We invite you join us for a good old fashioned Holiday Party to celebrate another successful year for the Firehall Arts Centre and get into the festive spirit with some seasonal refreshments and hors d’œuvre. We will kick off proceedings with our AGM at 7pm sharp followed by a party!
All members have voting rights at the AGM – if you need to join or renew, you can do so in person at the door (membership is just $10).
What are you waiting for? Get on your party shoes and come on down to the Firehall!
‘Wait for me, daddy’ by Claud Detloff. New Westminster, 1940.
As Remembrance Day nears, here at the Firehall, we have been giving a great deal of thought to not just remembering the sacrifice of Canadian peacekeepers and soldiers, but also on some level understanding the impact of war on those who return and their families. With over 80,000 veterans in Canada, People Like Us, the new Firehall production, tells the story of just one veteran, but the issues it raises about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, illness and getting benefits are battles many returning veterans face.
Director Sarah Rodgers has been working hard to bring to life this moving story of a Canadian family dealing with the human cost of the first Gulf War. She is no stranger to the impact of war – she grew up with a father who was a World War II veteran and as an artist has directed the highly successful production of Billy Bishop Goes To War.
Her father Denis Rogers, who is now 90 years old, served in World War II as an engineer for the British Army working on the Lancaster Airplanes based in Rome. He, like many others, saw the planes fly off and not return, losing many friends and fighter pilots. “Like many vets from the World Wars he did not speak of his time there,” says Rogers.
Sarah’s father Denis Rodgers
She was attracted to working on People Like Us because of the issues around veterans in Canada today that it raises. “I found it an utterly compelling story and a dreadful secret that needed to be exposed. I hope that people realise veterans need our support not just from the First and Second World Wars but from more modern wars,” remarks Rodgers.
Rogers likes to observe Remembrance Day by reading the Rudyard Kipling play ‘My Boy Jack‘ out loud to casts if in rehearsal or to her family. “It is a stunning poem by Rudyard Kipling who had to work very hard to get his son into the First World War as he had poor eyesight and was refused three times. Kipling basically sent him to his death.”
Here are Sarah’s suggestions for remembering the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers and veterans in the lead up to Remembrance Day:
“This play [People Like Us] is a bracing reminder that war can be many different kinds of hell, even for people like us. LEST WE FORGET.” Jerry Wasserman, The Province
People Like Us runs til November 16. You can read more or buy tickets here. We will have poppies available in the lobby.
