Gwelf Early Days for arts students

This Monday is going to be fun. The Gwelf Early Days storytelling walking tour for students of theatre arts - my kind of people.

Neat program eh? SEE HERE

Looking forward to giving these people a taste for what I do - street theatre!

One Man Show

Now Booking 2025/26 season

519 820-3269

JayWalkingGuelph@gmail.com

Guelph Urbex and JayWalking Guelph

 

JayWalking Guelph is pleased to be joining the Guelph Urbex family of quality walking tours.

In addition to all their amazing tours you can join Jay for the Gwelf Early Days Tour or The Unfortunate Man Tour during the 2025 season May-October.

Gwelf Early Days is part historical tour and part actor presentation.

The Unfortunate Man is a true tale of murder from 1889.

Walking tours are the best way to explore Guelph.

Jay looks forward to being your host!

Fundraising using live theatre

It works!

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears is an affordable live theatre experience.

Up next: St. Paul's Anglican Church Saturday May 24, 2025 at 3pm

It can be performed in almost any venue.

It is compact with minimal overhead, and there are no hidden or unexpected costs.

The show brings laughter and laughter-tears resulting in a feel-good experience.

Nothing offensive, pure entertainment with universal themes of love, life, loss and friendship.

One actor but a multitude of characters, with a set and sound system that arrives in a tiny Nissan Micra.

Of course you'll want to book this show so here's my email: jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com 519 820-3269

Have your accountant standing by to calculate the profit!

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears 2025

 

Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears

In 1999, while working at the Gravenhurst Opera House, a lifetime family friend, Charlene Herrold, sent me a copy of her book, “Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears”. None in our family knew she was an author in addition to being a painter, interior designer, director, producer and stage manager. Upon finishing reading, I realized that what I held in my hand was a series of theatre pieces. I vowed that one day these stories would reach a wider audience. Before she passed in 2009, Charlene gave me her blessing and now “Lilt of Laughter, Trace of Tears” is a one-hour one-man show touring Ontario.

No, you don’t need to be Irish to enjoy this production. Universal themes of love, loss, friendship, and hardship, are adeptly tucked into the text. This show has been compared to Dan Needles’ Wingfield Farm in terms of style, charm, intimacy and humour. The audience is treated to a vast array of delightful characters ranging in age from 18-88 and including, Terrible Tom O’Malley, The Big and Little Jimmies, Devlin Haggerty (a corpse), Fiddler O’Flaherty, the Widow O’Donnell and even the cat, Frances O’Feline, to name but a few.

Personally, I love community halls as well as intimate theatre spaces and so far the show has played to sold out performances in Collingwood (Theatre Collingwood’s, Porchside Festival), Barrie (The Edgar Community Hall), Guelph’s ArtBar (a newly created arts venue) and numerous cafes, festivals, and arts events.

It’s a perfect show for smaller theatre spaces and rural communities and for arts groups that are looking for a live theatre show to round out their performing arts roster. It’s great for producing companies and community theatres, who occasionally need a quality offering for their patrons, but want to avoid overhead production costs. For more information visit https://www.jaywalkingguelph.ca or write jaywalkingguelph@gmail.com 519 820-3269.

Top of the morning to you and the cream of the day.

Spitfire

Currently working on this play. It's quite personal.

My mother lost her first husband during WW 2. He flew a Spitfire and was shot down flying back to base. He left behind my brother who was a baby at the time. I don't know if the two ever saw each other.

I was born many years later. Mom had remarried. My brother and I were 14 years apart in age.

The play deals with the effects of war, how sometimes the injured never see battle. War scars families for many generations.

When I was about 10 or so my brother came home for a weekend. He was a figure skater with Ice Capades. He brought everyone a present. My present was a model airplane, a Spitfire.

I'm midway through a first draft. We'll see if this has legs.

I've made it!

I hit the big time with my playwriting already and I've just started.

I got my first rejection notice. 

Eric Goudie held a ten minute playwriting contest with an eye to having a reading of the top 3 plays on stage at the Fergus Grand Theatre, to celebrate World Theatre Day March 27, 2025.

My play "The Shelter From The Stormy Blast" didn't make the cut.

So why am I celebrating?

Because I had so much fun trying and that little push has lead to further attempts. 

It's great waking up in the morning and going to work, having no idea what will transpire, yet knowing that at the end of every day I tried my best and enjoyed myself.

I expect that as I continue I will run into others who are also writing plays and now when I read a play I learn so much more. It goes so much farther than just reading the plot. 

What fun. Thanks Eric and I look forward to hearing the winning entries.