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Summer school in session for student performers

    As much as students count down the seconds on the clock as the school year ends, you would think that most teachers are eagerly awaiting the summer to begin.
    For Tom Stolz, he heads back to his office and blows up his air mattress.
    The Canadian Badlands Performing Arts Summer School is already in session. In all, 54 students have made their way from throughout the province and beyond to board at St. Anthony’s School, work on their performing arts craft and earn high school credits. Along the way they get valuable stage experience performing in the Canadian Badlands Passion Play.
    This is Stolz’s eighth year with the school, and it has been affiliated with the Christ the Redeemer School Division for four years. Through this partnership, students are able to earn their Advanced Acting 15-25-35 credits, and now this year they are able to earn credits in TEAM Leadership.
    “In my 23 years of teaching, this is the best thing I have done,” said Stolz.
    Summer School began on June 30 and continues to July 18.
     While to some it sounds like easy credits, it is a rigorous schedule for the students. Stolz explains that every day at the summer school is like 10 regular school days. The fundamentals of singing, acting and dance are all explored. The students work with professional educators and performers to hone their skills as well as develop confidence, self-awareness, auditioning and leadership skills.
    He says why it works so well is because the students are motivated and make a considered decision to enrol. Because of the students’ focus, he says discipline is not an issue. There is a also a strong camaraderie among the students.
    The theatre school keeps students coming back as well. He says many of this year’s councillors are former students wanting to come back and support the program.

LaVerne Erickson to receive ALTO Award

    Throughout his career, LaVerne Erickson has worn many hats. He has been called everything from an educator to a big idea man.
    Visionary seems to fit very well.
    Erickson has played a role in creating Rosebud School of the Arts, Rosebud Theatre, The Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Chemainus Festival Theatre and Canadian Badlands. He is being honoured by Tourism Alberta.
    It was announced this week that Erickson will be receiving the ALTO Ambassador Award for his contributions to the tourism industry. It will be presented in October at the 10th annual Travel Alberta Industry Conference at the Fairmont Banff Springs.
    “It puts me at the top of the Alberta pile,” laughs Erickson. “You don’t plan to do it to get recognition. I like to think about it as nation building, if we all build better communities we would have a better country.”
    Erickson has always seen the big picture right from the beginning, founding the Rosebud School in 1973. Rosebud Theatre was born in 1983, and using the same model, he went on to be a founding member of the Chemainus Festival Theatre on Vancouver Island in 1993. A year later, the Canadian Badlands Passion Play was created. It has blossomed into a national, if not international annual summer attraction.
    “Simply put, Rosebud Theatre, Rosebud School of the Arts and many other arts and culture icons in the Alberta Badlands would not exist today without the vision, passion and tenacity of LaVerne Erickson,” says Bob Davis, executive director of Rosebud Theatre. “Through his unbridled enthusiasm and optimism, LaVerne has attracted support and cooperation for ideas and dreams that have influenced thousands of tourists in Alberta, building a legacy that will endure for generations to come.”
    Erickson takes these great achievements in stride.
    “I think the biggest challenge isn’t with the projects, the biggest challenge is with my personality, being a visionary,” he said. “When I see something that I think is possible, I really commit to it and am passionate about bringing it about. When I started these things, people didn’t believe me. In my mind, I see what I expect to come, but other people, when they see no physical proof of it, they think ‘there is a daydreamer.’
    “We should have a lot of visions come about in our communities, but visionaries don’t play a role in our society anymore. Everything that comes about is because it fits in with some common bureaucratic structure, so having my personality makes me sort of an oddball.”
    Davis recognizes Erickson’s skills.
    “Like a true visionary, his energy, passion, cooperative spirit and innovative ideas create synergies that would not otherwise materialize,” said Davis. “LaVerne can see, feel and believe what might be possible. His favourite saying is ‘A rising tide lifts all ships’ – a phrase that inspires people to this day to continue the work he helped start.”
    And he isn’t done yet. Erickson also became a founding member of the Canadian Badlands. His vision is to market the area as a tourism icon on par with the Canadian Rockies. It is now a limited non-profit corporation with more than 60 municipalities as members.
    “Currently Canadian Badlands is Canada’s largest municipal tourism organization, so that is a huge achievement, but we are still limited to Alberta,” he said. “We have to expand into Saskatchewan and bring in the Badlands experiences that are just over the border.”
    He wants to build Canadian Badlands into a financially sustainable and independent organization.
    “Right now it is highly dependent on federal and provincial grants, and it would be nice to be in business for itself so instead of looking for grants, it could be giving out grants and turn into a financial engine. That is my vision, to turn it around so it is a growth engine for all the member communities that participate.”
    A volunteer industry committee, which oversees the awards program, selects the ALTO Ambassador recipient.
    “LaVerne is a visionary who has demonstrated how big ideas can make small towns in rural Alberta huge tourism destinations,” explains Emilia Hovorka, member of the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council and chair of the selection committee.

Canadian Badlands Passion Play opens tonight

    The Passion Play Site is a flurry of activity as masons place the final stones, costume makers stitch the final pieces of wardrobe, and actors, directors and musicians perfect their parts for this year’s Passion Play.
    The Canadian Badlands Passion Play has enjoyed nearly two decades of renowned success in the valley and has told the passion and resurrection of Christ to thousands of spectators in the natural amphitheatre nestled in the hills.
    Despite this, every year those who stage the play are continually tweaking it to make it more relevant and accessible.
    “This year is going to be the best ever,” Randal Wiebe, artistic director told The Weekender, “and this is not just me, everyone is saying it.”
    In its April 14 edition, The Drumheller Mail reported on some of the physical changes to the site which included a more accessible seating area for those with mobility issues, the addition of 150 seats and set improvements. What Wiebe is excited about is the play. He says actors and directors have made the performance more accessible adding more depth to the characters, making it easier to identify with.
    “It is more than a re-enactment, the actors bring more understanding to the story,” he said.
    Returning are Tim Hildebrand as Matthew, Stephen Waldschmidt as Jesus, and Lennette Randall who portrays a powerful Mary Magdalene. Davis Snider, who played Jesus in 2007 is back in the fold at the Passion Play to portray Sadduk, a Pharisee in Jerusalem as well as act as an understudy for both Jesus and Matthew,
    There have also been changes to the music and the addition of a conductor, so the musical director Bill Hamm can monitor the performance more effectively.
    Wiebe explains one change that surprised him as to the powerful affect it has had on the look of the performance is in the costumes. He said designers have made a concerted effort to recreate the costumes so they reflect the regional clothing and time period of the characters in the play. He says it has made an impact visually on the performance.
    The Passion Play opens tonight, Friday, July 9 at 6 p.m. and plays Saturday, July 10 at 6p.m., and Sunday, July 11 at 3 p.m. It continues Friday, July 16 at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 17 at 3 p.m., and Sunday, July 18 at 3 p.m.
    For more information go to www.canadianpassionplay.com.

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