Sens Alumni are coming to town

 

What do you do with a run-down hotel that just won’t sell?

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but there’s never been a real estate deal to match the hilarious goings on of Hotbed Hotel, Upper Canada Playhouse’s season opener running June 7 though July 1. 

Terri and Brian Cody are hoping to sell their “One Star Hotel” in the Florida Keys, to the only man who has expressed any interest in buying it. 

They’re not expecting him for a couple of weeks and are caught off-guard when they receive a phone call that he’ll be arriving within the hour! 

Unfortunately, they have so few guests they’re afraid the prospective buyer will recognize immediately that the hotel is a bad investment.

The Playhouse has assembled one of their largest, whackiest and most talented casts to date for this hysterical comedy.

Doug Tangney, has been entertaining audiences for years. He will be one of the several Playhouse favourites to hit the stage in this knee-slapping comedy. 

He is joined by Richard Bauer, who plays the impatient and suspicious buyer, Sam Lewis. Together with the other cast members Bauer is a master of fast-paced, exciting comedy. 

Debra Hale and Timm Hughes are the hotel owners, Terri and Brian Cody. Frequent Playhouse performers, Hale also appeared in last season’s Sensuous Senator while Hughes was last seen in Dear Santa. 

Another Playhouse favourite, Susan Greenfield, plays the fun-loving Hayley. Also returning to the UCP stage is AnnaMarie Lea, as the dim-witted maid, Maureen. Lea is also locally known as the producer of Cow Patti Theatre 

Erin MacKinnon, a Toronto actress formerly from Brockville, returns to UCP to play Ashley, the companion of buyer Sam Lewis. Also returning for Hotbed Hotel is well-known local actress Brenda Quesnel. 

New to Playhouse audiences is Mo Bock, a veteran actor who has appeared in several seasons at 1000 Islands Playhouse. He makes his Playhouse debut in Morrisburg as the ne’er-do-well maintenance man, Hopkins. 

The set is designed by John Thompson with lighting designed by Sean Free. 

Artistic Director Donnie Bowes, who directs the show, is bracing for a wild rehearsal period with this blue chip cast. He expects that audiences will have the time of their lives when they check into the hilarious Hotbed Hotel.

 The seasonal opener, Hotbed Hotel, runs Tuesday to Saturday at Upper Canada Playhouse at 8 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. 

For tickets and information contact the Playhouse at 613-543-3713 or at uppercanadaplayhouse.com.

[…]

 

“Good for the body and good for the soul” was this year’s theme for Curves International’s 14th annual month-long food drive. 

Once again, Curves of Morrisburg took part in the March event. According to owner Kelly Keeler, “this was the best year ever.” 

On April 2nd, Keeler revealed that the gym collected 2,565 pounds of food and supplies for the Dundas County Food Bank, easily exceeding their original goal of 2,000 pounds. In fact, they doubled their 2011 haul of 1,230 pounds.

Keeler pointed out that “most of the groceries that were purchased, were purchased locally.”

To motivate members, Keeler drafted an incentive plan for the members of the Morrisburg gym: for every 20 pounds of food donated, they received five ballots. 

Winning ballots will be drawn sometime next week. An Avon gift basket, a Curves gift basket,  and a bracelet are just a few of the prizes available. The first place prize is a pair of Upper Canada Playhouse tickets, donated by the Playhouse.

“Kelly does a lot. She really motivates everybody,” said Curves member and former chair of the Dundas County Food Bank, Brenda Millard. “Our community is hugely generous.”

In addition to the in-house prizes for members, there was an incentive for those who wanted to join the gym during the month of March. Rather than pay the membership fee, new members had the option of donating two bags of groceries or $30 to the food bank. Morrisburg had 15 new members join the club during their March food drive.

In addition to Keeler’s in-house incentives, Curves International had some incentives of their own.

In a February press release, Curves founder Diane Heavin stated: “With a theme of ‘Good for your body and your soul,’ this year’s drive encourages Curves members to feel doubly good about themselves as they make time to exercise for good health and take time to help others in the community with a donation of nutritious food.”

“Local Curves clubs may also qualify to win cash prizes for their local food banks. Curves International will award cash prizes to the clubs that collect the most food, the clubs that show the greatest increase in donations over the 2011 food drive, and to two additional clubs randomly selected from all the clubs who enter the contest.”

According to Keeler, Curves International is expected to announce these award winners sometime in late April or early May. The prizes, all monetary, will go to the food bank associated with the winning Curves club. There is one $1,000 prize as well as several $500 prizes.

Keeler has high hopes for the final awards and said, “anything we win will go directly to the food bank.” 

“I think that my club may be in the top five or earn one of the other prizes for the food bank… I’m hoping anyway,” said Keeler.

The Dundas County Food Bank is currently looking for empty containers: juice or Ensure bottles; 250 and 500 ml containers; 2 liter containers; water bottles; and, baby food jars.

[…]

 

As part of an ongoing effort to understand and address the risks faced by youth today, the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) administered the Youth Risk Behaviour survey to over 3,509 grade 7 to 12 students.

All four school boards in the EOHU jurisdiction were invited to participate. In total, 49 schools participated in the survey from November 2010 to March 2011. Here are some highlights of the results:

• Injury prevention: 60 per cent of students reported rarely or never wearing a helmet when bicycling

• Bullying: 25 per cent of students reported having been bullied on school property, while 18 per cent reported having experienced cyberbullying

• Mental health: 26 per cent of youth reported depressive symptoms and 11 per cent reported seriously considering suicide (suicidal ideation), while 7 per cent reported planning suicide and 4 per cent made a suicide attempt that did not require treatment

• Nutrition: 10 per cent of the students reported never or almost never eating breakfast and 3 per cent of respondents reported that they never or almost never eat lunch

• Physical activity: 40 per cent of respondents reported meeting or exceeding the recommended levels of physical activity set out by Canada’s Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living 

• Body weight: 24 per cent of students reported being slightly or very overweight 

• Tobacco: 19 per cent of students reported having tried smoking

• Alcohol: 63 per cent of youth reported ever having had an alcoholic drink

• Marijuana and other drugs: 25 per cent of youth reported having tried marijuana before and 16 per cent of them self-identified as regular users

“Based on this information, the EOHU and its community partners will target appropriate interventions and strategies to address the issues that our local youth are currently facing,” explained Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Officer of Health.  

“We will also continue to collect data to measure the effectiveness of these strategies. This process truly reflects our strategic priorities to invest in children and in youth and to work closely with community partners.”

To view the executive summary of the survey, visit the Eastern Ontario Health Unit online at www.eohu.ca.  

[…]