeve for this year too. There’s more great news to come!”

The season will run June 28-August 27, 2011. Single tickets will go on sale in early Spring. Flex Pass subscriptions are available and are priced at $81.00+HST until June 24^th. Contact boxoffice@festivalplayers.ca or call 613-471-1991/1-866-584-1991 to order a Flex Pass, and visit www.festivalplayers.ca for ongoing updates about the season and schedule.

Sherri McFarlane as Jan Sanderson PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Grills Photography

Festival Players would like to thank all who attended Opening Night on June 30th.

Our fourth season launched last Wednesday, with the first show of the season, I’ll Be Back Before Midnight by Peter Colley.

I’ll Be Back Before Midnight plays June 29 – July 24 at Mount Tabor Playhouse in Milford (MAP).

Get your tickets today to avoid disappointment, and bring a friend.. or two.. depends on how chicken you are!

For tickets please call, email or visit the Box Office at 613-471-1991/866-584-1991, boxoffice@festivalplayers.ca, or 289 Main Street, Picton (inside Books & Co.).

Or buy your tickets ONLINE TODAY! Visit www.countytix.ca.

Dubbed ‘Canada’s most produced play’ by the Globe & Mail, this crowd-pleasing show is full of twists and turns. It’s an action-packed psychological thriller with all the ingredients for a memorable night out. A couple from the city rents a house in the country so that the wife can recover after a breakdown – but their dream of quiet soon becomes a nightmare. There are ghosts, guns, and things that go bump in the night. People are not what they seem and things don’t go as planned. This show is not recommended for children (or the faint of heart).

“It’s great entertainment that’s for sure,” says Artistic Director Sarah Phillips who helms this production. “I don’t want to give anything away of course but it’s pretty scary stuff!”

The talent onstage for this production is stellar. John Dolan (Stratford, Blyth, Tarragon) plays the ‘farmer next door’, who seems nice enough; John Cleland (Shaw, Canstage, Theatre Passe Muraille), plays the suspicious husband; Sherri McFarlane (Shaw, Elgin, YPT), the anxious wife and Tracey Ferencz (Canstage, Thousand Islands, Shaw), the sultry sister.

I’ll Be Back Before Midnight plays from June 30 – July 24. Click here for schedule details. Tickets can be purchased in person at Books & Company, 289 Main St, Picton, by phone at 613.471.1991 or online at www.countytix.ca. Seating is limited so it’s best to purchase in advance.