Theatre therapy for 4th Line Theatre actress
Sarah McNeilly stars alongside Robert Winslow in Crow Hill: The Telephone Play from July 3 to 28 at Millbrook theatre
Sarah McNeilly made good on her New Year’s resolution.
After two years fighting breast cancer, the actress decided it was time to get back on the stage.
In January she auditioned for a role in 4th Line Theatre’s first summer play Crow Hill: The Telephone Play. The audition alone gave McNeilly a “triumphant” feeling, knowing she could overcome her nerves to once again put herself out there.
But then the incredible happened. McNeilly was cast as the lead.
“It was a huge boost,” admits McNeilly, sitting underneath a large tent set up at
4th Line Theatre near Millbrook.
“I feel more like myself than I have in a long time. It’s art therapy.”
McNeilly’s performing career was put on hold in May 2016 when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. She grew up in Fenelon Falls, spending a great deal of time on the historic stage at the Academy Theatre in Lindsay.
After moving to Peterborough, she immersed herself in the city’s art scene and performed in numerous productions at The Theatre On King, Market Hall and Showplace.
McNeilly says treatment kept her away from the stage, something she knew didn’t feel right.
“It was a big part of myself that was missing,” says McNeilly. “I needed that creative outlet.”
That’s been granted in spades since she was cast as Alice Cameron, one of the protagonists in the upcoming 4th Line Theatre play that’s being staged from July 3 to July 28.
McNeilly’s character starts off as a 15year-old who takes the job of a switchboard operator when a country doctor opens the first telephone service in the early 20th century. McNeilly says her character ages throughout the play, ending when she’s 77.
“It’s incredibly challenging,” says McNeilly.
The play was co-written by Ian McLachlan and Robert Winslow, 4th Line Theatre founder who is also starring in the production as Doc Logie.
The duo wrote the play in the mid 1990s. Together McLachlan and Winslow set out to write a play based on the stories of experiences of elders in the Millbrook community.
They ended up interviewing Ona Gardiner, who was a switchboard operator for Doctor Beatty in Garden Hill for more than three decades. Along the way, Gardiner became a fixture of the community and her life experiences became the basis of much of the Crow Hill play.
“She was such a great storyteller,” recalls McLachlan of that early interview with Gardiner. “And back then, she would have known everyone’s business.”
Together, Winslow and McLachlan have penned eight plays together over the years, with a ninth in the works. Winslow says the key to collaborating on a writing project is to respect the other person’s differences.
“There’s a lot of give and take,” says Winslow. “But we wouldn’t be doing it for 30 years if there wasn’t great enjoyment.”
This latest run will be Crow Hill’s third time being performed on the outdoor stage at the Winslow farm on Zion Line, just south of Millbrook.
It first premièred in 1997 and was produced again in 2004.
It follows the story of a local country doctor who opens the first telephone service in the area and the switchboard operator.
Director Deborah Williams, from Vancouver, says she’s elated to be back at 4th Line again this year. She acted in Bombers: Reaping The Whirlwind last year and jumped at the chance to return to again this year for Crow Hill.
She adds there are many similarities with the play and her immediate family. Her father was a country doctor in British Columbia and her grandfather was a telephone repairman for B.C. Tel.
“My father had a real connection to his community and this show is about community,” says Williams. “(The playwrights) captured that deep connection I feel to my father.”
Crow Hill: The Telephone Play features 20 actors. The creative team includes set design by James McCoy; costume design by Meredith Hubbard; musical direction, original music and arrangements by Justin Hiscox; choreography by Monica Dottor and sound design by Esther Vincent.
For show times and ticket information visit www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca