ARTS EAST

The People Who Stay   is a tale of love and redemption in which the heart of family beats like the relentless tide against the rugged Newfoundland shores. Recently e spoke with author Samantha Rideout about the novel and her passion for writing. When and why did you want to be a writer? As my mother can attest courtesy of the hundreds of exercise books and binders filled with loose-leaf stories, I have been a diligent writer since I learned how to print. I was always mesmerized by the process of creative writing and how a few blank pages could transform into a something beyond reality. Plus, I was big fan of Robert Munsch. That guy spins a good story; comedy, heart, he has it all! My first grade teacher, Mrs. Barnes, was able to find me his address so I could send him fan mail. I think it’s the only fan mail I ever felt compelled to write, probably (in part) because mail is a fading out as vehicle to express admiration, but I wanted to write him because I was impressed w...

While Salt Water Moon is dubbed a love story, it is most the furious of love, the divine, the epic. Mo Duffy Cobb tells us more. Set in the 1920s in Newfoundland, the play opens outside the home of Mary Snow (played by Marli Trecartin). Her eyes are on the stars, as she tilts her headback into her telescope. The tension is high as young Jacob Mercer (played by Fraser McCallum) comes up the lane and into the yard: Mary arches her back, pierces her eyes, crosses her arms and looks away. “The least you could do is make a fist,” says Jacob. The audience is immediately drawn into the other side of passionate love - relentless conflict. “Black Beauty”, as her spyglass is affectionately known, spies the satellites of Jupiter as the two spar through their speckled history, up on Jenny’s Hill one night they shared together, “the new moon like a smile over the birch hills.”  The two were entwined, satellites moving towards the same sun, until Jacob up and moved to Toronto lookin...

Mo Duffy Cobb shares the magic of Spoon River, running until August 20 at the Charlottetown Centre of the arts. Welcome to the magic of Spoon River , a production of movement and music that transcends life and invites us into the hereafter. From the Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto to Confederation Centre’s The Mack, the stories of Spoon River come alive: a series of fictional epitaphs of the long-dead residents of the community. Adapted by Mike Ross and Albert Schultz, the production showcases the verses of Edgar Lee Masters from his 1915 publication, Spoon River Anthology . The show centers around the wake of a loved one, Bertie (played by Amanda LeBlanc) and the voices that have “carved our town”. From the moment the audience is greeted, there is mystery and intrigue. During the eerie opening, we are ushered through a graveyard where several tombstones stand in a lonesome grove of birch trees. The unusual setup peaks our interest even before begin the show, and remin...