ARTS NEWS the FREDERICTON ARTS ALLIANCE Serving the Arts in the Fredericton Region March 3, 2005, Volume 5, Issue 9

ARTS NEWS THE FREDERICTON ARTS ALLIANCE Serving the Arts in the Fredericton Region March 3, 2005, Volume 5, Issue 9

In This Issue

1. Belly Dancing In Fredericton 2. Music On The Hill Series Presents 20th Century Greats 3. Royden’s Memories, Mirage Exhibitions Open in Playhouse Galleries 4. Odd Sunday At Molly’s To Feature Poet Hugh Thomas 5. Christ Church Choral Evensong On March 6 6. Coming Up At The Monday Night Film Series 7. Gallery 78 Presents Young At Art 8. Three Exhibitions Opening At Gallery 78 9. Soprano Kate Rogers To Join Andiamo In March 11 Concert 10. Music On The Hill Reschedules Music to the Dance 11. Music On The Hill Series Presents Susanne Yi-Jia Hou, Violin And Robert Koenig, Piano 12. Call For Submissions: Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Series 13. Medium Blend at the UNB Art Centre 14. Public Reading At UNBF By Dave Cameron and Zachariah Wells 15. Community Events At The Beaverbrook Art Gallery 16. Coming Up At The Fredericton Playhouse 17. The Maritime Writers’ Workshop Announces the 30th Birthday Edition!

Reviews The Crucible The Black Box, February 23-26 Theatre Saint Thomas By Russ Hunt

The End of Civilization Memorial Hall, February 23-26 Theatre UNB / NYR COSTLEE Productions by Russ Hunt

Galleries At A Glance

1. Belly Dancing In Fredericton

Beginner classes in Middle Eastern Dance (belly dance) start Sunday, February 27 upstairs from the Victory Meat Market on King St. in theWu T'ai Chi Academy. Classes run for six weeks, and go from 3:30-5:00. Classes will be taught by Lynsey Welling, Kathryn Assaff,and Shantell Powell, and are $60 for six weeks, or $12 per class. There will be no class on Easter weekend. Intermediate/Advanced classes begin Sunday, February 27 at the samelocation. Classes run from 1:30- 3:00. Classes are taught by ShantellPowell and are $60 for six weeks, or $12 per class

For more information, contact Shantell at [email protected] or 455-7426, or Kathryn at 454-1049.

On March 21, a multicultural fair will be held at the Boyce Farmers' Market. Admission is free, and performers from all around the world will be in attendance.

2. Music On The Hill Series Presents 20th Century Greats

Thursday, March 3, 2005, 8 pm- Memorial Hall, UNB Join pianist Peter Allen as he takes us on a tour through some of the greatest music of the 20th century, 2 including works by Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and Michael Miller.

Admission is $20/adults, $18/seniors and $6/students. Tickets are available at the door.

For more information, please call 453-4697 or email [email protected]

3. Royden’s Memories, Mirage Exhibitions Open in Playhouse Galleries

March 4 – 31

Royden’s Memories

Michael J. McEwing's latest body of artwork, Royden's Memories, will be showing at the Fredericton Playhouse, West Gallery. Royden's Memories is a series of large conté drawings based on a collection of old black & white photographs belonging to the artist's grandfather, Royden D. Morgan [1903-1999]. These drawings celebrate memories of New Brunswick life during the Depression era.

There will be an informal opening reception on Friday, March 4 from 7 to 9 pm in the West Gallery of the Playhouse. All are welcome to attend. For more information, please call 459-3964 or visit the website, www.mcewing.ca.

MIRAGE Photography Exhibition by Moncton Artist Maurice Henri

"Every artists was first an amateur." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

While choosing isolation to try to create this project, I wanted to avoid the constraint order of professional practices and revisit the excitement of photography as "an amateur". The word "amateur" draws from the Latin saying "for the love of". I love photography and I am fascinated by the landscape, rural and urban. My desire is to specialize in the photography of nature in it's purest of simplicity. The insulated and expressive impact of nature attracts me.

For this exhibit, I worked in 24x36 for its handiness, transparency film (ISO 100) for it's pin-point exposure accuracy, vibrancy, colour rendition and fine grain. I combine under-exposure to modify contrasts of colour, wide-angle lenses to accentuate the dynamics of the creeping distances and telephoto lenses to crush the plans of perspective, multiple exposures to mimic the impressionistic serenity of a painting and finally, movement combined with shutter speeds to marry the merging of lines and tones.

4. Odd Sunday At Molly’s To Feature Poet Hugh Thomas

Poetry reading: Hugh Thomas featured at Odd Sundays at Molly’s, Fredericton’s longest running semimonthly poetry reading series. (We’re so sharp we are licensed.)

1st Sunday of the month, March 6, 2005, 2 pm Molly’s Coffee House 554 Queen Street, Fredericton

Featured reader, Hugh Thomas, grew up in Winnipeg, and then got a few degrees in math, a subject he now teaches at UNB. His poems have appeared in Queen Street Quarterly, This Magazine, fhole, and Chiaroscuro; as well as in broadsheet with red iron press. Book Thug published his chapbook, Mutations, in December 2004. Sometimes dark, always entertaining, Thomas draws on a quirky brilliance to make intelligent, crisp poetry.

Open Set: Bring lyrics, drama, fiction, or music, to present in the open set. If it is created from words, we want it.

Prize: a beer and instant fame will be awarded to the open set player who has the quirkiest piece.

Join us at 2 pm on March 6, at Molly’s Coffee House, for an afternoon engaged with the literary arts. For information: [email protected] or 459-1436. New Brunswick: Canada’s poetry province! 3

5. Christ Church Choral Evensong On March 6

Christ Church Cathedral will hold a service of Choral Evensong on Sunday March 6 at 4 pm. The Cathedral Choir, directed by Michael Capon, will sing music by Gibbons, Shephard, and Paul Murray. Visitors most welcome. For more information, call the Cathedral office at 450-8500 or visit http://www.christchurchcathedral.com . The Cathedral is at the corner of Church and Brunswick streets.

6. Coming Up At The Monday Night Film Series

Mar 7, 2005 A Very Long Engagement France, 134 min French w/English subtitles http://wip.warnerbros.com/avle/

Five desperate men shoot themselves in order to be relieved from the horrifying frontline at the Somme, in WWI. A court-martial decides to punish them by leaving them alone in no-man's land, to be killed in the crossfire. Then all hell breaks loose and they all die. Or not? One of these men's fiancée, a young girl who can't walk since age 3, receives information that makes her suspect his boyfriend might have gotten away alive. So she embarks in a painful, long and often frustrating ordeal to find out the truth.

Tickets and memberships for the Monday Night Film Series are available at the door, Tilley Hall, Room 102. Regular admission is $7 per screening, $3 for members. Regular half-year memberships are available for $20; students, seniors and NB Film Co-op members for $12. If you are interested in becoming a Film Series Member call: 455-1632 or email: [email protected]

Check out the new Monday Night Film Series website at: www.nbfilmcoop.com/FS.htm

7. Gallery 78 Presents Young At Art

…or why viewing a work of art is like choosing a pizza

Thursday , March 10, 5 - 7 pm. An introduction and initiation for young professionals, (between the ages of 20 and 40), into art appreciation and collecting. (ID 's will not be checked at the door) Unfortunately, art galleries can be intimidating places for many people, old and young alike. In this brief informal introduction to Atlantic Canadian art, Gallery 78 aims to make a gallery visit as comfortable and enjoyable as a visit to the local pizzeria or pub. All who are young at heart are welcome to attend.

Sponsored by Picaroons Traditional Ales, Greco Pizza, Pizza Hut, Jack’s Pizza and Pizza Delight

8. Three Exhibitions Opening At Gallery 78

March 11 - April 2 Opening: Friday, March 11, 5 - 7 pm. Award Presentation: March 18, 5:30 pm.

Alexandrya Eaton - Fresh Fruit and Flowers Anna Torma / Istvan Zsako - Textile Drawings and Bronze Idols Hawkes Juried Silver Award

Alexandrya Eaton - Fresh Fruit and Flowers What better way to speed up the thaw than with these sizzling hot new artworks by Fredericton's own Alexandrya Eaton. Whether she is working in acrylic, oil or watercolour, this artist's work is always fresh, sophisticated, gloriously colourful and life affirming. In this exhibition of vibrant acrylic paintings, she is expanding on her traditional floral still life subject matter with the introduction of fruit.

Anna Torma / Istvan Zsako - Textile Drawings and Bronze Idols Zsako and Torma are husband and wife artists originally from Hungary with extensive international reputations now residing in Baie Verte, New Brunswick. Torma is well known for her colourful large scale 4 hand embroidered wall hangings. Influenced by primitive, outsider and children's art, they have strong narrative content, often including text and figurative elements. The artist is fascinated with the challenge of introducing contemporary meaning into the age old and labour intensive technique of hand embroidery and enjoys the combination of cultural tradition with issues from contemporary art practice.

Istvan Zsako’s figures are modern time idols, playful variations of sexuality and love. He casts his surrealistic, playful figures from bronze, first forming small figures from wax, and then making enlargements in plaster. Each piece is individually patinated or painted to make it unique. They range in size from a few inches to almost seven feet tall. The two artists admit to being strongly influenced by each others work. These exhibitions are a must see for International Women's Month as masculinity, femininity and gender issues are a predominant theme for both artists.

Hawkes Juried Silver Award A Fredericton philanthropist and avid international silver collector has decided, with the encouragement of Gallery 78, to provide an award in the amount of $1000 to a third year student at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design for the best designed and executed silver goblet. His aim is to encourage students to develop and advance their design and silversmithing skills and to inspire them to create unique objects through their research of historical design. Five goblets will be competing for the coveted award but goblets by some of their instructors and senior students will be on display as well. The worthy recipient will be selected by a jury of three; world renowned silversmith and NSCAD metal instructor Kye Yeon Sar, recent Strathbutler Award recipient, respected artist and NBCCD instructor Janice Wright Cheney and Gallery 78 Artistic Director, Penelope Pacey. The award ceremony will take place Friday March 18, at 5:30 pm.

9. Soprano Kate Rogers To Join Andiamo In March 11 Concert

Andiamo presents a musical evening on Friday, March 11, at 7:30 pm in the Black Box Theatre, St. Thomas University. The members of Andiamo are Jane Bowden (piano), David Nielsen (violin), and Douglas Vipond (clarinets). The program includes an array of composers and styles, from Vivaldi to Vaughan Williams to Klezmer. Special guest Kate Rogers, soprano, will join the trio for five popular songs. A feature of the program is a new work, "Two-Step," written for Andiamo by Fredericton composer Michael Capon. Admission is free.

10. Music On The Hill Reschedules Music to the Dance

Enjoy an innovative evening that blends modern dance with a mix of 20th-century classical works (especially those with a Spanish flavour), jazz standards, and original settings of songs by Kurt Weill, Sting and Loreena McKennit. Music on the Hill proudly presents Music to the Dance at 8 pm on Monday, March 14 at the Centre communautaire Sainte-Anne. This concert was originally scheduled for February 10 but had to be postponed because of blizzard conditions.

Modern dancer/choreographer Sue Lambropoulos is joined by colleagues Ginny Steeves and Rebecca Thomas in six new dance sequences, all accompanied by the wide-ranging musical artistry of classical guitarist Steven Peacock, keyboardist/percussionist Mike Doherty, jazz vocalist Tania Breen, Symphony New Brunswick principal flute Sally Wright, and Hot Toddy bassist Tom Easley.

Single tickets for this performance are available in advance at Mazzuca's, Westminster Books and The Paper Trial, as well as at the door (for reservations, leave a message at 457-2233). Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $7 for students.

11. Music On The Hill Series Presents Susanne Yi-Jia Hou, Violin And Robert Koenig, Piano

Wednesday, March 16, 2005, 8 pm - Memorial Hall, UNB Susanne Yi-Jia Hou is a young Canadian whose talent has taken her to all corners of the globe with a recent highlight being a recital in Madrid where she played on Pablo Sarasate's Stradivarius violin. She will be joined by pianist Robert Koenig for this performance.

Admission is $20/adults, $18/seniors and $6/students. Tickets are available at the door.

For more information, please call 453-4697 or email [email protected] 5

12. Call For Submissions: Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Series

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is calling for submissions for the second Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Exhibition Series. Sponsored by Greenarm, this innovative series provides artists in the early stages of their career with the opportunity for a solo exhibition, the publication of an exhibition brochure, and the purchase of one of their works by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. One of the commitments Bernard Riordon made when he became director of the Gallery was to support young artists. “It is critically important for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to recognize New Brunswick artists at the early stages of their career as was the vision of Lord Beaverbrook.”

Last year’s Emerging Artist, Jonathan Johnson, had his painting, Port City, added to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s permanent collection through the funding support of Greenarm. The acquisition of this artwork, and the work of other young artists selected for this series, is one component of the Gallery’s strategy to build an exciting and innovative permanent collection.

Artist in any media who fit the following criteria may apply: . Living and working in New Brunswick. . At least five years experience in art making. . This will be the artist’s first exhibition in a major public gallery. . Has a particular body of work ready for exhibition in the autumn of 2005.

To have your work considered for this exhibition, please submit your curriculum vitae, your artist statement and visuals of your work (either in electronic or slide form) to the curator of the exhibition, Bernard Riordon O.C., Director and CEO, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, P.O. Box 605, Fredericton, NB, E3B 1C4. The deadline for applications is March 15, 2005.

In September 2005, Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Series exhibition will be hosted by the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.

For further information please contact Laurie Glenn Norris at (506) 458-2024 or email her at [email protected]

13. Medium Blend at the UNB Art Centre

This March 18 at 7 pm, the UNB student collective ArtZone, in conjunction with the UNB Midi Band, will be opening their exhibition Medium Blend. An installation composed of 14 individual works, this opening event at the UNB Art Centre will create a live media coffee house atmosphere in the East and West Galleries of Memorial Hall. Visual art and soundscape come together in a sensorium guaranteed to offer something for all tastes. Sculpture, textiles, photography and mixed media are the blend of the evening. Come and enjoy this collage of experiences and get acquainted with some of Fredericton's up-and-coming young artists.

For information call: 452-6360

14. Public Reading At UNBF By Dave Cameron and Zachariah Wells

March 23, 8 pm: reading by Dave Cameron (Continental Drifter) and Zachariah Wells (Unsettled) in the President’s Lounge of the Alumni Memorial Building on the UNB Fredericton campus.

For information contact Sharon McCartney 454 -3238

15. Community Events At The Beaverbrook Art Gallery

Saturday March 5 Member’s Opening of Caught in the Presence of Dreams and André Biéler: Draftsman and Printmaker : Caught in the Presence of Dreams features the work of five New Brunswick artists who were all winners (between 1996 and 2000) of the much-coveted Strathbutler Award. The five artists represented in this show are sculptor Marie Hélène Allain of Ste-Marie-de–Kent; photographer Freeman Patterson of Shampers Bluff; painter, poet, set designer, and performance designer Romeo Savoie of Robichaud; painter and collage artist Suzanne Hill of Rothesay; and the late Rick Burns of Fredericton who was a sculptor, painter, author, and playwright.

André Biéler: Draftsman and Printmaker showcases the artist’s collection of works on paper from the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. This exhibition brings together some sixty drawings and prints produced by the artist between 1920 and 1970 from his early works to his interest in things rural and picturesque.

On the afternoon of Saturday March 6 from 3 to 5 pm, Mr. Tom Smart, curator of Caught in the Presence of Dreams, will moderate a Round Table discussion with Suzanne Hill, Romeo Savoie, and Marie Hélène Allain, and later field questions from the audience. This event is free and open to the public. From 5 to 7 pm there will be an Opening Reception with refreshments served for members of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Memberships are available at a cost of $40/year for individuals. For more information phone Laurie Glenn Norris at 458-2024 or visit our website at www.beaverbrookartgallery.org.

March Break Art Camps: Programs for kids ages 5 - 12 who like adventures in art! Kids will explore their artistic potential through guided hands-on studio discoveries. All materials provided for your day-long adventure in art-making, storytelling, gallery visits, and lots more. Dress for mess and fun! All day camps are 8:30 to 4:30 PM. Campers need lunch and two snacks, drinks, painting smock and indoor shoes (non- marking). Parents are kindly asked to pick up campers by 4:30 pm as a charge of $5 will apply for all late pick-ups.

March 7 “Clay Play” (ages 5 – 6): Explore new media and create your own unique art. March 8 “Ready, Set, Paint!” (ages 7 – 8): Creative fun with watercolor, tempera and acrylic paints. March 9 “Sculpture anyone?” (ages 9 – 12): Adventures with sculpture in clay, found objects, soap and other materials. Oh, and mask-making, too! March 10 “Exploring Paint” (ages 5 – 6): Discover color, shape and texture in paint! March 11 “Art: A Mixed Bag!” (ages 7 – 8): Drawing, sculpture, beading and mask-making inspire children to create, explore and play.

The price is $30 for members and $35 for non-members. Please note that refunds are possible only with a 48-hour cancellation notice. For more information phone Adda Mihailescu at 458-2032. To register phone the Front Desk at 458- 2078.

“Wise and Witty Women” Presented for International Women’s Day Celebrations: On March 8 from 12:15 to 1:15 pm, Dr. Margaret Conrad from the UNB History Department will present “Wise and Witty Women,” offering quotations of women’s from all walks of life. Prof. Conrad and colleagues will perform a skit on the life of Muriel McQueen Ferguson, first woman member of the City Council of Fredericton, and former President of the New Brunswick Council of Women. Senator Muriel McQueen Fergusson, the first woman to hold the position of Speaker of the Senate in 1972, spent her life dedicated to improving the legal status of women and to aid the weak and afflicted everywhere.

Admission is free but there will be a “pass-the-hat” for donations to Women in Transition House Inc. Donations provide extra activities for children during their stay at the House and “Start-up Kits” for women as they move into their new apartments. For more information please phone Laurie Glenn Norris at 458-2024.

Brown Bag It! Film Series: Held every Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30 pm coffee is provided and donations are accepted. You are welcome to “Brown Bag It!”

March 3 - Great Masters: Raphael 10 - Great Masters: Michelangelo 17 - Great Masters: Fra Angelico 24 - Great Masters: Piero della Francesca 31 - Great Masters: Caravaggio

For more information please phone Adda Mihailescu at 458-2032 or visit our Calendar of Events at www.beaverbrookartgallery.org.

The Seventh Annual Christina Sabat Memorial Lecture: It will now be held on Thursday March 17, 2005 at 7 pm. Philosopher and cultural theorist Mark Kingwell’s lecture is “Who Owns Art?” Born in Toronto in 1963 and educated at the University of Toronto, Edinburgh University and Yale University, Mr. Kingwell is the author of many acclaimed books including Practical Judgment (2002) and Catch and Release (2003). He is also co-author of the best-selling photographic history of the twentieth-century, Canada: Our Century. He has lectured extensively to academic and popular audiences throughout the world and speaks frequently on 7 cultural issues for television and radio. He is currently at work on a book examining the relationship between cities and consciousness.

This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information please phone Laurie Glenn Norris at 458- 2024 or visit our Calendar of Events at www.beaverbrookartgallery.org.

16. Coming Up At The Fredericton Playhouse

Don’t miss these exciting performances coming up at Fredericton’s premiere performing arts venue! For tickets or more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at (506) 458-8344 or visit http://www.theplayhouse.ca

Thursday, March 3, 8 pm The Fredericton Playhouse presents… April Wine Since forming in 1969, April Wine has become one of the most renowned and best-selling groups in Canadian rock music history, with and incredible 17 albums and thousands of concerts to their credit. With a slew of Top-40 hits like Sign of the Gypsy Queen, Just Between You and Me and Oowatanite, April Wine has produced some of the most well-known songs of the ‘70s and ‘80s, securing their place on the international rock scene. You won’t want to miss this performance!

Wednesday, March 9, 7 pm The Fredericton Playhouse presents… Motus O Dance Theatre’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” With innovative costuming, props, sets and music, Motus O Dance Theatre presents this classic, beautiful story of love and lunacy combined with themes of passionate youthful love versus mature love and responsibilities. Add a mischievous fairy named Puck, a flower with magical powers, a dancing Ass and a lot of fantasy and you’ve got a fun, whimsical, and stunning dance performance. So join us, as warriors become lovers, lovers become dreamers and dreams become reality. This special performance will also feature over 40 local dance students who will study with Motus O in a four-day residency.

Thursday, March 10, 8 pm @theplayhouse LAUGH! Series presents… Tourist Trap Lorne Elliott’s unique sense of the ridiculous returns to the Playhouse stage in a brand new form. The CBC star of “Madly Off in All Directions“ makes his directorial debut with “Tourist Trap”, an uproarious tale about a struggling film writer from PEI, Bruce MacIntyre. In an attempt to finance a dry-spell in his career, Bruce rents his ramshackle backwoods cottage to unsuspecting tourists. With a wittily clever plot and hilarious characters, you’ll want to get caught in this Tourist Trap! Sponsored by: Kiers Communications

Sunday, March 20, 8 pm Council of the Arts Fredericton ONSTAGE Series presents… I Musici de Montréal I Musici de Montreal, under the dynamic direction of Yuli Turovsky, is a world class chamber orchestra with a rich sound, stylistic flexibility and a vast repertoire extending from the baroque to the contemporary.

March 17 through March 23 Theatre New Brunswick presents… Oh, Coward! With songs, biographical anecdotes and sketches from his various writings, Oh, Coward! celebrates the life and work of British legend Sir Noel Coward. A wildly successful playwright, composer, lyricist, librettist, director and actor, Coward made an indelible mark on the international theatrical landscape with his unique "talent to amuse".

17. The Maritime Writers’ Workshop Announces the 30th Birthday Edition!

July 10-17 marks the 30th Birthday Edition of the Maritime Writers' Workshop. We are pleased to present an exciting line-up of excellent teaching writers who will be travelling to Fredericton to help us celebrate three decades of offering excellence in professional development to writers at all stages of their careers. Allow us to introduce our guest instructors: 8

Janet McNaughton -- leading the Writing for Children class -- has written five young adult novels, ranging from historical fiction to science fiction and fantasy, one junior novel and one picture book. Her books have won ten awards to date and have been translated into Dutch, Danish, French, German and Portugese. She runs a monthly reading club for junior high school students out of the local independent children's bookstore in St. John's and helps to organize the Eastern Horizons children's literature conference, which is held in St. John's every third year. She currently serves on the board of the Canadian Children's Book Centre and is an active member of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador. Janet also has a Ph.D in folklore.

Sue Goyette -- Fiction Instructor -- grew up on the South Shore of Montreal and now lives in Halifax, NS. She has taught at The Banff Wired Studio, The Sage Hill Writing Experience and is making her second appearance at the Maritime Writers' Workshop. Sue is the author of two books of poetry, The True Names of Birds and Undone, and two novels, Lures and a work-in-progress under the title Miracle.

Alan Cumyn -- Fiction Instructor -- has written eight novels and a play in the last twelve years. A Giller Prize finalist for Burridge Unbound, Cumyn is also a two-time winner of the Ottawa Book Award. His first novel for children, The Secret Life of Owen Skye, won many honours including the Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award and the Mr. Christie's Book Award. The Sojourn, his novel of the First World War, was chosen by several media outlets as one of the top Canadian novels of 2003, and Quill & Quire named his most recent novel for children, After Sylvia, one of the top five children's books of 2004. Cumyn's theatre adaptation of After Sylvia opens in Ottawa in June 2005. He has taught creative writing in China and Indonesia and now serves as a writing mentor through the Humber School for Writers. Cumyn lives in Ottawa with his wife and two children.

Harry Thurston -- Creative Non-Fiction Instructor -- has been a full-time writer for nearly three decades. He is one of Canada's most widely published freelance journalists, contributing to such magazines as Audubon, National Geographic, and Canadian Geographic and serving as a contributing editor to Equinox. He is the author of twelve books of non-fiction, three of which were awarded The Evelyn Richardson Prize. His latest book, A Place Between The Tides, A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh, was a finalist for The Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize. He is also the author of four collections of poetry. In 2005, A Ship Portrait, A Novella-in-Verse will appear from Gaspereau Press and an anthology of nature writing from Atlantic Canada, edited and introduced by Thurston, will be published by Nimbus Publishing.

Robyn Sarah -- Poetry Instructor -- was born in New York City to Canadian parents, and grew up in Montreal. A graduate of the Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec and of McGill University, she is the author of seven poetry collections and two collections of short stories, and her poetry, fiction, and essays have been published widely in Canada and the United States. Co-founder (with Fred Louder) of Villeneuve Publications in 1976, she co-edited its poetry chapbook series which included first titles by August Kleinzahler, A. F. Moritz and others. Robyn Sarah's poetry collections include The Touchstone: Poems New and Selected (1992), Questions About The Stars (1998) and A Day's Grace (2003). She is one of 17 new poets included in the recently expanded Fifth Edition of The Norton Anthology of Poetry. A selection of her poems, translated by Marie Frankland, is slated for publication in Quebec in 2007 with Les Editions du Noroit.

For further information, or to receive a brochure/application, contact

Rhona Sawlor, Coordinator Maritime Writers' Workshop UNB Art Centre PO Box 4400 Fredericton NB E3B 5A3 Phone/Fax (506)474-1144 [email protected] http://extend.unb.ca/writers/

Reviews

The Crucible The Black Box, February 23-26 Theatre Saint Thomas by Russ Hunt

It's something of a surprise that Arthur Miller's monumental The Crucible, originally created as a scream of frustration and rage at a fairly transitory political situation -- the spasm of anticommunist paranoia which peaked about ten years after the Second World War -- would have maintained that feeling of immediate resonance a half century on, when Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities are only fading memories. And yet, as Ilkay Silk points out in her director's note for the production she's directed for Theatre Saint Thomas, its concerns are perhaps more resonant now than at any time since it burst on the scene in 1953.

There is no way to escape the parallels generated when Deputy Governor Danforth defends the witch hunt's methods by explaining that "a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. This is a sharp time, now, a precise time -- we live no longer in the dusky afternoon when evil mixed itself with good and befuddled the world. Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun is up, and them that fear not light will surely praise it." The resonance with speeches we've heard in quite recent memory is uncanny.

Silk's production is centered on those resonances: echoes from a world where evil and good could seem so easy to see and divide, where any evil was all evil, where sexual dalliance was one with mass murder and lechery was the equivalent of plowing on Sunday or signing your soul on to Satan's army. She pares away all of the richly detailed circumstance of Miller's painstakingly described Salem; gone are the fresh-hewn beams of a raw colony in the midst of the forbidding wilderness, gone are the accoutrements of the court and the homey coziness of a Salem farmstead. What we get in this production is a square, wood-floored playing area, with the audience (and, often, much of the large cast) ranged around to watch the confrontations between authority and reasonableness, between decency and self-righteous inflexibility, between those who see the world as black and white, illuminated by the hot fire that melts down all concealment, and those others who live in the shadows of uncertainty, indecision, compromise and love. All the details that Miller specified, as he carefully placed his characters in 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, in a village only recently carved out of the forests, are burned away. A bare minimum of props -- four chairs at the corner and a bed in the middle; a deal table with four chairs; four black benches at the edges of the playing area -- remind us, along with the thoughtful modern costumes, that these are not people in the throes of some ancient hysteria we can feel safe from -- some irrational nightmare of witches or communists under the bed -- but recognizable people living in our world. People who watch each other as we watch them, people who struggle in public over questions like what right anyone has to demand that you justify yourself and prove your purity; what constitutes evidence and proof when claims of land and kin, doctrine, careers, and sexual relationships underlie the matter; what happens to human reason and reasonability when the Unalterable Law of God is taken to be in the hands of some weighty, unquestionable authority.

From the outset, it's clear that everything about this production is rock solid. For my money, theatre doesn't get much better than this.

To read the rest of this review, go to Russ Hunt's Web site, http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/reviews/othrevs.htmSt.

The End of Civilization Memorial Hall, February 23-26 Theatre UNB / NYR COSTLEE Productions by Russ Hunt

George Walker's Suburban Motel series of plays is probably among the works of Canadian drama most frequently produced on campuses. The plays are deceptively simple: all six of them take place in a motel room, which means that sets are straightforward and inexpensive; all involve more or less realistic "domestic" issues, have relatively small casts and are fairly short one-acters, and 10

(perhaps most important) all represent a pretty clear and passionate position on social issues, one that many young people can make sense of and embody with some enthusiasm.

Walker has called himself a spokesman for the sort of person you'd expect to find in (or coming out of) the East End of Toronto. In the case of The End of Civilization, the third of the series of loosely related scripts to be produced at UNB in the last year, the character at the center is Henry, a downsized and desperate victim of the corporate rollbacks we've been witnessing in the last decade or so, a hopelessly unemployed lower-middle-class guy with a mortgage, a wife and kids, and virtually no hope of ever climbing back up on the corporate rat-race track. The substance of the play's action (presented, interestingly, in a series of non-chronological vignettes) involves his incoherent and uncontrolled -- and ultimately insane -- attempt to cope with his situation.

Attentively directed and more than competently acted, The End of Civilization still seemed to me to exhibit some of the stitching and patching that signals a play not quite completed. I suspect it's in Walker to make this into a better play, though it seems clear that he's on to bigger and better things.

To read the rest of this review, go to Russ Hunt's Web site, at http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/reviews/othrevs.htm

Galleries At A Glance

Acacia Gallery: Foundations and Pond Studies. Pond studies: Richard Flynn's latest series of summer landscapes. Foundations: come on a short woodland walk at the gallery to view the beautiful earth sculptures by Meghan Barton. The Gallery is open by appointment. Contact 506 488-1119. Address: 1948 Lakeview Road, Cambridge Narrows. E4C 1N1. E-mail www.flynnfineart.com

Art Contact: ARTCONTACT is featuring Sarah Petite's latest series, predominated by historically inspired pieces about Champlain and the landing of the first French settlers in North America. Sarah is one of the few Canadian artists who have mastered the ancient technique of using encaustic material (mixing beeswax with paint). The works include unique and fascinating replications of Champlain's maps of New France, a page of his journal, maps of the Annapolis Basin and Ste. Croix Island as well as a contemporary navigational chart of St. Andrews showing St. Croix as it is today, complete with flashing red light.

Also on display at ARTCONTACT are works by Philip Iverson, Gerard Collins, Brigitte Brieu, Alexandra Flood, Darren Emenau, Judy Blake, Carol Collicutt, Silas Robinson, don Andrus and Wayne Boucher.

By appointment - 453-1856 (Ingrid Mueller) Phone: 453-1856 or e-mail [email protected]

ARTGallery’Rat: ARTGallery’Rat is closed for the season and looks forward to seeing everyone when it reopens.

Beaverbrook Art Gallery: For a complete listing of exhibitions please go to http://www.beaverbrookartgallery.org or call 506 458-8545.

Fredericton Playhouse: March 4 - 31 West Gallery: Michael McEwings’s Royden’s Memories. East Gallery: Maurice Henri’s MIRAGE Photography Exhibition

Gallery 78: Three exhibitions: March 11 - April 2 Opening: Friday, March 11, 5 - 7 pm. Award Presentation: March 18, 5:30 pm.

Alexandrya Eaton - Fresh Fruit and Flowers Anna Torma / Istvan Zsako - Textile Drawings and Bronze Idols Hawkes Juried Silver Award

Gallery Connexion: TBA 11

New Brunswick College of Craft and Design: Gallery Downstairs: Self: New Photography Works at NBCCD

New work by the second year Photography Studio at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design will be on display in the Gallery Downstairs from February 18 - March 3. The show entitled Self: New Photography Works, expresses the ideas of emerging photographic artists Lynn Corbett, Karen Casey, Garett McIntosh, Amber Friedman, Sara Comier, Celine Dupuis, Nicole McGuigan, Lizz Pratt, and Jack Oudemans. The title of the show was chosen by the late Rick Burns and reflects the photographer’s unique visions in an eclectic mix of anonymous bodies.

Gallery Downstairs is located in the basement of the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design at 457 Queen Street, adjacent to the Justice Building. The gallery hours are 9 am to 4 pm daily.

For more information please call (506) 453-2305.

String Fever: Closed for the season.

Old Government House: TBA

UNB Art Centre: Coming up - Medium Blend. Opening March 18 at 7 pm

Memorial Hall, 9 Bailey Drive on the UNB Fredericton campus. Open 9 am-4:30 pm Monday through Friday. Admission is free. All are welcome. For information: 453-4623.

The Arts News is free service of the Fredericton Arts Alliance. It is a weekly electronic calendar of events distributed each Thursday. If you have a community arts announcement that you would like included in the Arts News, please send it to Amani Wassef Arts News Editor, at [email protected] Deadlines: Please send entries for Thursday’s Arts News by the Tuesday prior to issue.

Would you like more information about the FAA? Would you like to get involved? To reach the FAA: Fredericton Arts Alliance, P.O. Box 1303, Station A, Fredericton, NB, E3B 5C8 Phone: (506) 443-9900

E-mail: Naushaba Khurshid [email protected]

Executive Members: Board Members: George Strunz, President Andrea Crabbe Vice President, Steven Peacock Dan Gleason Acting Secretary, Renée Davis Brigid Toole Grant Karen LeBlanc, Treasurer Russ Hunt George Fry, Past President Neil MacGill Roslyn Roselfeld

Naushaba Khurshid, Acting Coordinator