TMSS drama students play it up

Grades 6 to 9 drama students at TMSS came up with a class act for their end-of-year production, “Inside a Middle Years Play Festival.” Under the guidance of TMSS teachers Linda Aspen-Baxter and Leslie Fenton-Irving, the students adapted a play, rewriting about one third of it to make it more suitable to their needs.

“Inside a Middle Years Play Festival” was the perfect choice for these young students to explore acting because it dealt with subjects they are familiar with – school, friends, teachers – yet allowed them to diverge from them by creating new characters for the story.

"The Preppies" discuss the play they are rehearsing

The premise centred around three high school drama groups, all as different as chalk and cheese, which enter into the same drama festival. Of course the “play within a play” is a popular dramatic device that allows meta-layers of characters and storylines, and in this case provided just the right vehicle for the students to do that.

And just like the Middle Years (MY) Drama Club worked with Aspen-Baxter and Fenton-Irving in preparing the play, each group in the play worked with a “teacher” to prepare their play for the competition. These roles gave the three students who played the teachers (Chandra Wassill as Mrs. Hockenschmoss, Janelle Mayerle as Mrs. Mellencamp, and Danielle Norris-Pott as Mrs. Grubowski) a chance to mimic stereotypes in order to make their characters plausible and humorous. Although each one was successful in her attempt, Janelle Mayerle’s role as the flaky, artsy teacher can be singled out as the funniest.

"The Artsies" get instructions from their flamboyant teacher

The set was surprisingly simple, yet met the needs of the script to a tee. The stage was divided into three parts that used the same idea structurally, but in different styles to represent the three groups. Each section had a set of black cubes that served as seats or props, and a column or partial wall painted to illustrate the style of the group (preppy, artsy, and metalhead), with the traditional theatre masks painted on them.

As the climax builds, and the moment of the competition arrives, each group goes through their play in accelerated motion. This approach was funny enough in itself, but when the “Artsy” group performs a fast-speed version of “Kabuki Lear,” drama becomes comedy as all the characters are either killed off or kill themselves, and the stage floor is strewn with bodies within the space of scarcely a minute.

The play ends in disappointment for each of the three groups, as none of them are the chosen winners in the play festival, a humbling moment for each group that was sure theirs was going to win.

It’s a bit like a moral in a fable, and what the narrator (Laney Yarycky) says at the end sums it up nicely, “And that’s it. We show up, we do our play, and we hope we don’t get crushed. And if we do — well — at least we learned and shared…”

Local artists delight visitors at exhibit opening

The Doghide Gallery was the place to be on the evening of Friday, May 9, for those who follow Tisdale’s Visual Arts Group.

Marion Ritter, who owns and runs the gallery with her husband Peter, said a few words of welcome to the many visitors that had turned out in support of the event.

“They have done it again,” she exclaimed. “Every time they surprise me with the quality of the work they present. It just gets better and better every year.”

The week-long exhibit is an annual event that the gallery hosts, and the friends, families, artists and just curious onlookers enjoy attending. With so many items on display – as each artist usually submits several pieces of work – there is plenty to look at and admire. But the best part about the opening is that the artists are present, and you can go up and speak to them if you see something that you like or are curious about the technique of a painting or other piece of work, or perhaps the where and why of how it was done.

Although some of the artists have chosen not to part with their artwork (these pieces are marked NFS, not for sale), potential buyers will find many that do have a price tag, and among the variety on exhibit there is something for everyone’s tastes.

The Visual Arts Group’s exhibit runs until May 16.

Ukrainian Catholic Church celebrates 100 years

St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church at Gronlid

On Sunday, May 18, St. Mary's Ukrainian Orthodox Church near Gronlid celebrated its 100th anniversary. The tiny white church with the shiny silver dome was bursting at the seams for the first time in years, as people gathered to celebrate the life of the parish that has served its Ukrainian community since 1914.

Rev. Fr. Patrick Powlinsky shared the honour of being the celebrant for the Divine Liturgy with the Very Rev. Fr. Taras Udod of Saskatoon. For Udod, it was a return to the place where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1991. It is also the parish of his wife Sonia, and her family who come from Gronlid.

These days, says parish member Darlene Romaniuk, the congregation is normally about 20-strong, so to have over 100 family members and relatives coming from Alberta, Manitoba, B.C., and around the province especially to join them for the occasion made it an extra-special day.

The celebration included a blessing of the graves after the liturgy by both Powlinsky and Udod, lunch in the hall provided by St. Mary's parish members, speeches and some traditional Ukrainian dancing by members of the Nipawin Veselii Dancers.

A solemn moment during the liturgy

The theme that played a central role throughout the day was the link between today's parish and its forefathers. Udod stressed this in his sermon when he said, "Today, communicating with someone across the world is not how it was 100 years ago," and he used the example of technology and cell phones to illustrate how easy it is for us today to relocate, compared with the many hardships our ancestors lived through when they decided to emigrate from their homeland.

"We have the opportunity to celebrate thanks to God today because this was handed down to us from our parents, which was handed down from their parents," he said.

As well, Fr. Powlinsky wrote similar words in the church's leaflet, but also said:

"We are celebrating our centennial on the same ground as our forefathers 100 years ago. Through their generosity and sacrifice, we have this beautiful church building."

One wish that both Fathers Powlinsky and Udod had for the church was that generations to come would continue to find spiritual guidance there.

Potash mine credits teamwork for No. 1 safety record

For most people in Saskatchewan, a normal day’s work takes place above ground. We pound the pavement, drive the roads, plough the fields, reap and sow the earth’s surface at our jobs.
But for some people, a normal day’s work is going underground – to work in a mine.
The Saskatchewan Mining Association’s statistics say 30,500 people are employed in the province’s mines. Among those, only some execute their tasks underground.
But each and every one of them wants to go home at the end of their shift. That’s why safety awareness at the site is so important.
Mining Week in Saskatchewan is coming up, and to prepare, the Journal went underground at PotashCorp’s mine near Lanigan. Geologist Marion Gagnon, one of the few women whose work frequently takes her underground, was the designated tour guide.

The author holding a piece of potash
at Lanigan's PotashCorp mine, 2012

Descending 1,000 metres underground in the “cage” (the mine’s elevator) to the potash underworld proved to be nothing like the underworld of Hades as represented by the ancient Greeks. The temperature is warm, but it’s no brimstone and fire. There is no boatman waiting to ferry you across a river – just a maze of tunnelled roads that allows the workers to navigate between the different levels and into the areas where the potash is being mined. 

Jeeps, not boats, are the favoured form of transport for the workers, and before they even set out in one, each employee must check to verify the vehicle has all the necessary tools on board and that it is in running order.
Once the routine inspection is done, Gagnon hops behind the wheel, buckles up, and confidently manoeuvres the jeep along the sprawling dark corridors, with only a single beam of light for guidance. At times, we travel a distance without seeing any sign of life, at other times we see workers at their stations, or pass other vehicles with employees heading to a worksite. The corridors widen and narrow, affording places to store spare equipment or space for a work project to be carried out.

And every so often we pass safety stations, or refuges, tucked away to one side. 
These are places, Gagnon explains, where the workers can come if there is a problem underground. In a recess, a large, garage-type door provides access to an area large enough to provide refuge for a half dozen men. Behind the door are cots, first aid supplies, and enough air to keep them alive until help comes.
When questioned, Gagnon emphasized the importance that safety plays for all employees, and how it has been integrated as a number one priority at the site.
“We all have families, and everyone wants to go home every day,” Gagnon said. “We take care of one another, we all hang out together. You just have to make sure you’re keeping up with the safety requirements in all areas, and by doing that, we have been able to secure a safe work haven for everybody.”
Safety is one of the things Rob Bubnick, general manager of the Lanigan mine, is proud to talk about as well.

“We had a phenomenal year in 2011 in the area of safe production,” Bubnick told the Journal after the tour. “We use the term safe production here, meaning that we don’t do production at this site unless it’s safe.” 
According to Bubnick, the mine made over three million metric tons of finished product, making it a year for record high production as well as a record low number of injuries. A news item posted on PotashCorp’s website recognizes the mine at Lanigan for achieving a safety milestone in January 2012: one million hours without a lost time accident. 
“We’re heading in such a good direction here at our operation,” Bubnick added. “I’m just very thankful to all our employees. It definitely takes teamwork to accomplish such great things. I think the culture on our site is continuing to improve and we’re all working together and becoming a stronger team because of it.”
Mining Week in Saskatchewan (May 20-26) is an annual event that seeks to promote awareness of and about the industry, offering events, lectures and workshops in various locations around the province. For more information about Mining Week, go to www.saskmining.ca.

Archery skills more than bow and arrow

You might think that the Tisdale Wildlife Federation Club (TWF) is all about the great outdoors, and in many respects it is, but some activities take place indoors.

On the lower level of the RECplex, the TWF has a club room which is used for different purposes, one of which is archery. There are a couple of prerequisites for someone to be able to use the space for target practice, says club spokesman Bill Carbno, and that is they must be members of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation and they must have a Shooting Club membership.

“It’s mostly the younger people who are learning archery,” Carbno says. “There are older club members that will come in and shoot prior to hunting seasons, to sharpen up their skills.”

In fact, young people have an opportunity to learn the basics of archery at school, through the National Archery in the Schools Program.

“Some of them started in that [program] and enjoyed it, so they just keep going,” he said. “We’re hoping that they can continue that. They are supposed to have a couple of sets of teachers that are doing it but I think just the younger kids are going this year so far.”

For the uninitiated, archery may seem more like a hobby than a sport. However, the benefits of learning that sport are manifold. Archers require not only some physical strength, but also mental fitness, and archers develop their focus, flexibility, and attention skills.

And they say archery can make your child a better student, as it teaches youngsters the benefits of patience, and other valuable life skills like sharing, cooperation, communication, perseverance, and concentration.

The club holds practice sessions on Wednesday nights through the winter months. Not to worry if you don’t have the equipment, an out-of-town member can shoot with the club bows.

There is also an outdoor range for summer time practice located behind Bruce Shapansky’s Auctioneers, Carbno says, and as long as someone has their shooting club membership, they can go to the outdoor range during the summer.

Taking advantage of the TWF’s archery shooting range can be a good way to find out if you like archery.

Ukranian dancer makes leaps and bounds on stage

At 22 years of age, Andrew Wolchuk is leading a double life. During the day, he is a sprinkler fitter who goes from home to home, making sure people’s gardens stay green. But in the evening, he changes into a colourful Ukrainian costume and climbs up on stage to perform with the internationally-known Shumka Dancers.

Wolchuk began dancing at a very young age in Nipawin, where he grew up and where his family still lives.

“I’ve been doing Ukrainian dancing since I was three years old,” he confirmed. Wolchuk says he and his sisters grew up learning to dance. Then, opportunity came knocking at the door.

“I was dancing with Veselii Dancers in Nipawin, and I was at a workshop over the summer in my Grade 12 year,” he recalls, “and a couple of the dancers that were dancing there were Shumka dancers, and they told me to come and try out.”

Andrew Wolchuk performing with Shumka

So he did – first by setting up a meeting with the company’s artistic director, then attending a private audition. Now Wolchuk lives and works in Edmonton, where the dance company is based.

“It’s a part-time job,” he said. “We rehearse anywhere from 12 to 20 hours a week.”

Shumka Dance is doing its fall tour now, and will be performing in Prince Albert, North Battleford and Swift Current. Wolchuk is enthusiastic about the company’s show.

“It’s a great show,” he said. “Everyone come and check it out, because it really is something to see. The first time I saw it, it blew me away.”

The show comprises two parts, the young dancer explains, the first part being more traditional Ukrainian dance and the second part moving into a celebration of the circle of life, called the “Pathways to Hopak.”

According to Shumka’s website,“Pathways to Hopak” explores the twists and turns of life that lead us to this moment of celebration. It describes this part of the show as an emotional journey that guides its travellers through “life's universal cycle of birth, youthful playfulness and the search for love, the tragedy of conflict and the desire to wash clean our battlefields, and, ultimately, the opportunity to begin the cycle again.”

Wolchuk says it’s a very interactive show for the audience, with the crowd reaction adding a lot to the overall performance.

“It’s very exciting,” he said, “lots of tricks, storytelling.”

Although the time commitment required of a Shumka dancer is intense, Wolchuk says there’s no better feeling than performing for people on stage, and that he hopes to continue with it “as long as my body holds out!”

Shumka Dance is Canada’s only professional Ukrainian Dance group. Besides touring in Canada, the company has performed in the Ukraine, and recently spent seven weeks touring in China, an experience he said was exhausting, but in a good way.

“It was a fantastic experience,” Wolchuk said, “crazy busy, but incredibly worth it.”

Arborfield artist April Griffin

Putting a paintbrush in April Griffin’s hand when she was a young autistic child was the best thing that could have happened to her.

Griffin, who lives in Arborfield and uses her art to spread awareness about autism, has just won third place in the visual arts category at the International Autistic Achievement Awards 2013.

The artist at a local craft fair.

A profile documentary of the artist was filmed by MaxTV, in which Griffin talks about herself, her challenge as a person with autism, and the way art has influenced her life.

In fact, art has been the driving force that helped Griffin “manage her own life” and become successful in her field. Today she holds exhibits, donates her work for fundraising causes, and helps other autistic people, especially children, to find a way to express themselves through art.

“We use the art to create awareness in a positive way, and also to help young autistics to feel pride,” she explained, “and to focus on talent development instead of what we can’t do.”

In October, the artist produced a solo exhibit at the Nipawin Art Gallery for which she completed 40 “dot art” paintings in under a month. Griffin says she was really pleased with the people’s reaction.

April Griffin: self portrait

“The exhibit good really good reviews, and a lot of people that had never seen the art gallery went to see it,” she said enthusiastically.” And this little boy saw it, and he spent two weeks doing his own dot art to show me.”

Griffin is also known for using her art for fundraisers, both in the community where she lives and internationally within the autism community. Recently she did a “Need for Love” benefit for the village of Love, Saskatchewan, raising $1865 through an art auction with the help of her autistic friends from around the world who contributed their artwork.

“Art gives me a lot of confidence and it’s a way for me to go out into the community, because it is something I am good at, and it’s something people like,” she said.”It’s something I can talk about easily with people, and they feel comfortable asking me questions. It really lets me participate in the community too.”

As a mother of four school-aged children, three of whom are also autistic, Griffin is pretty much obliged to stay close to home for the time being. However, a trip overseas to London is on the planning schedule for this year she says, and then, when her children are through school, she hopes to become more of a gypsy and spend a lot of time travelling – through her art and autism connections.