The Children's Hour Programme

2017

A NOTE FROM THE

DIRECTOR

There is a truth in every lie. The Children’s Hour is a story about good and evil, self-righteousness, deception, sacrifice and mercy. It is a story about being confronted with the reality of one’s own truth through another person’s lies and about how evil often can appear to be so innocent.

The Children’s Hour contains dramatic and difficult content. As always, we studied the script, found key moments, and then started unpacking the play, moment by moment to show their truth. Through this process, the students were able to find the truth in not only moments, but also in their characters; there was so much to discover! This play is rich in context, and the themes and characters are as colourful and beautifully realistic today as they were when the play was written. While working from the ‘inside out’, this process taught us what the impact of costumes and props can have on creating a character, how difficult it is to break something on stage, and how tricky it can be handling a door on stage. Thank you for your support tonight. Without you, our art could not happen. We hope you enjoy the show.

JUDY MARKTHALER

Play Description The Children’s Hour is a play that was written in 1934 about the power of a lie in the mouth of someone who seems honest and innocent - and in this instance, both the lie and the one who utters it is quite shocking.

Karen Wright and Martha Dobie run a boarding school for girls. One of the girls, Mary Tilford, is an extremely difficult child, a bully, a manipulator, and a blackmailer, unwilling to tolerate even marginal discipline. She despises the school and in her determination to escape it she tells her grandmother a lie.

The lie is like a pebble tossed in a pond and the ripples continue far beyond the point of impact; it not only destroys the school, it destroys the lives of all it touches.

The play was infamous in 1934 partly because of the way it portrayed children, partly because of the nature of the lie, and partly because it coupled the two. The characters in this play are impressively drawn and the drama of the overall story is as powerful as the snap of coiled steel. Even today, the play’s final and most horrific twist is difficult to anticipate and hard to stomach.

(Drawn from the original synopsis by Gary F. Taylor)

Scene Breakdown AcT

I

• Living-room of the Wright-Dobie School • Late afternoon in April

ACT

SCENE 1

II

• Living- room at Mrs. Tilford’s • A few hours later SCENE 2 • Living- room at Mrs. Tilford’s • Later that evening

AcT

III

• Living-room of the Wright-Dobie School • November

Cast

MADELEINE CAMPEAU Karen

CHARLOTTE GOETTING Martha

MACKENZIE WALSH Mrs. Morton

SARAH MEJIA Mrs. Tilford

TOM BRIDGER Dr. Cardin

ARIAN HABIB ZADEH Grocery Boy

School Girls

SAHRA KASSIM-LAKHA PAIGE LEONARD Mary Rosalie

ALISHA MULJIANI Agatha

TIANNA LAWTON Lois

CHLOÉ COSTA Evelyn

YUN TING ZHUANG Peggy

ALICIA STEINMANN Catherine

KEIRA WALSH Helen

Crew Scott Zechner Production Manager and Technical Director

Ashleigh Kearns

Raquel Teibert

Assistant Director

Costume Design

Make up and hair

Technical Crew

Make up and hair team led by Linda GillCrone and Eduardo Ramirez Fernandez

Tudor Rosu

Amin Gulamani

Annie Yang

Tina Zhou

Kameel Ahamed

Jerry Qi

Jennifer Pan

Jingyi Mao

Tristan Campeau

Natasha Kearns

Thank you!

ASHLEIGH KEARNS Thank you, Ashleigh, for not only being a firstrate Assistant Director but also a voice trainer, a wonderful actor, and a role model to the students in every way.

LINDA GILL-CRONE Thank you, Linda, for your generosity. Not only do you share your expertise with us, you take the time and enrich our students with your skills.

EDUARDO RAMIREZ FERNANDEZ Thank you, Eduardo, for coming in and creating our 1930’s hairstyles. The actors looked beautiful, and we hope to have you back in the future.

ALEXANDRA CRONE Thank you to Mulgrave alum, Alexandra, for returning to help us with make-up, hair, and some last minute scenery advice.

ALINA IANOVSKAIA A huge thank you to Alina for providing the lovely painting for the stage.

ARTS COUNCIL We would like to thank you for the kittens we were allowed to break on stage.

MARK STEFFENS A huge thank you to Mark for taking the head shots of the cast. We’re grateful for your patience and kindness.

MIKE LOPEZ, FARHAD NAJAFICHALESTRARI & TEAM We would like to thank Mike, Farhad, and the facilities team for their constant support.

MICHELLE NOBLE & LAURA DARCH Thank you for the publicity and programme.

RAQUEL TEIBERT Raquel, thank you for your expertise in costume design! I bow to your instinct for fashion.

CHIARA TABET We are grateful to Chiara for your support and understanding of the artistic process.

SCOTT ZECHNER Thank you, Scott, for helping with so much more than just the stage and light design. Evenings, weekends, lunch times, in between times...

JOHN WRAY Thank you, John, for your continued support of the arts.

Lastly, to the parents, for your support and having your children at rehearsals, prepared and on time.