Long ago and far away.........

.......December 1975 in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, to be exact and Northcliffe Youththeatre was staging "The Wizard of Oz". Shirley Hollett (now Morrow) at the ripe old age of 17 was the Director and I was listed on the program as "Properties". I was ancient in comparison to Curl, as she was affectionately known then, I'd just turned 20. Shirley was as at home on the stage (as this photo will hint) as she was directing and since those early days she has also become a playwright. Her play Yesterday's Men is part of the line-up at the Queen Street Dinner Theatre this summer.

The lead roles were performed by l-r: Megan Skinner as the Cowardly Lion, Chris Martin as Scarecrow, Pete Quigley as the Tin Man, Lynn Ann Pye as Dorothy and Margot Pitcher as Toto.

The set was designed by the late, great Albert Hillier. Shirley and Pauline Au took a bow for the costumes, Jeff Pitcher (yes, that Jeff Pitcher of Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador) and Bob Banfield did the lighting. Cathy Scott on make-up and Mike Thompson and Warren Down were the stage crew. I also remember that we probably couldn't have gotten it to the stage if not for Reg Pye, Lynn Ann's Dad and the Manager of the Arts and Culture Centre.

I was probably still using a Kodak Pocket Camera at this point but was taking shots of everything that moved anyway. Shirley managed to take this one of me when I wasn't paying attention. A year or so later I moved up to my Minolta SLR camera.

Bob Banfield, or a rather twisted Mickey Mouse, doing some serious technical work....
It was a huge amount of hard work but a huge amount of fun. Almost 33 years ago, naw, it was only yesterday.