FINE ARTS Showcase of Theatre
Society featuring assortment of one-act plays
The basement of the Pictou County Gymnastics Club has become a little more dramatic, as the location of the New Glasgow Youth Theatre Society and its rehearsals leading up to performances this week.
The Theatre Society is in the final stages preparing for its 11th showcase at Glasgow Square Theatre. The May 31 and June 1 event, A Showcase of Theatre: A Little Something for Everyone, will feature an assortment of short, one-act plays and scenes from larger plays.
The performances run the gamut of what theatre has to offer. From Reader’s Theatre and tales of dragon slaying to Shakespearian scenes, this year’s show will feature, as its title indicates, “a little something for everyone.”
Amanda Jefferson-Gillis, the artistic director, said the show will feature eight one-act plays, and that the young actors and actresses involved are nine to 18 years old.
Mary Gillis, who will be playing Juliet in a scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, said she has been acting since the age of nine, and that she is excited to be playing a character as interesting as Juliet.
“I feel like I have big shoes to fill, but I have gotten comfortable with acting,” she said. “When I was younger, I built a lot of confidence, and when I’d be onstage, people would say ‘Oh my god, you’re so young and doing so well.’ That praise really helped build my confidence.”
Hanna Conrod, who is playing the nurse in the scene with Gillis, said she feels good about her progress in rehearsing as show time approaches.
Conrod, who has played another Shakespearian character before while working with the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, said her role as the aging nurse is a great way to break out of her comfort zone as an actor and try something new, since she is still in high school.
“The nurse complains about her aging body, and it’s kind of funny putting myself in that kind of role when I’m still young. It’s fun and challenging,” said Conrod. Another challenge Conrod sees in her role is getting used to the language in Shakespeare.
“The text takes some getting used to, since it’s a completely different language from what I’m used to speaking,” Conrod said. “It’s a little less challenging this time around, since it’s not a full show.”
Above all, Conrod said she finds the entire process of preparing for a performance to be rewarding, because “when you act, you connect with other people. It’s a unique experience, and it’s different form every other art form.”
The younger Gillis joked that her mother’s talent as a director helped her manifest her potential as a great actress – to which Jefferson-Gillis responded with a chuckle, “I started in life acting, and I think Mary inherited that flair for performance onstage naturally.”
Jefferson-Gillis said she is looking forward to things coming together in the dress, and technical rehearsals – and ultimately onstage at Glasgow Square.
“I think it’ll be nice, during the technical rehearsal, for everyone to see their friends in their roles. A lot of people haven’t seen anyone else practising since we first read scripts and started rehearsals in March,” she said. “It’ll be fun for everyone to sit back and see what’s going on.”
When asked if this year’s showcase was easier or harder to prepare for, Jefferson-Gillis said that she was expecting it to be easier, given that it was a series of smaller performances with fewer people, as opposed to a larger one with more actors and actresses.
“It hasn’t been as easy as I thought. They’re shorter plays, but as it turns out I’m involved in a rehearsal every night.” She said the real challenge is managing the hectic, packed schedule such a format presents.
“When you do one play, that’s a challenge, but when you have multiple plays, there’s a variety of things needed,” said Jefferson-Gillis. “It’s a challenge, but it’s been very fun.”
Throughout the rehearsals, from the first reading of scripts, Jefferson-Gillis has been recording the children preparing for the show.
She hopes to show them – especially the younger, perhaps slightly shier actors and actresses – how much they’ve grown as thespians.
“The younger people can be really shy. But once you break down that wall, they come to life – it’s exciting to see them grow,” she said.
Jefferson-Gillis is excited for the performance at the end of month – and for the future of the New Glasgow Youth Theatre Society.
“We now have a studio and a home,” she said. “and we’re in the process of giving it a facelift.”
She added that she plans to hold summer drama camps, and in the future hopes to be doing regular classes at the studio this coming fall.
“I feel like I have big shoes to fill, but I have gotten comfortable with acting.” Mary Gillis