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Entertaining audiences for 25 years Kawarthasummertheatre It started as a short-term assignment. The challenge: Sug- gest how to refurbish and make fitable an historic old theatre ding downtown in a small Central Ontario town. That was 25 years ago and the Kawartha Summer Theatre in Lindsay, under the direction of Dennis Sweeting, is still packing them in for its performances every season. It was Sweeting, former actor/director and presi- dent of ACTRA (the Association of Canadian Television and Radio ARtists), who devised the finan- cial plan to rejuvenate the old Academy Theatre at the corner of Kent and Lindsay Streets. And this year, to mark the silver anniversary, the theatre is reviving its most popular plays from past seasons sprinkled with some new Canadian material. Billed as the Best of 25 Years, the playbill features: Two and Two Male Sex by Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon; The Tomor- row Box by Anne Chislett; Same Time Next Year by Bernard Slade; The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie; the new Canadian play, Mother Gets Her Wings by Dave Carley; Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer, Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon, I'll Be Back Before Midnight by Peter Colley; and Noel and Gertie by Tom Kneebone. Celebrating 25 years of opera- tion is auspicious enough, but add to thatthe fact that Kawartha is the only theatre left in Canada that produces a play a week and you've got a unique entity. What's the secret? While some have criticized summer theatres as rag-tag organizations using cardboard sets and the same cast of actors for all the plays, artistic director Sweeting emphasizes there'd a fine art to staging a play a week over a nine-week season. Such a demanding schedule re- quires meticulous organization and strict deadlines. That means while one play is on, two others are in rehearsal. Sweeting says it's Kawartha's policy to rehearse each play for more than two weeks, Sweeting explains that knowing the audience and providing a playbill with lots of variety are other keys to Kawartha's success. He says he's studied and restudied Kawartha's audiences and is confident he knows what they like. "You've got to give them something that's well writ- ten," he says. "And you never look down at your audience." About 18 percent of theatre- goers to Kawartha are from the Lindsay area. A large portion are cottagers from the Metropolitan Toronto area, the rest come from neighbouring Peterborough and Durham regions. While those statistics have re- mained fairly constant, Sweeting says there have been some recent changes. Increasingly younger people, so-called "yuppies" are attending. These may be people who, as youngsters accompanied their parents. Now, they're carry- ing on the tradition by bringing their own children. Sweeting adds the order of plays often determines success. For example, a play produced in July may not do as well as if it was staged in August. Dennis Sweeting has had a col- ourful and varied career. Always interested in reading and possess- ed with a talent for public speak- ing, he found himself drawn to ac- ting and directing, mainly for CBC. While working on a Vancouver radio show in 1954, he got a call | DERE ST a SARE ET EET from Toronto asking him to become the new a trator for the Toronto office of ACTRA. At the same time, he was asked to start Equity, the Canadian Actors Equity Union, a job that required constant cross-country travel to sign up new members. he year was 1965. Sweeting, new president of ACTRA, receiv- ed a request from the Academy Theatre Foundation in Lindsay to "come up for a day" to give his advice on what should be done with the Academy Theatre. Over the years, Sweeting's workload has changed drastical- ly. What used to be a seven-month job - March to September - has become a year-round job. He starts reading in September for the upcoming season. Sweeting receives an average of 80 scripts a year, many of them Canadian from which to choose his lineup. In fact, both Sweeting and Kawartha Summer Theatre have build a reputation on premiering new Canadian works. At least one or two of the eight plays each season are in that category. "That's another reason we've been successful,'"" explains Sweeting. "We will gamble. We take chances and it works." Not only is Kawartha a showcase for aspiring playwrights, it has spawned the careers of many now well- established Canadian talent; Among them, actor/director R.H. Thomson, Marilyn Lightstone, Joyce Campion, and Gordon Thompson (best known for his role on the television show, Dynasty). So once again this year, this 25th anniversary year, Dennis Sweeting will be out front in the Academy Theatre to welcome theatre patrons, a tradition he began during his first few seasons at Kawartha. "It's just like old home week," says Sweeting. SOME FACTS about your COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 'DID YOU KNOW? * Community newpapers remain in the home a long time - for example, almost 60% keep their newspaper for a full week or more. * Long issue life of the community newspaper translates into 2.4 exposers per issue for your advertising message. : PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, June 13, 199 -- 3 NATIONAL FIRE FIGHTER - CAR WASH DAY NE 9~ MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY DATE: Sat., June 17th TIME: 9 AM to 4 PM * Community newspapers have multiple read- ers, delivering and average of 4.68 readers per copy. That translates into a potential of 32,760 readers of the Port Perry Star each week. * 62% of community newspaper readers refer to their newspapers more than once while those newspaper are in the home. In fact, over 33% of the readers refer to their community newspaper on at least three different days every week. The Port Perry Star is by far the best medium for local advertising, giving you the highest readership, the best production, and the lowest cost. : The Port Perry Star enters the "home" as a friend , offering your customers the most believable and reliable source of information available. If you want to know more about advertising, contact the advertising department of the..... 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY Phone 985-7383 Statistics based on survey by the PMB (Print Measurement Bureau. Fax 985-3708