Wingfield Unbound

Sunday, September 24, 2023 @ 2 p.m.

Part of the Jubilee Arts & Music Series (5 for $175) Individual Tickets: $45

The Wingfield Cycle is a Canadian series of seven one-man playsLetter from Wingfield Farm, Wingfield's Progress, Wingfield's Folly, Wingfield Unbound, Wingfield on Ice, Wingfield's Inferno and Wingfield Lost and Found - written by Dan Needles, directed by Douglas Beattie and performed by Rod Beattie. They tell the story of Walt Wingfield, a stockbroker-turned-farmer living near the fictional small town Larkspur, Ontario in Persephone Township and his various misadventures while trying to make a living in the agriculture business. The plays progress as a series of letters written by Walt to his friend, the editor of the Larkspur newspaper. The plays were later collected and edited into a series of half-hour television shows, which were essentially video recordings of the plays.

Wingfield Unbound is the fourth instalment in the Wingfield Cycle.

In Wingfield Unbound Walt attempts to convince the community that the Hollyhock Mill would make a great historic museum. Maggie turns out to be expecting.

Episode 16 - Freddy and Walt try to duplicate the recipe after it appears Spike the hound has eaten the casserole Maggie made for the institute. The Squire's memory-loss prompts Walt to look for a museum site to protect local heritage.

Episode 17 - Walt and Freddy play vet to a stiff sheep and Walt buys a fine new ram for the flock which no one else seems to want. It isn't long before Walt finds out why.

Episode 18 - When Walt takes his museum proposal to Township council he gets an enthusiastic responseuntil he tells them he wants to house it in the Hollyhock Mill. Back at Freddy's, Walt hears the story of the Miller's Curse!

Episode 19 - Walt is pressured into helping Willy and Dave out of a jam over a cattle pyramid scheme and attempts to haul the haunted millstone out of the stream at Hollyhock - with near fatal results.

Episode 20 - Walt and Maggie's farm is the only one on The Seventh Line hit with a violent wind storm, then The Squire accompanies Walt to the Continued on page 9

Continued from page 8 mill stream at Hollyhock where Walt has yet another narrow escape.

Rod Beattie (actor) A veteran of seventeen seasons and over 50 productions with Ontario's Stratford Festival, Rod Beattie is one of the most respected and versatile actors in Canadian theatre. Featured stage roles include Narcisse in The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux at London's Grand Theatre; Ed in Ed's Garage at the Grand Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre and Theatre Orangeville; Felix in The Odd Couple at Segal Centre, Montreal; Johnny Pateen Mike in The Cripple of Inishmaan at Theatre Calgary; Bill in The Love List and Greg in Sylvia at the Belfry Theatre, Victoria; John Proctor in The Crucible and Father Gustave in Blessings in Disguise at Manitoba Theatre Centre; the professor in Oleanna at the Grand Theatre and the National Arts Centre (opposite Sandra Oh) and Andy Ladd in an Ontario tour of Love Letters (opposite Martha Henry). Over the past thirty years Rod's name has become synonymous with the Wingfield series which has brought him acting awards, rave reviews and sold-out houses in Toronto, London, Stratford, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Saint John, Fredericton and a host of smaller communities across Canada. Rod and Walt made their American debuts to great acclaim at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in 1994. Rod is the winner of the 1991 - 92 "Dora" Award (best performance by an actor in a leading role) for his performance in the first three Wingfield plays. In 2017, he was appointed Member of the Order of Canada.

Dan Needles (playwright) spent half his childhood in the city and half on the family farm at Rosemont, Ontario. After university he went to work as editor of the local newspaper in Shelburne where he created the character of Walt Wingfield, the retired stockbroker turned farmer, who told about his adventures on the farm in a series of weekly letters to the editor. In 1985 Dan drew from these columns to write his first play Letter From Wingfield Farm. Wingfield's Progress followed in 1987, Wingfield's Folly in 1990, Wingfield Unbound in 1997, Wingfield On Ice in 2001, Wingfield's Inferno in 2005 and Wingfield Lost and Found in 2009. Since 1997 Dan has delighted readers of Harrowsmith magazine with his back page column. He also writes for Small Farm Canada, Farmers Forum and three Ontario publications, On the Bay, In the Hills and Watershed. Dan won the 2003 Leacock Medal for Humour for his book With Axe and Flask, the History of Persephone Township from Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present. Wingfield's World, a novelization of all seven Wingfield plays, was released by Random House in October, 2011. His latest book, True Confessions from the Ninth Concession, was published by Douglas & McIntyre in the fall of 2017. Dan's other plays include The Perils of Persephone, Ed's Garage, Team on the Hill, Baco Noirand The Last Christmas Turkey, which premiered as a Christmas musical at Theatre Orangeville in December, 2017, with music and lyrics by composer Clive VanderBurgh. In December, 2014, Dan was appointed Member of the Order of Canada.

Douglas Beattie (director) became an independent producer and director in 1979. His association with Dan Needles goes back to childhood summers spent on the farm.

Continued on page 10

Continued from page 9

In addition to heading the Wingfield team Doug has been guest director at the Stratford Festival; the Belfry Theatre, Victoria; Lighthouse Festival, Port Dover; Theatre Orangeville; the Blyth Festival; the Piggery Theatre, North Hatley; Thousand Islands Playhouse; Gryphon Theatre, Barrie, and the Grand Theatre, London (The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux, Ed's Garage and The Perils of Persephone).

He was consultant to Primedia's television production of Letter From Wingfield Farm which won the 1991 "Gemini" Award for best performing arts program and is co-executive producer of the Wingfield TV series. He is also founding Artistic Director of Pie in the Sky Productions (formerly Touchmark Theatre) and President of Douglas Beattie Theatrical Productions Ltd. which markets the CDs and DVDs of the Wingfield plays.

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