Small Town Famous
We were driving to Gimli, an hour north on Highway #8 on this snowy Wednesday morning. After checking the 511 app for an update on the road conditions, we began. Gimli is Tad & Birdy playwright Anika Dowsett’s hometown, but it’s been awhile since they have been back. It’s been even longer since they had walked through the familiar halls of Dr. George Johnson Middle School, where their play was being performed this morning.
As we pulled up to the school, Anika was greeted by their former teachers and staff. One teacher was holding up a bus of older students anxious to head to the ice rink, just so they could see Anika and say how proud they were that someone from Gimli had accomplished writing a play and having it produced.
With fifteen Mainstage performances and eighty-eight touring stops, the world premiere of Tad & Birdy is a big accomplishment, especially given that it’s Anika’s first professional production. And to have the play performed in their former school was the cherry on the cake.
“The whole experience was surreal and exciting,” said Anika after the fact. “To be in my middle school where I had once sat, as a starry eyed ten-year-old in rows on the floor, with other youth watching touring shows and satellite ballet programs to now, as an adult, watching a whole new generation take in Tad & Birdy, a play that I wrote. Wow.”
Anika shared a bit about experiencing the story in their head before it grew into a full production and how it has been a growing experience for them as an artist. That is what MTYP and programs like Sandbox (MTYP’s Playwright’s Unit) strive for. It was also a success to be able to pass that learning onto children across Manitoba, and today, to Gimli.
Students found it inspiring to know that someone who was once like them and sat on the same black line in the gym could accomplish something so big. The cast, Hera Nalam as Tad and Samuel Benson as Birdy along with Stage Manager Sarah Lamoureux, put on a wonderful performance. Then students were able to ask the cast and playwright questions. The questions were less about becoming a writer and more like, “Is that pencil heavy?” They ranged from adorable to insightful, expressing a wide spectrum of engagement with the art they had just seen. Then the touring truck was packed up as the crew headed off to Arborg for the afternoon.
With the show on the road, Anika and I stopped at Europa Restaurant and Deli on First Avenue for lunch. Yanni, the owner, instantly recognized them and the catch up began. He was beaming to hear that they had had a play produced and exclaimed they knew because Anika had always had that “Art thing going on.” As we attempted to eat the big portions he brought us, we talked about writing.
We discussed how the setting of a play can make a large difference to the work. Good writing means that the play can connect to everyone in some way. Tad and Birdy does a wonderful job of telling a universal tale. Two very different characters connect and share their experiences and work together using their strengths to achieve more than they thought possible. That is a story everyone can relate to.
Anika mentioned that their former Grade 7 teacher, Mrs. Fergus, had shown up to say hello before the performance. That felt good, says Anika. “She had a big influence on me growing up. She taught us about social justice, something that I hadn’t heard of until then. She really expanded my world view.”
-By Jo Dixon, MTYP School Sales Coordinator
