Past performers / alumni are staging Into The Woods this weekend
By
Mark Schadenberg
An
exceptional way to pay tribute to a teacher is to deftly display the skills
taught – for the students to combine their efforts into a performance of thanks.
This
would be the case in any sport or perhaps a young violinist winning a recital.
In
Woodstock, a CAST encore will be this weekend’s production of Into The Woods at
Theatre Woodstock.
For
more than 20 years the Reeve Street stage has been home to CAST (young people
Creating And Staging Theatre). The youth local troupe has been led by Jennifer
and Jason Paquette, who recently announced they would be retiring, and therefore
officially handing reins over to Theatre Woodstock, its general manager Mike
Crabbe and other volunteers.
CAST
alumni decided to congregate for one final show -- create a sendoff production
of adoration and adulation for Mr & Mrs Paquette, and the group selected
the Stephen Sondheim musical (James Lapine story) Into The Woods as its subject.
Stephen Sondheim resume
Stephen Sondheim resume
Sondheim
has a very significant library of shows - Funny Thing Happened On The Way To
The Forum, Bounce, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story and
Company.
Into
The Woods is a good choice as it combines children’s fictional tales into a
show geared for adults. The premise of the storyline includes Jack & The
Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella. Therefore, there
is a boy trading a cow for magic beans, the subsequent giant, a big bad wolf, a
baker, a young girl with a cape, a witch, a prince, Sleeping Beauty, and other
characters to weave a storyline which includes songs such as Your Fault, It Takes
Two, I Know Things Now, No One Is Alone, First Midnight, and Children Will Listen. My personal
favourite is Your Fault as everyone is to blame and certainly can be blamed to
some degree, but all deflect that fault to someone else in a witty tune.
The
selection of Into The Woods seems quite ‘logical’ as in the Star Trek episode
where Spock noted it would be interesting to see what will have grown 20 years
later from the seeds sown today when referring to the emerging power of the
character Khan. I digress, but 20 years later the movie Wrath Of Khan was a
huge success.
Costumes,
music, stage cues, memorizing lines and lyrics, rising curtains, volunteering
parents, time commitments, posters and publicity, and dancing and acting for
more than 20 years has created an astounding group of alumni to perform this
weekend (today to August 27, and the shows are sold out).
CAST
not only staged two productions annually starring the teenagers up to 19 years
old as a ‘senior group’ show, but they also created shows to be performed by
younger age brackets – as young as 7 years old in a ‘junior group’. When you
factor in the summer camp shows, CAST has produced more than 100 different
plays or musicals.
Three
of the Paquette family members will star in the Sondheim show – Kaitland, Emily
and Jacob.
My
kids just completed the Woodstock Theatre (519 537-2582) kids summer camp and
its staging of Little Mermaid Junior, so many of those instructors are CAST
grads and some of the same theatre producers will be on stage for Into The
Woods, including Jacob Paquette, Victoria Thompson and Mike Crabbe.
The
Woodstock Sentinel-Review has featured other former CAST members in a series,
which is also a tribute to the Paquette family’s efforts. The newspaper series
notes that Into The Woods is among the many shows performed previously by CAST.
The S-R stories also gave CAST members an opportunity to publicly thank the Paquette
couple for their years of devotion to youth and theatre.
I’ve
always been a person who believes youth must find their passion – whether it is
singing, acting, sports, dance, scouting or other endeavours. Jen and Jason supplied
the destination for inspiring stage performers and for those who also wanted to
work behind the scenes as well.
Extra Large With Milk & Sweetner please
Extra Large With Milk & Sweetner please
Besides
donating their skills and dedication to youth theatre, Jason and Jen are also
local philanthropists as owners of two Tim Hortons stores. The pair have
provided coffee and snacks to dozens of events annually (free or at an
extremely reduced price) for many years, and are always a top sponsor of the
Terry Fox Run. Jason Paquette has even been known to camp out on the roof of
their store to raise dollars for the Tim Hortons’ youth camps at Camp Day.
Theatre Woodstock 2016-17 Season flyer
The
CAST alumni also includes Daniel VanWinden, Teale Poirier, Ben Alexander, Hayley
Matheson, Zane O’Connor, Taylor Markham-Tamachi, Mike Schryver, Cole Hill, Laurence Marshall and Chloe Weir. For the
show’s rehearsals, many of these actors have travelled from distances outside
of Woodstock to make this show possible.
Matheson,
for example, is attending Ryerson this fall to continue studies in theatrical
performances. In The S-R series, Matheson, who is from Embro, talked about returning
to Woodstock to perform as Rapunzel in Into The Woods, saying: “I’m not working with just anyone. I’m working with the
people that inspired me to do what I do,”
Since
there is a witch in Into The Woods, you could say that Jen and Jason Paquette
CAST a spell on the youth of this area to love and admire theatre – acting,
singing and dance. You could add, that in turn, the youth nurtured the Paquette
family’s love for the stage as they continued their efforts for more than 20
years, and that includes adult productions from Theatre Woodstock as Jen was
director of Tuesdays With Morrie a few years ago and many many other shows. In
that show, Jason played the role of Mitch.
To
continue the connections, Jason and son Jacob starred in A Soldier’s Heart by
David French back in 2013, which would have been a rewarding moment for both as
Jacob was named after the character Jacob Mercer from both Salt-Water Moon and
A Soldier’s Heart. Jason and Jen met while staging Salt-Water Moon in the early
1990’s (Archives of theatre say 1991-92 season). The family’s long-time
friendship with Woodstock’s Bennett family (Edwin and Lee) strengthens that
bind as Ed Bennett, who passed away in 2010, had been a prisoner of war in the
Second World War.
Jason and Jennifer Paquette in 2013
during staging of play A Soldier's Heart.
during staging of play A Soldier's Heart.
Back right is their son Jacob who is the Big Bad Wolf in Into The Woods
this weekend at Theatre Woodstock -- the CAST farewell alumni shows
(Photo is from The Sentinel-Review archives online)
(Photo is from The Sentinel-Review archives online)
Theatre
and the Paquette family are very important to Woodstock, so you can add me to
the people announcing from my lower diaphragm so folks in the last row can
hear: “Thanks for sharing your wisdom and skills, and thanks for your
dedication to the youth of Woodstock.”
I
also personally know that the Paquette family gained some of their admiration
for Theatre Woodstock through the late (and legendary) Lee and Ed Bennett. My connections to Ed Bennett was through both the Woodstock sports wall of fame and 'Klondike Joe' Boyle.
Theatre Community
Woodstock
is actually quite lucky to have such a strong group of theatre people – from Lee
Bennett, to Edythe Smith, Brian George, Rosemary George, Bonnie Hartley, Mark
Tonner, Joanna Sweete, Jeff Sweete, Sally Johnston, Andrew Norris, Tony
Harding, Don Hastie, Natalie Surridge, Mary Holmes, Dan Grass, Dave Butcher . . . .
I
believe 2016 also marks 20 years since Theatre Woodstock moved into the former
farm market building on Reeve Street (from the badminton club on Hunter
Street). It’s a great location for stage theatre as it’s across the street
from both City Hall and the Oxford administration building, but it’s also a short
walk to countless restaurants, the museum, and art gallery.
The
association’s website, by the way, has an archived listing of productions
dating back to 1946, and many won regional drama league awards.
LINKS:
This picture was posted today on Facebook by Paul Roberts,
so I thought I should include it here.
Woodstock farm market under construction in 1895.
All blogs on this site, written by:
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
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Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
Little Mermaid cast for Theatre Woodstock's
summer camp included my two great kids
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