Juicy moments make for great stories

There’s nothing like a birthday party to “remember when.” With the Town of Morinville celebrating its centennial, a newly commissioned play is set to immortalize its first 100 years.

This coming Friday, the Morinville Community Cultural Centre plays host to Streets and Sidewalks: Stories from 100 Years in Morinville, a theatrical glimpse into defining moments of the town’s history.

A project of the Friends of Morinville Library Society, this one-hour production is a string of vignettes woven together through story, song and dance.

Anchored in historical events, playwright/director Jacqueline Russell interviewed townspeople and melded their stories.

“I tried to take all the juiciest bits – moments in people’s lives where they changed or were forced to make a decision and put them all in,” Russell says.

Raised in Sherwood Park and now a Calgary transplant, Russell is artistic director of Evergreen Theatre, a company that delivers an environmentally conscious message, and artistic producer of Urban Curvz, a troupe devoted to telling women’s stories.

As a teenager, she often visited friends in Morinville and when the library instigated the project, Russell’s name popped up.

Back in May 2011, Russell spent a week interviewing and recording local residents, touring the town, taking photos and throughout the summer she compiled the play.

“There were so many great stories. What broke my heart was that I wasn’t able to include them all. I ended up choosing the stories that were easily theatricalized, stories that transcended specific details and could be translated into the universal.”

Going into the interviews Russell did not know what to expect. However, she was surprised by the incredible pride of town and its rich history. She had done a similar project for another small town where many residents had left leaving it sapped of vitality.

“But people were excited to tell me about the town. For instance I didn’t know about Frontier Days, and how big and popular it was in the sixties and seventies. Or how Father Primeau of St. Jean Baptiste Parish was such an incredibly vital man who viewed his role in the community as more than just a sermon on Sunday.”

The play includes a vivid cross-section of stories such as family life, the town’s favourite sport – hockey – and even its military history.

“During World War II, there was an invasion of American military personnel building the Alaska Highway. They were stationed at Morinville’s Alberta Hotel. With American military presence spending a great deal of money, it changed and built the town.”

On a funnier, more personal note, Russell also included a vignette on telephone party lines.

“It made for great comedy. There was always someone listening in on the line. There was zero privacy.”

All the stories, and there are too many to write about, reflect a town that walked through history at its own pace.

“I want people to be proud of their history. I hope they leave with a sense of richness about their community. I hope people leave feeling their great-great-grandparents, their great-grandparents and their grandparents are honoured. And I hope they have a good chuckle.”