BY MICHAEL JAMES
Playwright Valerie MacMenemey knows a thing or two about kids.
Not only has she been writing plays geared towards young audiences for the past 10 years, but sheÂ?s a school teacher to boot.
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MacMenemey may also know a thing or two about the luck of the Irish, considering her Â?low IrishÂ? descent.
Certainly, if recent events are any indication, sheÂ?s been benefiting from it ever since she moved to Sudbury from the southern Ontario community of Midland 18 months ago.
Consider, for example, the serendipitous manner in which her latest play, Sudbury Rocks, came about.
According to MacMenemey,another of her plays, Bully for You, was touring elementary schools in the Sudbury region and, as it happened, was witnessed by a teacher who also sat on the Sudbury Mining Week Committee.
Â?She (Lena Rhodes) was very impressed with the play,Â? she said.
One thing led to another and MacMenemey soon found herself commissioned to write a docu-drama (theatre based on real events) celebrating the history of mining in our community, entitled Sudbury Rocks.
Incorporating such popular theatre techniques as song, dance, mime and even clowning, the play takes audiences on a journey from the formation of the Sudbury basin millions of years ago when a meteorite, some scientists claim, collided with the Earth, to the development of modern day mining techniques.
By MacMenemeyÂ?s estimation, her cast Â? comprised of 20 grade 10 performing arts students from Sudbury Secondary School and 20 additional elementary school students Â? has been hard at work rehearsing the 50-minute piece for eight to 10 weeks.
Â?We workshopped it a little bit,Â? she said, Â?because, as you can appreciate, having not done it before, we would find a scene wasnÂ?t working and we would sort of rewrite it and make that go.Â?
The kids, especially the elementary school students involved in the production, are extremely excited about the prospect of getting up on stage, she said.
Â?The younger kids are really excited at the thought of performing on a real stage, with real lights,Â? she said.
Sponsored by Sudbury Mining Week and the Rainbow District School Board, the public presentation of Sudbury Rocks will be take place in the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School on Thursday, May 8 at 7:30 pm.
Admission will be on a pay-what-you-can basis.
There will also be three school performances on May 6 and May 9 at 9 and 11 am and 1 pm.
For more information, call Valerie MacMenemey at 522-1542.
