Archives
My preview of the Regina Little Theatre One-Act Plays Cabaret…
...is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: Before Angel Genereux became the producer of Regina Little Theatre's programs of one-act plays in 2007, they were seen strictly as a venue for new talent on and backstage, and traditionally drew small audiences. Genereux thought they could draw new audience members, too. She boosted publicity. The result: last spring's one-acts drew record crowds and made money for the first time ever. "It's a chance to see what RLT is all about," she says. "And it's cheap: 10 bucks!" Fast-forward to this fall. Genereux is no longer the producer of the one-acts (she's moving up to producing the main-stage shows), but she's still involved. She's directing one of the three short comedies featured in RLT's Comedy Cabaret ...My review of Robert Michaels’s concert with the Regina Symphony Orchestra…
...was in yesterday's Regina LeaderPost. It begins: It's a cliche, after a concert on a chilly Saskatchewan night, to say something about the performer heating things up inside despite the world outside having turned prematurely white. But if there were ever a performer to whom that cliche was perfectly suited, it would have to be Robert Michaels, the Juno Award-winning guitarist who joined forces with the Regina Symphony Orchestra for Saturday's Flamenco Fire concert, the first in this year's Shumiatcher Pops Series. From the opening number, it was easy to imagine, as Maestro Victor Sawa suggested, that you were sitting in Spain's Sierra ...My preview of the Regina Fringe Festival…
...and in particular of Julia Mackey's play Jake's Gift, is in today's LeaderPost. An excerpt: Mackey says one of the main reasons she created the show was to let veterans know that a lot of people really do appreciate the sacrifices they made. Another was to educate children, and Jake's Gift, Mackey says, elicits the same "amazing" response from 10-year-olds as it does their elders. "Those young kids really get it, and it makes them interested in history. They come up to me afterwards and want to know more about the war and Remembrance Day. That's such an incredible reward."The first sentence I wrote today…
...is from Blue Fire: The wagons rolled on through the day. Words today: 2,121 Total thus far: 19,676 You can add to that another 480 words (actually more like 980 to start with, but then I had to cut it by half) previewing the Regina Fringe Festival for Thursday's LeaderPost, and another 1,400 words (which represented a 1,000-word cut from the first draft) of an interview with Robert J. Sawyer for the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild magazine FreeLance. A productive day. I still need to write a science column and try to do some work on Magebane, but it's getting late, so...no promises.My preview of Regina Little Theatre’s Local Talent…
...was in today's LeaderPost. It begins: Women today are expected to be beautiful and thin, wonderful mothers and wives, and dedicated to their careers -- all at the same time. Those unrealistic expectations drive the plot of Local Talent, Regina Little Theatre's final production of the season, June 10-13 at the Regina Performing Arts Centre. But while the underlying issue is serious, the play is anything but. Instead, says director Mark Claxton, "it's really funny." Read the whole thing, but note there's a phrase missing in the fourth paragraph, which should read: Local Talent, by Montreal playwright Colleen Curran, is Claxton’s first full-length directing venture for RLT, which gave him with ...My preview of the Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan’s year-end performances…
...is in today's Regina LeaderPost. An excerpt: More than 350 dance students from age three on up will take to the stage of the Conexus Arts Centre this weekend as the Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, celebrating its 25th anniversary, presents two year-end performances. "There's a little bit of duplication, but not very much," says artistic director Connie Moker Wernikowski. ### The Youth Ballet's elite pre-professional company will perform Ballet for Life, created by a world-famous choreographer, the late Maurice Bejar, in tribute to the many friends he lost to AIDS. It's set to music by Queen that lead singer Freddy Mercury wrote when he knew he was dying of AIDS. Bejar granted permission to one of his students, Artur Kuraczewski, to re-set the ...LeaderPost preview of Follies, avec moi
[caption id="attachment_9118" align="alignright" width="300" caption="From left to right, Donna Trainor, Jeff Tonita, Amanda Dancsok, Dianne Burrows, and me."][/caption] Today's Regina LeaderPost has a preview of next week's Lyric Musical Theatre production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in which I play Buddy Plummer. And no, I didn't write it myself. Kelly-Anne Reiss did the honours; the photo is by Tony Fleece. Here's an excerpt: Regina audiences are in for a rare treat as the Lyric Musical Theatre of Regina will be putting on a full stage production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. There has not been a staging of the entire musical in Canada for years, even though several of the songs, including "Broadway Baby," ...My review of the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s Pops concert with guitarist Jack Semple…
...is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: The set of people who like both symphony orchestras and screaming guitars is generally thought of as small, but based on Guitar Heroes, Saturday's Regina Symphony Orchestra Shumiatcher Pops concert featuring Jack Semple, it's at least as large as the seating capacity of the Conexus Arts Centre. Semple often plays with the RSO when a guitarist is required, but this was the first time he's been front-and-centre for an entire concert, and the result was spectacular. Read the whole thing. More about the Regina Symphony Orchestra. More about Jack Semple.My review of Saturday’s Regina Symphony Orchestra concert…
...featuring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and a brand-new viola concerto by local player and composer Jonathan Ward, is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: What do you program for the final masterworks concert of the 100th season of a symphony orchestra? It would be hard to improve on the Regina Symphony Orchestra's answer to that question: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Every movement has iconic moments, and (in my opinion) if Beethoven had written nothing else in his life but the final movement, it would have been enough.My preview of Fortier Danse Creation’s Cabane
My preview of New Dance Horizon's presentation of Montreal's Fortier Danse Creation's Cabane is in today's LeaderPost. It begins: Cabane, says Paul-Andre Fortier of Montreal's Fortier Danse Creation, is not your typical dance show: instead, it's "somewhere between dance, theatre, performance art, installation and site-specific." Presented by New Dance Horizons tonight at 8 p.m. in the Jacqui Shumiatcher Room of the Conexus Arts Centre and Friday at 8 p.m. in the Regency Ballroom of the Hotel Saskatchewan, Cabane was created and is performed by Fortier in collaboration with author, musician and visual artist Robert Racine. "Everybody in his childhood dreamed of a small house you could play in, to create a world for your own self," Fortier says. With Cabane he hopes ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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