Parvovirus is in Morrisburg

Nothing is officially finalized, but there are tentative plans to fill the space now occupied by the Morrisburg Branch of the SD&G library, at the lower east end of the Morrisburg arena.

Essentially, the space will be divided up as a catch-all.

The primary tenant will be the Dundas County Food Bank. 

That means the Food Bank will eventually vacate its present home, in the neighbouring, municipally-owned Second Street building commonly referred to as the ‘old parks building.’ 

Since before this term of council, the municipality has expressed an interest in finding new homes for the tenants of the ‘old parks’ building, which is to be demolished. 

With that in mind, the municipality has spent minimal funds on that building’s upkeep over the last several years.

That building, 50 years ago at the time of the Seaway project was erected then as a temporary building. It continues to be used by the municipality as a home for the Dundas County Foodbank’s South Dundas location, temporary office space for the fire chief and the South Dundas Sports Lending Library.

Once the former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute redevelopment project is complete, transforming that building into South Dundas’ new administrative headquarters, the fire chief’s office will be located there.

The Dundas County Food Bank will take up about half of the current library space at the arena, according to South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds. 

“We have no formal agreement with them right now, so this is all tentative,” he said.

The tentative plans for the rest of the space that the library move will open up, are to provide space for the South Dundas Sports Lending Library, which freely lends sports equipment to South Dundas residents, and to take about 20 feet at the extreme north end of the space and partition it off to provide workshop space for the recreation department workers.

None of these tentative plans will materialize until the SD&G library moves into its new location which will be in the space vacated by the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic.

Once the clinic moves into its new home inside the high school building, in about a year’s time, the current clinic location will be renovated for the library.

Byvelds is not yet ready to discuss what plans are in store for the land that will be left vacant when the ‘old parks’ building is demolished.

[…]

Stage actor. Genie nominated film star. Radio personality. Model. Composer. Singer.

Especially a singer.

Terra Hazelton, who will be coming to the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage on Saturday, November 17, with her band, Easy Answers, is a multi-talented Canadian artist who will be offering a stunning mixture of blues and jazz at her show. 

Sandra Whitworth, of the St. Lawrence Stage, described Hazelton as a “..powerhouse singer. And the band is just a whole lot of fun. This is just going to be a terrific show.”

When Hazelton was asked how someone just 33 could have already accomplished so much, she laughed. “My passion for the arts started at a very early age.” 

Hazelton first earned her acting chops with the Loose Moose Theatre Company of Calgary, an organization founded by Keith Johnstone. Artistic director, Dennis Cahill, has had a profound effect on some of Canada’s best performers, including members of the Kids in the Hall, and of course, Terra Hazelton.

At age 14, Hazelton was already learning improvisational comedy and taking part in children’s theatre productions.

She credits Cahill and  the company with infusing her with “a taste for the stage, for telling stories and for making people laugh. My theatre experiences really nurtured all my natural urges to perform. And,” she laughed, “I also found I had a strong affinity for singing.”

Time spent at the prestigious American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, really exposed Hazelton to the classic lyricists and composers, to Broadway legends like George Gershwin and Cole Porter. And her career soon took a new direction. “I discovered I loved that kind of music, loved singing it. I began veering away from my original Broadway stage ambitions” and instead found singing taking precedence. 

She returned to Toronto and started performing in cabarets and on stage. 

Then came the moment Hazelton calls “kismet.”

She had been performing around Toronto, particularly at the Brunswick House, when legendary singer/guitarist Jeff Healey heard her sing. His band, the Jazz Wizards, had been formed about a year earlier, and he was looking for a vocalist. 

“He sort of ‘musically courted’ me,” Hazelton laughed. “He came around to hear me at different clubs for a while, and then he offered me a wonderful job” as his band’s featured vocalist. 

It was a magical match: Hazelton toured with his band and Healey eventually produced the young performer’s debut record, “Anybody’s Baby” in 2004.

“The reaction to her (Hazelton) has been overwhelmingly positive to say the least,” Healey said. “I can say that I’ve rarely, if ever, seen a vocalist receive more of an outpouring of affection and adulation.”

Hazelton’s repertoire is grounded in her interpretations of classic jazz and the blues. 

“Jeff exposed me to some of the early great jazz musicians, singers from the 20’s and 30’s. I love Bessie Smith, for the blues and Connie Boswell is my favourite for jazz. Boswell was really the Brittany Spears of the 1930’s. Some of these artists are a little less known today, but I love singing them. Let’s just say my blues choices are earlier than my jazz choices.”

Hazelton is very much looking forward to her performance with Easy Answers at the St. Lawrence Stage. “It will be a great evening.”

Tickets for Terra Hazelton’s concert on November 17 are $18 in advance and $20 at the door. They are available at the Basket Case, Strung Out Guitars and Compact music or on line at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage.

[…]

Something’s cooking at the Upper Canada Playhouse and artistic director Donnie Bowes and director Walter Learning are keeping a lid on the ‘brewing’ excitement.

At a press conference for the Playhouse’s upcoming production of Caroline Smith’s The Kitchen Witches, Bowes and Learning and the cast, which includes Linda Goranson, Jocelyne Zucco and Parris Greaves, were a tight-lipped about what’s on the menu for the Playhouse’s final run of the summer season.

“It’s a different show. It’s going to be fun for the audience,” said Bowes.

“It is a different show,” agreed Learning chuckling as he added,“It’s not one of your farces where doors are slamming everywhere…but there are doors that do slam.”

“It’s about two ladies and a cooking show…it’s a love story, it’s about friendships and there are a lot of laughs. There are also some very touching and insightful moments,” said Learning.

The Kitchen Witches stars two talented veterans of the Canadian stage, Linda Goranson and Jocelyne Zucco, who performed in the play twice before and once together.

Goranson is playing Dolly Biddle whose gimmick in her television show is playing an eccentric Ukranian cook with a love of vodka.

Her final show (it’s been cancelled) is interrupted by long-time friend and rival Isobel Lomax, played by Zucco. Upon her arrival, the cooking show begins to heat up as the two cooking divas go at each other.

The cooking show’s director is Dolly’s son Stephen, played by Greaves, who attempts to referee the on-camera battle.

“My character (Dolly) lives to be on a cooking show,” says Goranson. “Her whole world has been Stephen and the cooking show. Dolly loves life but her heart gets hurt by other people.”

“My character (Isobel) returns to stir things up in the stable Biddle world,” says Zucco.

Both Goranson and Zucco are delighted to be back on the Playhouse stage. They are enjoying the opportunity to perform in The Kitchen Witches again and enjoying the new discoveries they are making.

“We have a new Stephen, a new actor who is going to create different reactions, a new set and a director with new and wonderful ideas,” says Zucco. “All of that allows you to discover new things.”

“It’s like a long rehearsal period,” says Goranson. “You get to go deeper and deeper. It just gets richer and richer and richer every time you get to do a play again.”

Although not a problem, stage manager Jackie McCormick says The Kitchen Witches has been a challenge.

“This is probably the prop heaviest show I have ever done,” says McCormick of the over 24 containers of difference sizes, numerous kitchen utensils, wooden spoons and on and on. “On top of that is all the food. It’s been a challenge, but a good challenge.”

McCormick explains it is all about where everything is, in the right place at the right time.

Bowes admits to becoming somewhat of a shopping guru….He claims that when you are in a local store, filling your shopping cart with 90 containers of whip cream, 90 tart shells, 60 taco shells and more, people tend to take notice.

And how that food is used in the play remains a mystery that Upper Canada Playhouse audiences are going to enjoy.

“Tomorrow we get the actual whip cream and yogurt,” said Goranson as Thursday’s press conference wrapped up.

“And we won’t be wearing costumes the first time,” said Learning with a chuckle.

The Kitchen Witches runs September 8 through October 2 with shows on Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets can be booked at uppercanadaplayhouse.com or by calling the box office at 613-543-3713.

[…]