Canwest stage on annual Strike!

2009 PRODUCTION PHOTO BY ANDREW SIKORSKY Enlarge Image

Strike!, which co-creator Danny Schur hopes to turn into a summer staple, opens for its second summer run Thursday.

There is no precedent in Winnipeg for what Danny Schur is attempting to do with the musical Strike!

A stage production that recurs annually is a rarity, with the most obvious example in Canada being, of course, Anne of Green Gables, which since 1964 has being presented every summer at the Charlottetown Festival. Canada's longest-running musical follows the exploits of that spunky, red-headed orphan Anne Shirley.

Strike! as an annual event is about to be revived for the first time -- a one-week run beginning tonight at the Canwest Performing Arts Centre -- and Schur is hoping to entice another 2,400 to buy tickets to what he bills as Winnipeg's Human Rights Epic.

Last summer attendance totalled 2,398 tickets, 40 short of a sellout for the eight-performance run. While millions of tourists have seen Anne of Green Gables, that's not the audience Strike! is aimed at.

"There is a certain derision potential that, 'Oh, it's just a tourist show,'" says Schur, the producing artistic director who co-wrote the musical drama with local playwright Rick Chafe. "We're doing this primarily for Winnipeggers.

"This story goes a long way towards explaining Winnipeg to ourselves and the nation. Although it is set against the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, it is really about community, about overcoming tribal differences."

Presenting a summer repeat as opposed to the traditional one-off run creates a unique set of challenges. Much is easier. Everyone now knows that the set fits the Canwest stage, the lighting design is ready and that the costumes require only a bit of tailoring. What's harder is raising once again half of the show's $130,000 budget.

Schur discovered that government arts councils only financially support a stage show once. That meant he's had to find that $21,000 elsewhere. Not every backer was happy to take his call again.

"When I said to people in 2009 that this is going to be an annual event, I don't think they counted on me calling this year," says Schur. "There was a lot of surprise that I actually meant it. I think they secretly hoped it would be a one-off.

"Raising the money for something a second time is way harder then the first."

The result was that a lot of long-term sponsors cut their contributions significantly while new supporters came on board because they were enthused by what they saw last year.

The real challenge for any remount is how to present something different and exciting. Strike! has been seen several times since its debut in 2005 at the home of Rainbow Stage in Kildonan Park so Schur has to guard against familiarity breeding contempt.

Director Ann Hodges has given the all-Manitoba cast a transfusion of new blood with a 40 per cent turnover from last summer. Jeremy Walmsley takes over as romantic lead Stefan Dudar while Tom Keenan is the new O'Reilly and Steven Ratzlaff cast as Senator Robertson.

"There is a lot more show tinkering," says Schur. "I still wanted to re-visit the ending. There are millions of tweaks that come with the luxury of doing a show over and over."

The Strike! revivals are a bridge to 2012 when the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opens and it potentially becomes a resident annual show.

Is it fair to compare Strike! to Anne of Green Gables, a beloved musical that has been seen by millions?

"I think it is a fair comparison," says Hodges. "Both are well-written musicals with local appeal and can appeal to people who are not local. Strike! has universal appeal with themes of tolerance, family and overcoming obstacles to do what is right. Like any good play you think it's very specific and then it turns completely universal.

"It has everything Anne has except a red-headed doll. We haven't got Mike and Stefan dolls yet."

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

Theatre Preview

Strike!

Canwest Performing Arts Centre

Opens 8 p.m. Thursday, to Aug. 4

Tickets: $33, $30 seniors, students

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 29, 2010 D4