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Dina Morrone
"I take a little bit of Thunder Bay with me everywhere I go and in everything I write," says playwright Dina Morrone.
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"Moose on the Loose"
Dina Morrone's "Moose on the Loose," April 9-25 at Magnus Theatre, is the story of an immigrant family in northern Ontario.
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Keith Barker
Keith Barker, who grew up in northwestern Ontario and now lives in Toronto, says, "Because of distance and travel, my family and friends rarely get to see my work. This is one of those rare opportunities when my work is coming to them."
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"The Hours That Remain"
Keith Barker's “The Hours That Remain" runs October 23 to November 8 at Thunder Bay's Magnus Theatre.
The plays of writers with strong ties to Thunder Bay take center stage during the Magnus Theatre’s 2014-15 season. Lake Superior Magazine managing editor Bob Berg corresponded with the playwrights to see how a sense of place influences their work. We posed the same questions to both writers.
“The Hours That Remain,” by Métis actor and playwright Keith Barker, is a psychological thriller about a woman’s search for her missing sister, inspired by the true story of Aboriginal women abducted and missing or murdered on a stretch of highway in northern British Columbia known as the Highway of Tears.
LSM: Where are you from originally?
KB: I was born in Geraldton, but I grew up in Longlac, Thunder Bay and Kenora.
LSM: How has that home area influenced your work?
KB: I was raised by women. They were strong and powerful and always full of grace. I learned my life lessons sitting in a sauna listening to their stories. That’s where my writing comes from. These women. These voices. And I will always be proud of that.
LSM: What does it mean to have your play performed in Thunder Bay?
KB: Because of distance and travel, my family and friends rarely get to see my work. This is one of those rare opportunities when my work is coming to them. And I am eternally grateful to Magnus Theatre for making this happen.
LSM: Where do you call home now?
KB: Toronto.
LSM: What would you like audience members to take home after seeing “The Hours That Remain”?
KB: I want them to leave wanting to know more (about this tragedy of missing women).
A lighter topic is found in “Moose On The Loose” by actor-playwright Dina Morrone. It’s about the Tappino family, who moved from Italy to (the fictional) Way Up Bay, Ontario. It’s about the immigrant experience of growing up in northern Ontario to parents who don’t speak English. (She emphasizes that this is not her family, and the play is not about her.)
LSM: Where are you from originally?
DM: I was born in Port Arthur, which is now Thunder Bay. My parents emigrated from Calabria, in southern Italy, to Port Arthur. I am first-generation Canadian.
LSM: How has that home area influenced your work?
DM: My home area has very much influenced my work, my life and the choices I have made over the years. I take a little bit of Thunder Bay with me everywhere I go and in everything I write. I wrote “Moose On The Loose” because of something that actually happened in my neighborhood in Thunder Bay. A moose wandered into the neighborhood and got stuck in the neighbors’ yard. That was the starting point for this piece and then I just ran with it.
LSM: What does it mean to have your play performed in Thunder Bay?
DM: I am ecstatic and overcome with emotion that “Moose On The Loose” has been selected by Magnus Theatre to be a part of the 2014-15 season. Magnus Theatre is a gem of a theatre with a great reputation for doing top-notch quality work. I was actually seeing shows at Magnus back when it was in the south end of the city. I’m thrilled that the citizens of Thunder Bay continued to embrace and support live theatre. I have been to a lot of theatres and worked in many as well, and Magnus Theatre, which is set in a marvelous historical building mixed with new architecture, is a North Shore artistic treasure.
Although “Moose On The Loose” is a play about a fictional Italian family called the Tappino family that live in Northern Ontario, it could be any immigrant family. The sacrifices of leaving the homeland behind in search of a better life, and then having to deal with all the struggles and changes that comes with it is a subject many can relate to and not just in this country. Being able to do my play here makes it very personal for me because it reminds me a lot of my Nonno (grandfather), who made the voyage here alone. A few years later my parents arrived, and that was the beginning of something new because this place then became their new home.
LSM: Where do you call home now?
DM: I live in Los Angeles with my husband, Stephen Rivkin, who is originally from Minneapolis. But, the question of home for me is a very complex one in that I see home as being several places. It’s Los Angeles with my husband; Thunder Bay, where my immediate family resides; Toronto, because I attended Ryerson University and have many friends there; Rome, Italy, where I worked professionally for many years and tapped into my Italian roots; and lastly Perito, in Calabria, Italy, that’s where my ancestors are from and the point of departure for my grandparents and parents toward their journey to Canada. That’s a lot of homes, but I really do feel that they are all home.
LSM: What would you like audience members to take home after seeing “Moose On The Loose”?
DM: I would like for the audience members to take home with them: One, that family is family. Whether it’s language barriers, cultural differences, generational gap, family is family and will always be there for you or at least should be there for you … because they are family. Two, to see that the moose in my play is a metaphor for displaced people. We are all displaced. When you upend your life, your family, from another country or city, or even if you move to a new neighborhood, or enter into your in-laws home for the first time, you always feel somewhat displaced. And likewise, when a moose wanders out of its own natural habitat and into the city, where he is not supposed to be, well, he, too, feels displaced.
My Goal for “Moose On The Loose” is to see it up on stage all across Canada and the United States as often as possible. I would like to invite everyone to enter into the world of “Moose On The Loose” with the Tappino family for two hours so they can be a part of this vibrant family, have a good laugh and be moved, too.
“The Hours That Remain," Oct. 23- Nov. 8. “Moose On The Loose,” April 9-25. Magnus Theatre, Thunder Bay. 807-345-5552. www.magnus.on.ca.