Glory scores one for the healing power of sport
If Vancouver actor, director and playwright Tracey Power drops over for a visit, make sure your coffee table books are in plain view.
It was from such a book of historical Canadian photographs that Power was inspired to write her play Glory, which runs at Alberta Theatre Projects from April 3 to 21.
In 2013, Power was visiting friends in Canmore who had a book of historical photographs, including ones dating from 1910 to 1915 of women’s hockey teams with the players in very long skirts.
“It got me so intrigued, I did some research and discovered there was this great women’s hockey league in Canada in the 1930s. It was started by two pairs of sisters, Hilda and Nellie Ranscombe and Marm and Helen Schmuck. They were on a softball team during the summer, but were looking for a sport to play in the winter,” said Power.
“Hockey was considered a man’s game, but they had different ideas and that really appealed to me.”
From that early beginning in Ontario, other teams began sprouting up across the country. A women’s league formed in Alberta and it held tournaments in Banff.
“The Calgary team was called The Grills, so they must have been sponsored by a restaurant.”
As she got deeper into her research, she knew where it would end.
“If a story or an idea won’t stop pestering me, I know it wants to be a play and that’s what happened with Hilda, Nellie, Marm and Helen, who created the Preston Rivulettes.”
There was just one not-so-minor hurdle.
“I kept wondering how a hockey game could be brought to life without putting the actors on skates. That’s where my dance background intervened. I decided to choreograph the hockey sequences. I started by studying hockey moves and deciding how to dance them. I thought this would help me capture the excitement of a hockey game and especially of winning a hockey game.”
Power looked at music from the 1930s, especially jazz, and with the help of sound designer Steve Charles, created something they call electro swing. “It’s a modernday beat to the old jazz music.”
Through the play, Power wants to show “how Hilda, Nellie, Marm and Helen went about creating the Rivulettes and why they did it and how that hockey team changed their lives and so many other lives.”
Power feels the Depression was a major factor in the success of women’s hockey.
“This was a time when people were looking for ways to lift their spirits and sports can do that. So can theatre and the arts. There are so many parallels between sports and theatre, which is why I think Glory works on stage.”
Casting such an unusual play posed a challenge.
“The dancing is very physical, so I needed strong actors with some dance background who would be willing to jump into the very athletic choreography.”
This was a time when people were looking for ways to lift their spirits and sports can do that.
She found that combination of skills in Katie Ryerson and Morgan Yamada, who play the Ranscombe sisters, and Gili Roskies and Kate Dion-Richard, who play the Schmuck sisters. Calgary actor Kevin Corey plays their coach Herbert Fach.
James MacDonald directed Glory with Power handling the choreography. Narda McCarroll created a set of a 1930s hockey rink that can transform into various other locales.
“It’s a very fast, funny, energetic show,” said Power, who created the touring production of Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen and choreographed Onegin, which each played at Theatre Calgary for the High Performance Rodeo.
Glory previews in the Arts Commons’ Martha Cohen Theatre April 3-5 with its official opening on April 6. Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are available at atplive.com or 403294-7402.