Budget changes expected to pass

 

 The Lundeens are a dysfunctional family. No doubt about it.

Brother Michael, the ‘successful’ doctor, is repressed and desperate.

Brother Carl, the truck-driving ‘journalist,’ is resentful and sarcastic.

Sister Stacey flutters waif-like around the edges of the family, mostly overlooked.

Michael’s wife Jill teeters on the brink of hormonal hysteria.

Mom Helen appears to be losing all sense of reality.

And Dad? Well, he’s actually dead. Sort of. 

The appeal of Phil Olson’s A Nice Family Gathering, the last show of the Upper Canada Playhouse 2012 summer season, is this. In even the most dysfunctional of families, there remains a deep running thread of loyalty and love which simply can’t be broken. 

In the course of a Thanksgiving dinner, audiences will get to know the Lundeens, laugh with the Lundeens (often and very loudly) and yes, even shed a tear with them. 

A Nice Family Gathering is a great show.

Lovingly directed by Donnie Bowes, it features the “blue chip” cast Bowes said (in an earlier press conference) he needed to bring Olson’s play to the stage. 

Don Ciaschini is Jerry, the neighbour. It’s a smaller role, but Ciaschini brings real personality to it. He was Carl Sr.’s oldest friend: he remains Helen’s friend. And he is a kind of catalyst in the play, setting off unexpected events. As he observes,  ultimately fleeing from the ‘friendly’ dinner he thought he was attending, “Any family with more than three people is dysfunctional.” 

Richard Bauer creates a truly sympathetic character in his Carl Lundeen. Scruffy, resentful of what he believes is the family preference for brother Michael, the doctor, he clings to the hope of becoming a journalist. Unfortunately, his sole output, a weekly column, Observations, runs only in a tiny local paper. Stories focussed, for example, on the time he swerved to miss a gopher and spilled coffee in his crotch, have never gained him much respect at home.

But Bauer’s Carl is also very witty, very funny. He alone is able to see the ‘spirit’ of his late father, who has returned to the family on a mission. And he is the one, to his horror, Dad wants to use to “channel” those efforts. 

Jamie Williams, Dr. Michael, is one half of “the perfect couple.” He’s got a beautiful wife, a beautiful house, a beautiful car and he’s absolutely miserable. His wife, Jill, (Kate Gordon in a role that could have become a caricature, but is instead sympathetic and loving) is “just a little emotional.” She and Michael have been unsuccessfully trying to have children, and the effort has become a burden. And Michael’s finances have taken a bad turn.

Stacey, played with a certain wonderful ditziness by Liz Gilroy, is the too often overlooked child. 

“I don’t think Stacey will ever get married,” Helen proclaims. “She’s just not popular with boys.”

“Mom, I’m right here,” Stacey wails.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d mind my saying it. You like being alone, don’t you?”

However, it is Stacey, delivering two bombshells after dinner, who flings the Lundeen family into comic chaos.

The heart and soul (literally, in Dad’s case) of the Lundeen family are the parents.

Doug Tangney, even as a ghost, is charming, unexpected and incredibly funny. His running commentaries on events, his head to head duels with Carl, the absolute certainty with which he finally admits his family is “a Marx Brothers movie,” endear him to the audience. Yes, he made mistakes as a father, but he utterly adores the wife and the children he had to leave behind. 

That wife is played by Linda Goranson with both pathos and great humour. Her family fears that she is slipping away from reality: turkey dogs for Thanksgiving dinner, boiling water that she never remembers to add coffee to, and confusing comments like ‘Spam makes me laugh’ and ‘I love jumbo shrimp’ suggest there may some truth to their fears. 

They all adore her. So does the audience.

When she and Carl Sr, using son Carl as the intermediary, finally reveal the true, forever depth of their love, we cared. 

It was a wonderful moment.

And this is a wonderful piece of theatre. The play is hilarious, unexpected, touching and, above all, really entertaining. 

Plan to spend some time with the Lundeens at A Nice Family Gathering. You won’t regret it.

Call Upper Canada Playhouse at 1-613-543-3713 for tickets and information or contact www.uppercanadaplayhouse.com 

[…]

The extended family and friends of George and Voula Vlacholias packed the Yefsi Restaurant Sunday, October 27 to celebrate this new endeavour for the longtime Cornwall restaurateurs. 

They are the former owners of North End Pizzeria, a business they successfully owned and operated for 20 years.

George explained that they decided to sell the City restaurant and try a new endeavour in a smaller town. 

Restaurant-goers in Iroquois are now benefiting from that decision.

After extensive renovations to the building located in the Iroquois Plaza that has been home to different restaurant endeavours over the years, Yefsi opened its doors for business June 3. The renovations started in December of last year. 

George found the idea of a smaller community restaurant, with less competition than a city restaurant very appealing, and so far so good, for the restaurant that offers quality food, including Greek and Italian dishes, at reasonable prices.

“I’m happy with the business,” said George. “The community is supporting me.”

George welcomed the crowd of about 50 people who gathered to officially celebrate the opening of Yefsi Restaurant in Iroquois, October 27.

“Thank you for your support, and I will do my best to serve you as best I can,” he said.

Among those on hand for the celebration were local MP Guy Lauzon who offered best wishes of success. “The people of South Dundas will support you. You offer quality food and the word is already out there,” he said. 

“Thank you for taking this leap of faith, and taking on this restaurant and transforming it into an excellent addition to South Dundas and to Iroquois,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds. “We are glad this venture is here in South Dundas.”

[…]

 

Sears Catalogue Store (the Iroquois branch recently received recognition from Sears for customer service) and River Rat Treasures jointly sponsored and hosted a fund raising fashion show held at the Iroquois Legion on Sunday, April 15. 

Wearing a sparkling mixture of modern and exciting styles from Sears and some styles that would have made great-great-grandma swoon a century and a half ago, 12 models of all ages delighted a crowd numbering over 80. The funds raised from the event, $870, will all be donated to the Iroquois and District Celebration Festival Committee.

“We included a segment of period costumes to create some excitement for our upcoming festival,” said Candace Menges of River Rat Treasures and Candy’s Hair Salon, organizer for the show. “Our theme for the September festival is “Dundas Militia…A Call to Arms…War of 1812,” so it all fit.”

Evonne Delegarde served as commentator for the fashion show. Guests enjoyed tasty treats,  took advantage of several door prizes and explored some very unique shopping opportunities over the evening.

Nancy Horton, a cancer survivor and author of the book, Hope in the Midst of Darkness, and the children’s book, The Big Fat Head (illustrated by her son, Carter) was also on hand at the fashion show. Diagnosed with cancer in 2005, Horton supports efforts, through her books, to help people cope with the disease, and with loved ones going through treatments.

“Think positive, reach out to God in times of trouble,” she said, “and don’t lose hope. The word cancer is not a death sentence.”

[…]