Theatre on the Ridge Presents:
"MINE! True Stories and Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush"
Performed by Will Gillespie & the Old-Time String-Band at
Theatre on the Ridge
Located on the grounds of the
Scugog Shores Museum Village
16210 Island Road
Port Perry, ON.
Friday, September 19 - 7pm & Saturday, September 20th - 4pm
Theatre on the Ridge kicks off their Culture Days programming with a musical journey back in time to a nearly-forgotten chapter of Canadian history: the Porcupine Gold Rush of 1909.
Local Durham Region Singer-Songwriter, Musician, Award-winning Playwright and Entertainer Will Gillespie performs his original "Campfire Cabaret" storytelling Folk Musical "MINE! True Stories and Legends of the Porcupine Gold Rush." It's a 12-story song-cycle celebrating the unsung Folk heroes behind the local legends of this fascinating lost world of prospectors, pioneers, bootlegger-bandits, high-graders, mushers and moonshiners!
There are many well-known stories about the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon and the California Gold Rush of 1849. Meanwhile, another, even bigger gold rush happened right here in Ontario! Up North in the Porcupine Camp, with its own Folk heroes and local legends. Will Gillespie & the Old-Time String Band bring this lost world back to life in song. Written in Old- Time Folk and Jazz styles inspired by the era, from Bluegrass to Ragtime, Dixieland, Music Hall, Cabaret, Hot House Swing, Barrelhouse Blues, Irish Ceilidh, Tavern Songs, Waltzes and more! Played by a live band on acoustic instruments you would have heard around the campfires and in the Blind Pigs and Music Halls of New Ontario.
Oshawa's own visual Artist Susan Robinson has created a series of Northern Ontario landscape paintings that will be projected as a changing backdrop behind the action, also featuring historical photos provided by the Timmins Museum National Exhibition Centre, of many of the real people Gillespie will be singing about, making this an immersive, multi-media, theatrical storytelling concert experience.
Later this Fall, also during Culture Days, Will Gillespie and Susan Robinson will be going on an 11-day, 11-town tour across Northern Ontario, playing historical sites, museums, Art galleries and concert halls from Sault Ste Marie to Timmins called "Will Gillespie & Brian Tremblay: 2 Northern Troubadours - Songs and Stories of Northern Ontario" the first 11 days of October 2025.
This event in Port Perry on September 19 & 20 features some of Durham Regions most sought- after sidemen as the live, onstage pit-band including Adam Till on Banjo and Dobro, Jonathan Sloan on Upright Bass and Troy Williams on Mandolin and Banjo. All three singing vocal harmonies to emphasize Will Gillespie's heroic and nostalgic score. This show is at times charming, whimsical and heartfelt, telling harrowing real-life tales of adventure and perseverance in song.
Presented by Theatre on the Ridge, in partnership with Scugog Arts as an official part of Culture Days 2025 this is a show suitable for all ages where audience participation is encouraged. We want you to laugh, clap and sing along. As part of Culture Days, admission is based on an optional Pay-What-You-May donation.
($15-$20 + Suggested)
For more information, or to reserve tickets please go to:
www.theatreontheridge.ca
Also check out other Music events in Port Perry, Arts events in Port Perry, Entertainment events in Port Perry.
|
