{"id":3073,"date":"2013-07-10T16:28:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-10T20:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2013-07-24T17:07:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T21:07:38","slug":"wavestage-set-to-make-first-splash-with-hair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wavestage-set-to-make-first-splash-with-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"Wavestage set to make first splash with \u201cHair\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Standing on a relaxing beach watching the waves come in and out, Aurora\u2019s Sarah Kyle was struck with an idea.<\/p>\n

Ms. Kyle, the long-time director of the Aurora Performing Arts Group, has seen her troupe grow and evolve over the years to something far beyond simply a local theatre company. Casting calls bring aspiring actors in from far and wide, they come in to better their craft, or learn different and out-of-the-ordinary aspects of the theatre world, and when they move on, they leave a sea of change in their wake. <\/p>\n

\u201cI realised these waves is what being an actor is all about,\u201d says Ms. Kyle. \u201cIf you give a fabulous performance, there is an energy transference, and the audience member goes home changed and they create waves in their lives. Our actors go onto other experiences, they are creating waves out there and I all of asudden thought that was a better name for what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aurora Performing Arts Group is now a thing of the past. Enter \u201cWavestage\u201d, a new spin on an old theatre stalwart.<\/p>\n

Since the company\u2019s inception, Ms. Kyle says they have toured across Ontario, in other provinces, and down into the United States and their shows are now representing Aurora on a wider stage. From her perspective, this makes them more of a Regional and Provincial theatrical company. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe realised we weren\u2019t just a local community theatre,\u201d she says. \u201cOur expectations for our actors were high and we were being recognized in the country as a really quality professional experience. I have found some [of our alumni] are directing, many are performing professionally, and I felt our company is working really hard to connect with today\u2019s generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In connecting with today\u2019s generation, Wavestage plans on opening up their new season this month re-connecting today\u2019s generation with the harbingers of change of a previous generation with Hair, the iconic hippie musical of the 1960s. <\/p>\n

\u201cHair is a show that almost makes an assault on many things,\u201d she says. \u201cIt satirizes just about everything from discrimination to pollution, to repression and a whole variety of societal evils. I thought we would go out there in a big wave.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this big wave, they\u2019re also making a big splash, bringing up the curtain for the first time at the large Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

While Hair made its first waves on the Broadway stage in the last year or two of the 1960s, before becoming a feature film a decade later, and experiencing various revivals during its lifetime, Ms. Kyle believes its message is \u201chugely relevant\u201d now more than ever. It speaks, she says to a year of violence the world has experienced in situations such as the Boston Marathon bombings, and school shootings in places such as Newtown, Connecticut. It asks all the questions that should be asked, and should still be asked today, such as the deployment of American soldiers around the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we talk openly about sex, and why are some words dirty while other words that meant the same thing are acceptable,\u201d she says of some of the challenges that are thrown out there to the audience through the musical. \u201cWhy are there so many offensive words for black people and hardly any for white people? Why are so many straight people interested in what gay people do in private? Is it right to protest and refuse to follow laws which are unjust?<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the relevant questions Hair provokes in a wonderful way and one of the ways I like it is because it expresses the power in a young person\u2019s voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big questions Hair asks about society is not, Ms. Kyle admits, the first thing people think of when they hear \u201cHair\u201d or any of its songs. The big question people often have is the on-stage nudity. It seems funny, she says, that that is the often the first question out of people\u2019s mouths, considering the violence in video games, as well as in movies and television.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 10 second non-sexual clip of nudity that is dimly backlit in a peaceful protest is considered a worse thing,\u201d she says. \u201cI think there is something wrong with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Kyle says she left it up to her actors whether they wanted to shed their clothes, some didn\u2019t, some did, and there will be some on stage. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the play it shows the extreme of what these hippies wanted to do to get their voices heard and how desperate they were,\u201d she explains. \u201cHair is unbridled energy, it is unwaveringly truthful. It\u2019s fun for the actors and a really great teaching tool. It often breaks down that invisible fourth wall because there is a lot of interaction with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

For today\u2019s audiences, Ms. Kyle hopes that it gives people the taste that \u201ccivic liberty\u201d is a good thing, particularly knowing that the voice of youth remains unique and important. <\/p>\n

Wavestage\u2019s production of Hair runs July 25 \u2013 28 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. Their 19th season continues in November with Hello Dolly, in February with Fiddler on the Roof, and A Little Princess in March. For tickets and further information, visit www.wavestagetheatre.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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