By

You don’t need to solve the whole puzzle or have all the fragments and pieces fit together perfectly to enjoy Theatre North West’s production of The Secret Mask. It is so brilliantly done – thanks to a clever, heart warming script by Canadian playwright Rick Chafe and the skill of a very talented cast and crew – that an audience can discover their own solution to the puzzle. Or if they wish, have it remain a mystery. Such is the magic of live theatre. I would love to borrow...

Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne took his audience on a joyful journey into the deep South last Thursday night at Shiraz Cafe and Restaurant. With songs like Kansas City, Georgia on My Mind, New Orleans and, my request, Rainy Night in Georgia, the award-winning boogie-woogie piano player put on a great show and gained a few new fans along the way. During the break, a woman visiting from Fort St. James came up to Wayne during the break and invited him to play in their community. He also got a few...

Whenever I see emails in my inbox from Humane Society International, I try not to open them. I know reading them is going to be painful. Brutal. Sometimes, I leave them until the end of the day so that I can be informed without being sick to my stomach. The issue is an emotional one for a lot of people. One that tugs at my heartstrings no matter how hard I try to turn the other way or how deep into the tar sands I bury my head. I pray that it will go away but prayer doesn’t always...

It is a compelling and heart tugging story of lost and found. The Secret Mask opens this week at Theatre North West and one of its main characters is Ernie who has suffered a stroke and has aphasia. Finding the right words to convey what he wants to say is a daily challenge and he works with a speech therapist to help him overcome his communication problems. As well, Ernie is visited by the son he left behind many years ago and who now  has questions he wants answered – questions that even...

I feel like I’m in the dentist’s chair. Waiting in suspended silence with my dry mouth draped and dammed. I can’t talk. Every attempt to speak is blocked by warm black latex and muffled by the hiss of a suction tube. The anticipation is the worst part. I know this latest session is likely to put me in at least some pain no matter how much freezing goes into my gums or roof of my mouth. I’ve decided that I have sensitive teeth. Or maybe I’m just sensitive. The dentist is off in another...

Kennedy Heitman, 16, doesn’t need a line from Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It, to tell her that “all the world’s a stage.” For her, it really is. Heitman loves performing a wide variety of dance routines from ballet to hip hop, especially for a live audience. Introduced to dance at aged three, after just a few lessons at Judy Russell Enchainement Dance Centre, Heitman told her mother: “I want to be up there dancing on stage one day.” Since then Heitman has studied ballet, tap, jazz,...