Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show

Our company of five theatre artists from across Canada spent three weeks of February/March 2009 in Fort McMurray researching, interviewing and experiencing life in this 21st century boom town, at the front lines of the Oil Sands development. We met people from all walks of life, both long-time residents and transient workers. We heard stories surprising, shocking and surreal. We were awed by generosity and kindness, overwhelmed by tales of hardship and survival. Through improvisation, we developed scenes based on our experience of Fort McMurray. Through impersonation, we created ‘Portraits’ of the people we met. Through collective creation, we devised a piece of theatre that reflects and responds to the dynamics of life in the Wood Buffalo region.

Since then, we have performed over fifty times across Canada, touring to Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Fort McMurray and throughout Newfoundland & Labrador.

Created by Georgina Beaty, Charlotte Corbeil Coleman, Layne Coleman, Greg Gale, and Jonathan Seinen

Directed by Charlotte Corbeil Coleman

Performed by Georgina Beaty, Greg Gale, Jonathan Seinen

An excerpt from Highway 63 is included in Louis Helbig’s Beautiful Destruction, a 300 page book of aerial photography of and essays on the oil sands project. More information can be found at: http://www.beautifuldestruction.ca/

March 14, 2009

Keyano College Rehearsal Hall, Fort McMurray, Alberta

March 19-21

Living Room Playhouse, Edmonton, Alberta

March 24-28

Motel, Epcor Centre for the Arts, Calgary, Alberta

Presented by Downstage Performance Society: Motel Series

“[Highway 63] has the guts and wit and chops to talk about the Oil Sands in a way where people from both sides of the issue can sit and have a conversation about it.” Calgary Herald

September 18-19

Keyano Recital Theatre, Fort McMurray, Alberta

As part of Alberta Arts Days

October 3

Cameron House, Toronto

October 15

Kailash Mital Theatre, Carleton University, Ottawa

As part of ‘Oil Sands: What Future’, an event organized by the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and Carelton’s COVE (Centre on Values and Ethics); also featured a conversation with Andrew Nikiforuk, best-selling author of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent.

“A tightly-choreographed affair from start to finish, weaving between monologues, dialogue and even song and interpretive dance sequences with great ease.” The Charlatan (Carleton University Newspaper)

November 5-14

Living Room Playhouse, Edmonton, Alberta

Presented by Azimuth Theatre

“One of the most relevant, flat-out best shows to hit Edmonton’s stages this year” VUE Weekly

November 19-28

Motel, Epcor Centre for the Arts, Calgary, Alberta

As part of Downstage Performance Society’s inaugural Uprising, a festival of new political theatre.

July 28-August 1, 2010

Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Vancouver, BC

Presented as part of the Neanderthal Arts Festival, produced by Upintheair Theatre Society and Left Right Minds.

August 6-8

Athabasca Room, Stonebridge Hotel, Fort McMurray, Alberta

Presented at interPlay, Fort McMurray’s 20th annual summer festival, produced by Events Wood Buffalo.

“The performers capture our city with all of its clichés at its best . . . [They] entertain us by adding all the ‘hot button’ issues of our region and include characters like our fellow council members . . . If you’re new to town or not, this is worth going to.” Fort McMurray Today

February 3-26, 2011

Backspace, Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Ontario

Produced by Theatre Passe Muraille.

“Highway 63’s laugh-out-loud factor comes largely from Gale as the boisterous, endlessly charming Chad, as well as the playful subversion (and occasional reinforcement) of Canadian stereotypes. . . . Sweet and thoughtful.” The Globe & Mail

“Theatre Passe Muraille’s rich and entertaining return to its collective theatre roots.” NOW Magazine

February 9-19, 2012

Studio Theatre, Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC), Ottawa, Ontario

Presented at undercurrents Festival, GCTC’s 2nd annual festival of ‘theatre below the mainstream’.

“This docudrama - funny, poignant and more sharply executed than the creases in an oil executive’s pants - works in large part because it refuses to present a single point of view and because it’s rooted in the lives of people who could be your next-door neighbours. . . . A gripping piece of theatre.” Ottawa Citizen

March 14-18

LSPU Hall, St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador

Presented by the Resource Centre for the Arts

“A non-stop ride of emotions, Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show is fraught with drama and funny enough to make your stomach hurt. Enlightening, informative and absolutely entertaining, this is a show you will want to see more than once.” St. John’s The Scene Magazine

March 20

Oldest Colony Trust Building, Burin, Newfoundland & Labrador

Presented by the Burin Peninsula Arts Council and the Arts & Culture Centre

March 21

The Loft Theatre @ White Hills, Clarenville, Newfoundland & Labrador

Presented by the Arts & Culture Centre and The New Curtain Theatre Company

March 22

Joseph R. Smallwood Arts & Culture Centre, Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador