Reader’s Theatre coming to MV Public Library

Karen Filipkowski (L), CEO Madawaska Valley Public Library with Penny Shulist (R), Library Assistant

Photo: Barry Conway

Some say it’s about the great story-telling talents of the Madawaska and Bonnechere River Valleys but Barry Conway, a former broadcast journalist and retired university professor who grew up in Barry’s Bay and recently moved back, says,

“It’s really just about having fun the way people in small towns have always had fun – by doing something worthwhile that somehow tickles your fancy.”

Conway is the driving force behind a new spoken-word project currently being developed under the guidance of Karen Filipkowski, CEO of the Barry’s Bay Public Library.

“I think this project would bring books alive for people” says Filipkowski. “It’s another way of introducing children to books or bringing documents and books we have in locked cupboards — bringing them alive — letting people know what we have here in the library.”

Filipkowski says there is currently a strong demand at the library for anything involving local history, biography, adventure, travel stories, as well as suspense and thrillers.

She and Conway are hoping to respond to those library interests by getting volunteers to perform dramatic readings in order to both entertain and raise money for the library. But it’s not just for locals. The 90-minute to two-hour shows will also be broadcast worldwide via a podcast called The Opeongo Line’s Village Voice & Country Rambler.

A graduate of MVDHS, Conway holds a Master of Journalism degree from Carleton University. After moving to Toronto, he worked for CBC Radio “As It Happens” where he produced many of the short stories and historical recitations made famous by “Fireside” Al Maitland. Conway also taught journalism at Concordia University in Montreal and at several colleges and universities in the United States where he launched similar iTunes podcast projects with his graduate and undergraduate students.

“This new Opeongo Line podcast idea has a lot of moving parts,” says Conway. “Everything from launching a play-by-play broadcast unit to cover off local sporting events to collecting oral histories from Legion members, seniors and long-lost MVDHS graduates, but essentially we’re hoping to get this first phase – a Reader’s Theatre — off the ground by recruiting local people, young and old, to volunteer for The Opeongo Podcast Players, the OPP for short!

“Those OPP volunteers,” says Conway, “will be organized around an ‘old time radio broadcast format’ and trained to present to a live audience while also being recorded for rebroadcast around the world. They’ll each be given at least one set piece – classic prose, a dramatic monologue, a famous speech, even some stand-up comedy routines — that should resonate with our historical, literary and sporting selves.  As well, I’ve uncovered a wealth of local historical materials – old journals, diaries, letters – that date back to 1829 and that tell stories about our roots, recalling those grand old ghosts who once passed through the Opeongo Line back in the 19^th and 20^th century.”

For instance, Conway says he’s preparing readings from David Thompson’s 1837 Madawaska River Journal, and Charlie Thomas’s 1851 Golden Lake Journal and is on the hunt for a set of  World War I letters written home to Barry’s Bay by a local soldier who fought in the trenches of France:

“Now imagine if I could get someone, maybe even that soldier’s great-grandson, to re-enact some of those letters on Remembrance Day this year.  We could dedicate that show to local veterans who, sadly, we may have forgotten or, worse, never have known because we had no way of knowing them.”

The retired professor says that besides his own collection of historical documents, the Barry’s Bay Public Library itself is chock full of books just begging to be read aloud to someone.

“They have a great collection of wonderful voices who embody Western Civilization; Polish short story writers like Henryk Sienkiewicz and Joseph Conrad or countless others who can be drawn from every nation in the world.”

Conway says ironically his interest in spoken-word performance is home-grown, first sparked by Teresa Luckovitch (nee Coulas), one of his grade school teachers in Barry’s Bay. “Mrs. Luckovitch had this wonderful way of lifting a story off the page. She could have read a shopping list and we would have considered it high art! Lucky for us, if we behaved ourselves, each Friday she would read us a chapter from a library book. It was better than TV!” Conway said that a lot of locals who have either read to their own children or have listened to the natural story-telling voices of their grandparents: “They all have that same raw talent just waiting to be coaxed a little into performing for the enjoyment of others locally and worldwide.”

Currently, Conway is working on four shows: “The first performance has to be aimed at school children – kids are always the toughest yet fairest critics of any new idea; if we can’t convince them, what’s the point?” Other shows include a summer performance aimed at local outdoor enthusiasts, lumberjacks, farmers, gardeners, boating enthusiasts and “those great unmitigated story-tellers, if not bare-faced liars”, he says, “who actually claim to catch fish around here!” He also wants to produce a Christmas show based on something like Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol.’

Conway says he only needs a few voices to kick-start the OPP. He can offer anyone interested the vocal training to get them through their first few shows.  Conway has a history of working with voice talent. He spent ten years in broadcast journalism including working at both the CBC and CTV. He is offering to provide all the broadcast equipment and training free-of-charge.

 “A lot of the skill-set for spoken-word performance comes from just listening carefully to other readers, story-tellers, audio books, that sort of thing,” he says.  “You don’t have to be a stage actor or a movie star; just somebody who can imagine the sound of reading aloud to just one other person.”

Conway is hoping to launch his first show, “Spring Thaw,” during the upcoming school break, March 12-16.  He’s confident this area has more than its fair share of vocal talent.

“When I worked with Fireside Al Maitland, he told me he didn’t so much have to train his voice as use his only natural advantage; with a sly grin, he said he came from the Valley.”

Anyone interested in joining the Opeongo Podcast Players can sign up at the Barry’s Bay Library or contact Barry Conway directly at btconway@scholar-gypsy.com  The first meeting of the Opeongo Podcast Players will be held on Saturday, February 17 at 10:00 a.m. at the Barry’s Bay Public Library. All are welcome.

Conway, B., (2018 Feb.7) Reader’s Theatre coming to Public Library [Press release]