Publicity

'Keep the Home Fires Burning'

Stratford Festival beckons Local Theatre Group

Home Fires Players, according to Creative Director Don Wright was formed to give people experiencing separation during Deployments an opportunity to support each other and welcome their loved ones back when they return home. Last season the troupe performed Freeze Dried Tomatoes during Civic Centre Days and caught media attention for their efforts. The production featured a full length play recounting the events of the recent Afghanistan deployment including a 30 voice choir which also entertained. Members of the cast and crew came from families at Base Petawawa and the surrounding area who wanted to form a support community for themselves and “by the way put on a play” quipped Wright.

The HFP Mission grew even larger when people from the Company and a few audience patrons back from Afghanistan noted that it actually helped them cope with their separation and work through some of their traumatic stress. In fact, the Renaissance Project as it has come to be known was recently presented to Dr. Zul Merali and Dr. Georg Northoff at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research in the form of preliminary findings and observations. As many other research studies have shown, creative arts activities stimulate the brain to open up new pathways and counteract traumatic stress.

Home Fires Players launched their new season with a bus trip to Stratford, Ontario called Moosettes on the Loose 16-18 October. The event was open to everyone; including men who were not away moose hunting! The details can be found on the website Stratford Trip Registration and people registered for this amazing trip for just $275 which included: return bus transportation, two nights accommodation, three Stratford Shakespeare Festival performances, Festival Tours of the Costume Warehouse and Backstage, and a special discussion class featuring the Master Props Builder for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

What's ahead for the Home Fires Players is a possible chance to workshop the play Freeze Dried Tomatoes in Stratford. In his own words, Antoni Cimolino, General Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival described what he called “grass roots theatre” by saying, “You (Home Fires Players) are doing for actors what we are doing for audiences. This is such an important expression of what theatre means and we will support it” said an enthusiastic Cimolino.