Join Owen Sound Little Theatre and The Tom Thomson Art Gallery for a Gala Preview Presentation of The Portrait on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at The Roxy Theatre.
Cocktails 6:30 pm – Showtime 7:30 pm – Post show social 9:30 pm
Tickets $50.00, with a $25.00 tax receipt
By Allen Smutylo
Directed by Bill Murphy
Music by Terry Smutylo and Allen Smutylo
Join playwright Allen Smutylo, Director Bill Murphy and the cast of The Portrait in the Roxy Theatre’s Griffin Gallery for a pre-show cocktail reception and post show party. Enjoy a glass of champagne and a first look at a survey of portraiture spanning more than 40 years of Smutylo’s career before the show starts and short a discussion with the playwright and director following the performance.
This event is a celebration of Mr. Smutylo’s first play and a fundraiser for both OSLT and The TOM.
The Portrait, written by Allen Smutylo, is an original play with music that takes place in Tobermory during the early 1970s as the community is in the middle of a difficult transition from commercial fishing village to seasonal tourist town. Part personal memoir and part historical, The Portrait tells the story of Orrie (O.C.) Vail’s struggle to save his waterfront home and workshop from demolition after the federal government announces its plans to build the existing ferry terminal. At the same that Tobermory has become deeply divided, Allen Smutylo and five friends from art college move to the remote village to start an Artist’s Co-Op, Cirle Arts. Allen then convinces Orrie, an imposing fisherman widely known for his hand-crafted knives, to let him paint his portrait and later becomes deeply involved in the fight to save Orrie’s home.
The Portrait is Mr. Smutylo’s first play, although the story was first told in his book, The Memory of Water, which was nominated for the General Governor’s Literary Award in Non-Fiction.
This April, Owen Sound Little Theatre tells this story with its production of The Portrait, featuring a live band on stage with musicians Jayden Grahlman and Will Henry and vocalists Sandy Lemairtre, Michelle Legere and Becky Johnson-Morelli.