Leacock Summer Festival
| When: | Back to Calendar July 16, 2012 @ 4:00 pm – July 29, 2012 @ 7:00 pm | Where: | Leacock Museum National Historic Site 50 Museum Dr Orillia,ON L3V 7T9 Canada |
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| Cost: | Events Priced Separately | |
| Contact: | Fred Addis 705-329-1908 faddis@leacockmuseum.com |
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| Categories: | Special Events | |
Leacock Summer Festival
The Leacock Museum’s annual salute to contemporary literature features some very special components for our Sunshine Sketches 100th Anniversary year.
In addition to our regular schedule of readings we’ve commissioned a one-man show entitled SKETCHING SUNSHINE: An Evening and Morning with Stephen Leacock, written and performed by veteran actor Joe Matheson. You’ll see a middle-aged Leacock, at the top of his career: sharp, witty and profound. Sketching Sunshine runs for 5 performances beginning July 24 at the Orillia Opera House. Purchase your tickets online at: orilliaoperahouse.ca
–SCHEDULE–
FRIDAY July 27
CHILDREN’S DAY
JONATHON’S STORM – Children’s Story Opera
Performances: 11:15 am & 2:00 pm
Pre-Event Craft Workshops: 10:30 am & 1:15 pm
Ardeleana Chamber Music Society
Admission by Donation: $2.00 suggested
CHILDREN’S DAY: Featuring the live Children’s Story Opera Jonathon’s Storm performed by the Blue Bridge Festival / Ardeleana Chamber Music Society of Sutton, Ontario. This program will be preceded by Faces in the Storm: a children’s art workshop highlighting aspects and characters of the opera with crafts, costumes and makeup.And of course Children’s Day also features complimentary hotdogs, lemonade and birthday cake.
Visit the Ardeleana Chamber Society website: www.ardeleanamusic.com
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FRI July 27 2:00 pm
WORLD PREMIERE ! Sketching Sunshine: An Evening and A Morning with Stephen Leacock: Veteran actor Joe Matheson takes to the stage at the Orillia Opera House to presents his unique and stunningly personal depiction of Stephen Leacock at the pinnacle of his greatest success with the publication of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Tickets for Sketching Sunshine available at the Orillia Opera House
Phone: (705) 326-8011 or 1-888-ORILLIA Online Sales: orilliaoperahouse.ca
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FRI July 27 8:00 pm
FRIDAY NIGHT HUMOUR SHOWCASE
with readings by: Terry Fallis, Cordelia Strube and Shari Lapena
Tickets: $14.00
Friday Night Humour Showcase: 2008 Leacock Medal Winner Terry Fallis (Best Laid Plans) hosts and reads at the Leacock Summer Festival signature event. Also featured are novelist and Trillium Award finalist Cordelia Strube reading from her soon to be published new novel and also featuring 2012 Leacock Medal shortlisted author Shari Lapena (Happiness Economics).
TERRY FALLIS grew up in Toronto and went to McMaster University. Drawn to politics at an early age, he worked for Cabinet Ministers both at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa. His first book, The Best Laid Plans, began as a podcast, then was self-published, won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, was re-published to great reviews by McClelland & Stewart, and was selected the 2011 winner of CBC’s Canada Reads competition. His follow-up novel, The High Road, was published in 2010, and was a finalist for the 2011 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. The Best Laid Plans is now in development by CBC Television as a six-part miniseries. M&S will publish his third novel in September 2012. To visit Terry’s website: www.terryfallis.com
CORDELIA STRUBE is an accomplished playwright and the author of eight critically acclaimed novels. Her first novel, Alex and Zee, was shortlisted for the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and her third novel, Teaching Pigs to Sing, was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. She is a three time nominee for the ReLit Award. Her play Mortal won the CBC Literary Competition and was nominated for the Prix Italia. She lives with her family in Toronto where she teaches at Ryerson University. Her most recent novel Lemon was shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Book Award, and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. For more information on Cordelia visit: cordeliastrube.weebly.com
SHARI LAPENA worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before turning to writing fiction. She is a graduate of The Humber School for Writers, where her mentor was David Adams Richards. Her first novel, Things Go Flying, was shortlisted for the 2009 Sunburst Award. She won the Globe and Mail’s Great Toronto Literary Project contest, and was shortlisted for the 2006 CBC Literary Awards. Her second novel, Happiness Economics, was published in September, 2011 and was a finalist for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. She lives in Toronto and is currently at work on her third novel. Shari’s website can be viewed at: sharilapena.com
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SAT July 28 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
DOORS OPEN ORILLIA / MARIPOSA
Doors Open Orillia / Mariposa: Former Leacock Museum curator Daphne Mainprize takes you on a guided tour of Stephen Leacock’s Mariposa. Many sites featured in Sunshine Sketches will be explored including Mundell’s Funeral Home, former residence of Orillia Mayor John McCosh who was cast in the book as Judge Pepperleigh.
Ms. Mainprize will also be featuring and signing her new book Stephen Leacock’s Mariposa.
Read about it at Dundurn Press: www.dundurn.com/books/stephen_leacocks_mariposa
Learn more about Doors Open Orillia at: http://www.doorsopenontario.on.ca/Events/Orillia-Mariposa.aspx?searchevents=Mariposa&aliaspath=%2fEvents-Search%2f2012-Event-Search&NodeId=639&SiteCount=10
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SAT July 28 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Canadian Authors Association: 
2012 Literary Awards Showcase
Admission By Donation: Suggested $5.00
Readings by shortlisted authors, including Douglas Gibson, Brian Henderson, Goran Simic and Jonathan F. Vance
DOUGLAS GIBSON established the first editorial imprint in Canada at McClelland & Stewart in 1986, and was the Publisher at M&S (“The Canadian Publisher”) from 1988 until 2004, when he moved back to concentrate on his imprint, Douglas Gibson Books. He “retired” in 2008, at sixty-five. He has won many awards over the years, and is the first publisher to be made an Honorary Member of the Writers’ Union of Canada. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Jane, when he is not travelling the country with his one-man stage show. His website is douglasgibsonbooks.com. Douglas’ Stories About Storytellers has been shortlisted for CAA’s Lela Common Award for Canadian History.
BRIAN HENDERSON is the author of eleven collections of poetry, one of which, Nerve Language (Pedlar Press, 2007), was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. He holds a PhD in Canadian Literature, has worked in many facets of Canadian publishing, and is currently the director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Sharawadji is Brian’s eleventh poetry collection, and has been shortlisted for the 2012 CAA Award for Poetry.
GORAN SIMIC was born in Bosnia in 1952 and has been living in Toronto since 1996. He has published eleven books of poetry, drama, and short fiction, including Immigrant Blues, From Sarajevo With Sorrow, Sunrise in the Eyes of the Snowman and Yesterday’s People. Goran has been shortlisted for the CAA Award for Poetry for Sunrise in the Eyes of the Snowman.
JONATHAN F. VANCE is a specialist in Canadian military and cultural history, war and society in the twentieth century, and social memory. From 2000 to 2010 he held the Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2008. His book Death So Noble won the 1998 Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, the 1998 C.P. Stacey Award, and the 1998 Dafoe Book Prize. In 2010, A History of Canadian Culture won the Lela Common Award from the Canadian Authors Association. Jonathan’s Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain and Two World Wars has been shortlisted once again for the CAA’s Lela Common Award.
www.canauthors.org
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SAT July 28 6:00 – 9:30 pm
An Evening with the Authors:
The Canadian Authors Association’s Annual Awards Dinner
Catered by Swanmore Terrace
Tickets sold separately: $40.00
For Tickets Call: 705 719 3926 or 1 866 216 6222 (toll free)
Keynote Speaker: Douglas Gibson
Winners of the 2012 CAA Literary Awards Announced
Join authors, publishers and other special guests as we celebrate some of Canada’s most talented writers. Be among the first to find out who won each of four award categories: Fiction, Canadian History, Poetry and Emerging Writer.
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SAT July 28 8:00 pm
Live at the Orillia Opera House
WINGFIELD’S PROGRESS
Written by: Dan Needles Performed by: Doug Beattie Directed by: Doug Beattie
In his second season on the farm Walt faces a new challenge. The spectre of urban development looms on the Seventh Concession and Walt sounds the alarm. Can he mobilize the neighbourhood to save the rustic splendour of Larkspur? Does Larkspur want to be saved? Wingfield’s Progress is the story of Walt’s passionate response to a threat only he perceives. Larkspur and its residents are back at their hilarious best in this sequel to Letters From Wingfield Farm.
a riveting and immaculately constructed little play, performed to perfection… Beattie electrifies the stage. – The Victoria Times Colonist
People who were treated to Beattie’s talent in ‘Letter’ weren’t disappointed with the sequel — it was as hilarious, as entertaining as they were hoping it would be.– The Pinnacle, Peterborough
Visit the Wingfield Farm website at: www.wingfieldfarm.ca
ROD BEATTIE (actor) A veteran of fifteen seasons with the Stratford Festival (most recently in Wingfield’s Inferno in the 2005 season), Rod Beattie is one of the most respected and versatile actors in Canadian theatre. Over the past twenty years or so Rod’s name has become synonymous with Dan Needles’ Wingfield series which has brought him acting awards, rave reviews and sold-out houses across Canada. Rod is the winner of the 1991-92 Dora Award (best performance by an actor in a leading role) for his performance in the first three Wingfield plays.
Tickets available online at orilliaoperahouse.ca
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SUN July 29 1:00 pm
WORLD PREMIERE ! Sketching Sunshine: An Evening and A Morning with Stephen Leacock: Veteran actor Joe Matheson takes to the stage at the Orillia Opera House to presents his unique and stunningly personal depiction of Stephen Leacock at the pinnacle of his greatest success with the publication of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Tickets for Sketching Sunshine available at the Orillia Opera House
Phone: (705) 326-8011 or 1-888-ORILLIA Online Sales: orilliaoperahouse.ca
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SUN July 29 4:00 pm
WORLD PREMIERE ! Sketching Sunshine: An Evening and A Morning with Stephen Leacock: Veteran actor Joe Matheson takes to the stage at the Orillia Opera House to presents his unique and stunningly personal depiction of Stephen Leacock at the pinnacle of his greatest success with the publication of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Tickets for Sketching Sunshine available at the Orillia Opera House
Phone: (705) 326-8011 or 1-888-ORILLIA Online Sales: orilliaoperahouse.ca
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FESTIVAL EVENTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED !
MON July 16 7:30 pm
Student Creative Writing Showcase
Admission By Donation: Suggested $5.00
Student Creative Writing Showcase: Local High School students from the Leacock Summer Academy read from their original work under the direction of novelist and author-in-residence Cordelia Strube
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TUES July 17 8:00 pm
DOUG SNEYD: AFTERHOURS
A LEACOCK SUMMER FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER
Tickets: $ 14.00
DOUG SNEYD: AFTERHOURS: The Leacock Summer Festival salutes celebrated Orillia illustrator and cartoonist Doug Sneyd and features a retrospective of his Playboy cartoons and an on stage interview. The program also features contemporary cartoonists Matthew Forsythe and Scott Chantler.
- DOUG SNEYD has been a cartoonist for Playboy magazine since 1964. For nearly 20 years, starting in the mid-60′s, his “Doug Sneyd” and “Scoops” news cartoons appeared daily in newspapers across North America. Sneyd’s talent has also led him into cinema: in 1993, he wrote, produced and directed “Black-eyed Susan,” an educational movie-drama about spousal abuse, for the Ontario government. He was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Book Illustrators and has been a member of the National Cartoonists’ Society and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Thirty of his full-page color Playboy cartoons are among the 235 Sneyd works included in the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. Sneyd was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, but spent much of his professional career in Toronto. In 1969 he moved his family north to Orillia made famous as the mythical “Mariposa” by humorist Stephen Leacock. He works on the third floor of his home-studio overlooking beautiful Lake Couchiching and spends his winters on the Gulf Coast in Orange Beach,
- Alabama. Check out Doug’s website at: www.dougsneyd.com
Also Featuring:
MATTHEW FORSYTHE is an award-winning cartoonist whose first children’s book, My Name is Elizabeth, was last year a New York Times Notable Book. Forsythe’s most recent book Jinchalo, is a mutt of influences—from underground comics to manga, Korean mythology and menacing demons out of Hieronymus Bosch. He has lived and worked in Dublin, London and Seoul, but was born in Toronto and grew up in Welland, Ontario. Learn more about Matthew Forsythe and his work at: matthewforsythe.com
SCOTT CHANTLER is the Shuster Award-winning cartoonist of the graphic novels TWO GENERALS, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, and the THREE THIEVES series. He is also a popular commercial illustrator whose clients have included McDonald’s, Reebok, Macy’s, Rogers, The New York Daily News, The National Post, The Toronto Star, and Maclean’s. When he’s not doing either of those things, he teaches Writing for Graphic Novels at Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto. See Scott’s website at: www.scottchantler.com
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WED July 18 8:00 pm
Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction Award – 2012 Winner
ANDREW WESTOLL
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary – HarperCollins Canada
Tickets: $12.00
ANDREW WESTOLL is an award-winning narrative journalist and the author of The Riverbones, a travel memoir set in the jungles of Suriname. Before becoming a writer, he trained as a primatologist in the South American rainforest, where he studied wild troops of capuchin monkeys. He now lives in Toronto.
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary – Jury Citation: Brilliantly blending science and storytelling, primatologist and author Andrew Westoll takes us deep into the world of the haunted and haunting rescued research chimps of Fauna Sanctuary. Pulled from decades of horrific lab conditions, rescued chimps live out the balance of their long lives in sanctuaries such as Fauna, cared for and loved by an extraordinary group of people. Westoll deftly draws the reader into the wild day-to-day ride of life with the Fauna chimps and soon their “otherness” falls away. Through his lens, the chimps are revealed as the individuals they are, with all their foibles, damage, and possibility – and the reader’s world view shifts on its axis. Heartrending and heart-warming, this is a stunning and important work of art and documentary and science. Visit Andrew’s official website at: www.andrewwestoll.com
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THU July 19 8:00 pm
Geoffrey Corfield
1812: The War for Canada – A DESPub Publication
Tickets: $12.00
GEOFFREY CORFIELD lives in Canada. In fact he was born here. He lives within a bicycle ride, or a brisk walk, of a War of 1812 historical site and placque; and within a short drive of a War of 1812 re-enactment battle site. He has climbed Brock’s Monument and had his photo taken beside Laura Secord’s. His hobbies include used book shops and sipping port while listening to classical music. This is his sixth book and second about a war.
1812: The War for Canada – Even in war there can be humour. Evin in the War of 1812 which resulted in horrendous casualties and hardship. “War makes rattling good history; but peace is poor reading,” said Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). But there is humour in hindsight when chronicled by relentless researcher Geoffrey Corfield who lets the actual ironies, follies, twists of fate and weather, paradoxes, and human perveristy tell their own tale. Included in Corfield’s narrative are his disarmingly naive and funny illustrations.
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SAT July 21 2:00 pm
LEACOCK LIVE ! – Act II Studio
FREE ADMISSION: Bring Your Lawn Chair
Leacock Live ! Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches comes alive in this musical theatre performance by ACT II Studio in association with Ryerson University. The songs and skits are witty and fun and sure to delight audiences of all ages.
ACT II Studio is a Seniors’ Education Program in the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education RYERSON UNIVERSITY. The school developed out of an acting workshop taught by Vrenia Ivonoffski and offered by Ryerson’s Seniors’ Studies Program and is now a Theatre School and Creative Drama Centre, with its own Board of Management.
In 2010 the summer production Leacock Live ! played to rave reviews both at Toronto’s FRINGE Festival (Patrons’ Pick) and in Orillia at the Leacock Summer Festival on the grounds of Stephen Leacock’s 1928 summer home. The faced-paced and fun-filled production keeps the audience laughing from beginning to end. Website: www.ryerson.ca/~act2/
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SAT July 21 5:00 pm
HAPPY HOUR WITH MARK KINGWELL
with additional readings by: Rebecca Rosenblum and Ken Babstock
Tickets: $14.00
Happy Hour with Mark Kingwell: University of Toronto philosopher, author and contemporary culture commentator Mark Kingwell returns for his 9th consecutive appearance as the perennial official host of the festival Happy Hour. Joining him on the bill are Rebecca Rosenblum and Ken Babstock.
MARK KINGWELL is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto and a contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine. He is the author of fifteen books of political, cultural and aesthetic theory, including the national bestsellers Better Living (1998), The World We Want (2000), Concrete Reveries (2008), and Glenn Gould (2009). His articles on politics, architecture and art have appeared in, among others, Harper’s, the New York Times, the New York Post, Utne Reader, BookForum, the Toronto Star, and Queen’s Quarterly; he is also a former columnist for Adbusters, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail. Mr. Kingwell has lectured extensively in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Australia on philosophical subjects and had held visiting posts at Cambridge University, the University of California at Berkeley, and at the City University of New York, where he was the Weissman Distinguished Visiting Professor of Humanities in 2002. Kingwell is the recipient of the Spitz Prize in political theory, National Magazine Awards for both essays and columns, the Outstanding Teaching Award and President’s Teaching Award at the University of Toronto, a research fellowship at the Jackman Humanities Institute, and in 2000 was awarded an honorary DFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design for contributions to theory and criticism. His most recent books are a collection of his essays on art and philosophy, Opening Gambits (2008), the edited collection Rites of Way: The Politics and Poetics of Public Space (2009), and, with Joshua Glenn and cartoonist Seth, The Idler’s Glossary (2008) and The Wage Slave’s Glossary (2011). A new collection of his essays, Unruly Voices, will be published in fall 2012. In order to secure financing for their continued indulgence, Kingwell has also written about his various hobbies, including fly fishing, music, baseball, and cocktails. He is currently at work on a large-scale study of 21st-century democracy.
Read Mark’s column on Intellectuals and Democracy from the May 2011 issue of Academic Matters www.academicmatters.ca/2011/05/intellectuals-and-democracy/
REBECCA ROSENBLUM is a writer and editor living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Rebecca’s short fiction has been short-listed for the Journey Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the Danuta Gleed Award as well as longlisted for the Relit Award. Her first collection of stories, Once, won the Metcalf-Rooke Award and was one of Quill and Quire’s 15 Books That Mattered in 2008. The Maclean’s blog called Rebecca “Canlit Rookie of the Year” in 2008. Her second collection, The Big Dream was published by Biblioasis in September 2011. To view Rebecca’s website visit: www.rebeccarosenblum.com
KEN BABSTOCK was born in Newfoundland and raised in the Ottawa Valley. He is the author of three previous collections of poetry, including Airstream Land Yacht which won the Trillium Book Award, was shortlisted for the 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award and was named a Globe and Mail Top 100 book. His current collection Methodist Hachet from House of Anansi Press won for him the coveted Griffin Poetry Prize. Ken Babstock lives in Toronto. To learn more about Ken Babstock visit the Griffin Poetry Prize webpage at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Toronto+Babstock+wins+Griffin+poetry+prize/6748240/story.html
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SUN July 22 2:00 pm
Arcadian Adventures on the Front Porch
Storytelling with Susan Charters and Bob Graham
Spend a summer Sunday afternoon the way it should always be spent, on the front porch of a grand old home, with tea and cake and stories. Storytellers Susan Charters and Bob Graham will join you, to take you on wild, wonderful adventures, all from the comfort of your rocker. Oral storytelling is an old art that has drawn folks together on the front porch for years. Come and help us as we celebrate Stephen Leacock we turn Leacock’s porch back into the place of story, romance and humour it once was.
Admission is free. Cake and refreshments are provided.
The STORYTELLERS:
SUSAN CHARTERS is a member of Storytellers of Canada, a local writer and retired teacher, with a back pocket full of stories to share from around the corner and around the world.
BOB GRAHAM is an Orillia storyteller with a love for the outdoors and a wonderful repertoire of stories about Cecil, his childhood friend and mentor, who saw a lesson in the trees, lakes and animals of Simcoe County.
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SUN July 22 5:00 pm
MARIPOSA BELLE YACHT RACE
CHAMPLAIN YACHT CLUB
Mariposa Belle Yacht Race: The Champlain Yacht Club wraps up its annual race with a prizes and awards ceremony followed by a BBQ. The race rules have traditionally been incomprehensible to the most experienced boaters and always surprising in their interpretation.
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TUE July 24 8:00 pm
GALA OPENING NIGHT
SKETCHING SUNSHINE:
AN EVENING AND A MORNING WITH STEPHEN LEACOCK
WORLD PR
EMIERE ! Sketching Sunshine: An Evening and A Morning with Stephen Leacock: Veteran actor Joe Matheson takes to the stage at the Orillia Opera House to presents his unique and stunningly personal depiction of Stephen Leacock at the pinnacle of his greatest success with the publication of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Veteran actor Joe Matheson uses his Jersey Boys charm to show us a Stephen Leacock we’ve never seen. It’s a younger Leacock, in his early 40’s, weighing-in on politics and people. At the moment of his greatest achievement, Sunshine Sketches, you’ll see a vibrant and robust Leacock staking claim to his legacy as Canada’s foremost humorist. – Fred Addis, Leacock Museum
Tickets for Sketching Sunshine available at the Orillia Opera House
Phone: (705) 326-8011 or 1-888-ORILLIA Online Sales: orilliaoperahouse.ca
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THU July 26 8:00 pm
WORLD PREMIERE ! Sketching Sunshine: An Evening and A Morning with Stephen Leacock: Veteran actor Joe Matheson takes to the stage at the Orillia Opera House to presents his unique and stunningly personal depiction of Stephen Leacock at the pinnacle of his greatest success with the publication of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town.
Tickets for Sketching Sunshine available at the Orillia Opera House
Phone: (705) 326-8011 or 1-888-ORILLIA Online Sales:orilliaoperahouse.ca
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