If hockey and theatre have been ever to be mixed so very well, it changed into certain to show up in Canada.
Tracey Power’s GLORY — a play approximately one of the earliest girl professional ice hockey groups, the Preston Rivulettes — is set as Canadian as one can consider. The show tells the story of the sisters and pals who began the Rivulettes in Ontario earlier than taking place to play around 350 video games between 1930 and 1940. According to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s internet site, the Rivulettes best lost two times all through that time.
Power, the playwright, and choreographer for the show that kicks off Persephone Theatre’s season this fall, said she become looking at historical pix even as on holiday in Canmore when she was given the concept for the display.
“It’s … a quite outstanding part of our history, and with hockey being such a crucial recreation in our u. S. A. I felt like this time needed to be celebrated, and this piece of our history had to be celebrated,” Power said.
Despite its unavoidable, colloquial name as a “hockey display,” Power stated there are lots to enjoy for folks that aren’t fans of Canada’s favored hobby. Power wanted to emphasize topics of empowerment and “the ardor to do what you want to do,” which involves life thru the characters she’s created based on the original founders of the Preston Rivulettes.
Once she had the concept, the query has become how to bring it into cognizance onstage. In an effort to attract on the sounds of the term, Power set most of the dancing and choreographed actions to the vintage big-band style swing jazz.
So ways during the show’s run across u. S ., that specific swing-fashion dancing and chores — and the way Power said she’s plotted out methods for hockey games to take vicinity on the level with real anxiety (and best one crew) — have made an impression on audiences.
“I wanted which will infuse it with the persona and the power and the exhilaration and the frustration and the ache of a hockey sport so that the target market definitely felt like they were coming to cheer on a group,” she said.
There’s also an unlucky reality that ties into this display. The Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded in advance this year, and the rallying cry for identical pay in sports between women and men has grown stronger than ever.
Power said if human beings depart the theatre wondering a touch bit more about their area inside the world and pursuing their passions, she’d take into account it a fulfillment.
“When all those portions are in location and the audience is there, there’s nothing that beats that with a brand new play,” she said. “You’re all part of something for the primary time.”