The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts caps off its 46th year with its annual Highlights Concert at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons, Sunday, May 12 at 2 p.m. The festival kicked off April 15 and has seen hundreds of local amateurs in adjudicated performances in a variety of arts disciplines. The concert features some of the highest-scoring performers in one final show. Bursaries and awards will also be presented. Admission is by donation.
Grant Lawrence
The CBC broadcaster and author brings his touring show, Grant Lawrence and Friends: An Evening of Stories and Songs, to the Sunshine Coast for the first time on Friday, May 10, at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. Special musical guests include Kathryn Calder of New Pornographers, Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash, and local man about town and musician Silas White. Doors at 6:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Tickets, if any remain, are $25 at MELOmania, Strait Music, Laedeli, Reasons to Live, and www.share-there.com.
Legendary Ladies
Ladies and gentlemen, these ladies are gentlemen. Female impersonators Conni Smudge, Carlotta Gurl, and Jaylene Tyme look like they’ll be a lot of fun at this Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre fundraiser. The show’s on Friday, May 10. There’s a VIP reception at 7:30 p.m., general admission at 8 p.m., and showtime at 8:30 p.m. $75 for VIPs, $50 for general. Tickets available in advance only, at the Centre.
Blues, funky, and folky grooves
Local blues rockers The Georgia Fats play the Roberts Creek Legion Saturday, May 11, from 8 p.m. to midnight as a warm-up for their upcoming Western Canadian tour. $10 members, $15 for non-members. Meanwhile, the four local virtuoso players that are Funktete do their danceable jazz thing at the Gibsons Legion on the same Saturday night, 8 p.m. Members $5, guests $10. And just up the road at the Heritage Playhouse, The Billy Hillpicker Band and Bits of String combine for a show they’re calling Momma Says Sing! They promise a night of song, story, and sing-along to celebrate Mother’s Day. Short sets by each band with a combined hootenanny to follow. Saturday, May 11. Doors and licensed lounge open 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $15 at Laedeli, MELOmania, Gibsons Building Supplies - Sechelt, and www.share-there.com
Mother Love
The last of two performances of the theatrical celebration of motherhood, Mother Love, happens at High Beam Dreams in Gibsons on Friday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. Anna Lumiere and Gordon Halloran provide the music and lyrics, while Hicks portrays some of the motherly characters from her many works. Tickets are $22, $20 for students and seniors, available at Laedeli, MELOmania, Strait Music, and www.share-there.com.
Audition Call
Anne Marie Macdonald’s award-winning Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is described as “an exuberant comedy and feminist revisioning of Shakespeare’s Othello and Romeo and Juliet.” The Driftwood Players are mounting a production of the play for the fall. Auditions for the five-member cast – with multiple roles for each – are this weekend at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Friday evening, May 10, and Saturday afternoon, May 11. Contact director Troy Demmitt in advance at 604-840-3141 or [email protected].
La Musica Italiana
The Coast Chamber Strings return to the Sechelt Nation Hall on Saturday, May 11, with A Capriccio, “a joyful presentation of Italian music for strings.” Under the direction of Sarah Poon, the program includes selections from Vivaldi, Corelli, and Rossini, plus Italian-themed works from Mozart and Mendelssohn. Show starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, $5 for children 12 and under, at Strait Music, Laedeli, and at the door.
Arch Harp Guitar
James Kline is a classical guitarist, composer, singer-songwriter, and innovator of the 19-string arch harp guitar. He’s performing at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Gibsons on Sunday, May 12, at 2:30 p.m. Kline will play traditional Irish and Scottish music, classical guitar standards and some of his own compositions. Tickets $20 at the door.
Waterworks and Reflections
The May exhibition at Gibsons Public Art Gallery is all about nature photography, with Waterworks by Canadian-German artist Rafael Schoelermann, and Reflections, by Halfmoon Bay photographer Elaine Hunter. Schoelermann does much of his photography on the Sunshine Coast, and water – as the show title suggests – is a theme he loves to explore. Hunter is also a local nature photographer who takes her images to another dimension in post-production. The show runs from May 9 to June 2. The opening reception is Saturday, May 11, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Later on Saturday, there’s an opening reception at Gibsons Public Market at 4:30 p.m., for an exhibition by painters Cate Baldwin and Judi Scott-Wood.
Matilda the Wind
Local photographer and author Elizabeth Swan will be reading from and signing copies of her new book, Matilda the Wind and her Quest for a Mermaid, at the Gourmet Girl Café in Davis Bay on Sunday, May 12. Swan has created the unique character and three-dimensional figure, Matilda, and photographed her on her adventure. The event runs from 3 to 5 p.m.
Submissions
If you have an event you’d like considered for Art Beat, please let us know by 11 a.m. Tuesday at [email protected]. Space is limited. Also check Coast Reporter’s Coast Community Calendar for a fuller list.
