All of Victoria is invited to come to Fernwood Square and celebrate everything Fernwood on Friday, June 21 & Saturday, June 22-the summer solstice. The weekend is filled with an eclectic line-up of music that you might not know but are guaranteed to love. FernFest always showcases the talent that is alive in our local music scene. Best of all, the event is free to attend.

This year, the stage will be hosted by Benji Duke, of the Fort Street Café & Friday Night Quiz, with over 15 up-and-coming acts including: Microbongo Sound System, BoneHoof, The New Groovement, The Woodsmen, The Sweet Endings and David P. Smith’s Golden Country Clan. The best seats in town are from the refreshment tent stocked with Phillips Brewery’s tastiest beers.

On Saturday, June 22, wake up and catch the Pancake Breakfast cooked up by the great folks of the Fernwood Inn. Explore the treasures of over 30 artisans & makers, drop in for some laughter yoga or a capoeira demonstration on the Field of Dreams, play and make art in the Kids’ Zone. Don’t miss the Kidical Mass Bike Parade / Fernwood Art Stroll / Button-Making / Silent Auction / Heritage Walking Tours / Carnival Games / Bouncy Castle and so much more.

Here at the Belfry we’ll have free mask making station for kids, tours of the building, a set & costume display and a free photo booth where you can get your picture taken on the Belfry stage.

There is no better place to be on the longest days of the year. For more information click here.

Hosted by Shelagh Rogers

Starring Russell deCarle, Mike Stevens, Arthur Black

featuring Steve Briggs and Denis Keldie

A celebratory evening of bluegrass / country / roots music

May 1, 2013 …Victoria, BC – On Tuesday, May 28, a star-studded line-up of Canadian talent takes to the stage in a special benefit concert for Literacy Victoria, hosted by CBC Radio personality Shelagh Rogers.  Doors open at 6 p.m. with a pre-show reception, and the concert starts at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $45 and $100.

Russell deCarle is a founding member, lead vocalist, bassist, and contributing songwriter to the multi-platinum, Juno award winning country roots group, Prairie Oyster.  As a solo artist, Russell has appeared on CBC TV’s Songwriters Circle, opened for Merle Haggard on his cross-Canada tour, traveled coast to coast with Bluebird North Songwriters’ Tour, and been a featured guest on Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café.  Russell has won two SOCAN Song of the Year awards, and his much-anticipated solo recording, “Under the Big Big Sky”, was released in 2010 to wide acclaim.  Joining Russell onstage is guitarist Steve Briggs and multi-instrumentalist and accordion-player extraordinaire, Denis Keldie.

World renowned harmonica player and virtuoso Mike Stevens is an innovative musician and author who has pushed many musical boundaries and changed Bluegrass/Country by introducing the harmonica to this musical genre.  He has appeared on the world famous Grand Ole Opry over 300 times and has performed with Bill Munroe, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, the Lewis Family and Raymond McLain to name just a few.

Acclaimed humorist and radio personality Arthur Black is best known as the long-time host of Basic Black on CBC Radio.  He also publishes a regular humour column syndicated to 50 Canadian newspapers and is a three-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

This is Literacy Victoria’s 25th annual PGI (Peter Gzowski Invitational) for Literacy.  In 1986, award-winning Canadian broadcaster and journalist, Peter Gzowski, began raising funds for literacy through an annual golf tournament.  His goals were to raise much needed resources for the thousands of adult learners who struggle with the challenge of low literacy, and have a lot of fun in the process.  The tradition lives on, with PGI events held in every province and territory, ranging from golf tournaments to curling bonspiels to concerts, and more.  The PGIs have raised more than $12.5 million since 1986.

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Concert details:

PGI Plays the Belfry

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

At the Belfry Arts Centre, 1291 Gladstone Avenue, Victoria, BC

$45 | includes show, pre-show appetizers, cash bar, raffle prizes

$100 | VIP Package – includes post-show party with the artists, hosted by Shelagh Rogers ($50 tax receipt)

Tickets on sale at the Belfry Box Office:  250-385-6815 or online at

www.belfry.bc.ca

100% of the proceeds benefit Literacy Victoria.

Literacy Victoria is one of BC’s foremost community-based, non-profit literacy organizations.  Every year, hundreds of adults with low literacy skills receive support to improve their reading, writing, math, computer and other essential skills.  Using specially trained volunteer tutors who work one-to-one or in small groups with the learners, Literacy Victoria is the only regional program offered free of charge to low literacy participants.

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For more information:

For tickets:

Please call the Belfry Box Office:  250-385-6815

Or order online at www.belfry.bc.ca

40 questions we’re asking our artists about themselves. It’s a mixture of Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionaire and a high school yearbook. Here’s what Vincent Gale, Rupert in Let Me Call You Sweetheart, said:

BACKGROUND

 What did / do your parents do?

My mother was a music teacher

Siblings?

Two sisters. I’m the oldest

 Where do you live now?

East Vancouver

FAVOURITES

 Favourite book?

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

 Favourite movie?

The Last Waltz / Last tango in Paris

 Favourite piece of clothing

My Barbour Baufort Wax Jacket

 Favourite food?

Sashimi

 Favourite piece of music?

Elvis Presley’s Gtreatest Hits Volume II

 Favourite character (real or fictional)?

Owen Meaney

 Dream car

Audi A8L

Current car

VW Passat Wagon

WORKING LIFE

 What do you do after a show

Go to Stage Wine Bar

What do you do in your downtime?

Walk the streets of Victoria

First paid acting gig?

BBC TV Series called “The Lost Tribe”

 First acting gig?

BBC TV Series called “The Lost Tribe”

 If I wasn’t an actor I would

Play music

BESTS

 Best meal ever

A Florentine steak at a farmhouse between Florence and Siena

 Best show seen

The National Theatre of Scotland’s production of “The Black Watch”

 Best concert

Paul Weller in Hyde Park

 Most inspiring person you know

My father-in-law Doug Clement

SECRETS

 Five people (real or fictional / dead or alive) that you would invite to a dinner party?

John, Paul, George, Ringo and George Martin

Celebrity crush?

Gary Oldman

 What are you most proud of?

My son Max

The quality you most like in a man?

Sartorial elegance

The quality you most like in a woman?

Emotional stability

 What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being on a beach in Maui with my wife and son.
Our thanks to Vince for being our first ever 40Q participant. Let Me Call You Sweetheart runs until May 19.

Thursday May 16 2013 to Saturday May 18 2013 in the Belfry Theatre Studio A

presented by SNAFU Dance Theatre written by Ingrid Hansen, Kathleen Greenfield, and Rod Peter Jr.

Fourteen-year-old social-rejects (and possible geniuses) Kitt and Jane host an interactive survival guide to the post-apocalyptic future. Kitt & Jane is a stand-alone sequel to the highly acclaimed Little Orange Man, seen at the 2011 Victoria and Vancouver Fringe Festivals.

Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00pm Ticket Prices are $15 for Adults and $10 for Students/Seniors (+GST)

Audience Advisory: Studio A is Open Seating, and latecomers cannot be admitted. Kitt & Jane runs 75 minutes, with no intermission.

For the audition, please prepare two audition pieces of approximately three minutes in length each. Our preference would be: one Canadian piece and one other of your choice – Canadian, classical, or contemporary American or British. Please no self-written pieces, or pieces from plays that have not been professionally produced.

Please submit headshot and resume to The Belfry Theatre before May 5th, 2013.
By Mail: 1291 Gladstone Ave Victoria BC V8T 1G5
By Email: auditions@belfry.bc.ca (file size not to exceed 5MB)
You will be contacted to book an audition time.  NO PHONE CALLS OR FAXES, PLEASE.

Audition time priority given to Equity Members and Equity registered apprentices.

If you’ve not been notified of an audition time by May 6th, this means we don’t have room to see you this time.  Erin Macklem will call you …please don’t call her.  Priority given to those who we have not met or have not seen recently.

 
Former Production Manager Keith Houghton will be taking on new responsibilities as Operations Supervisor for the Belfry. Alex will be joining the Belfry team later this summer.

Thurs, May 2
GVPL Esquimalt Branch 1231 Esquimalt Road
12.00 pm
Free event.

Tues, April 30
GVPL Nellie McClung Branch 3950 Cedar Hill Road
12.00 pm
Free event.

Thurs, April 25
GVPL Bruce Hutchison Branch 4636 Elk Lake Drive
12.00 pm
Free event.

Tues, April 23
GVPL Saanich Centennial Branch 3110 Tillicum Rd. (Pearkes Arena complex)
12.00 pm
Free event.