A play with puppets, songs, and dance, telling stories from East Scarborough. A workshop production of this play was performed at The Hub mid-Scarborough, 2660 Eglinton Avenue East, November 27 to 30, 2013. The full production took place in April 2015, find out more about that here.
Inspired by a true story from Ragupathy Ratnasabapathy, and also by an interview with Kanagasabai Sinnappu, a former station master on the Sri Lankan national railway for 36 years. Using poetry written for this production by Kamala Ramasurian, with story ideas, writing, editing and translation by Sharada K. Eswar. Project concept and story development by Beth Helmers, with script and story contributions from the entire creative team, and stories and words from people of all ages living in East Scarborough and Toronto.
Artistic Team
Concept Creator and Director: Beth Helmers
Designer: Sonja Rainey
Composer, Arranger and Musical Director: Cathy Nosaty
Song and Story Writer and co-Musical Director: Sharada K. Eswar
Choreographer: Lilia Leon
Assistant Designer and Puppet Director: Arber Makri
Assistant Director and Mask Coach: Andrea Thring
Costume Co-ordinator and Textile Artist: Marianne Alas
Audio Installation Artist: Sarah Miller
Song Writer: Julia Churchill
Other Staff
Community Arts Guild Artistic Director: Beth Helmers
Production Manager: Kim Gravel
Outreach and Publicity Co-ordinator: Sarah Miller
Additional Outreach and Food Co-ordinator: Hillari Blumfald
Workshop Assistant and Intern: Dillon Cox
Box Office and Front-of-House Co-ordinator: Sigrid Vellis
Cooks: Peter Jones, Marianne Alas
Drivers: Tim Dollack, Pouyan Mirahssani
Childminders and Production Assistants: Eli Howard, Shifra Cooper
Photographer: Katherine Fleitas
Graphic Designers: Helah Cooper (posters and illustration), Venetia Butler (program)
Cast
VENDORS Cynthia Walker, Dillon Cox, Earlena Dawson, Eunillyne Lazado, John Pyette, Parameswary Ponnampalam, Sadi Karabage
BUSKERS Komathy Sarah Coomaraswamy (violin), Mangayakarasi Sivasubramaniam (harmonium), Cathy Nosaty (accordion and keyboard, conductor), Sharada K. Eswar (vocal percussion and singing)
PASSENGERS Andrea Thring (ensemble leader), Beth Helmers, Kamala Poopal, Kathy Wolfer, Lilia Leon (ensemble leader), Ragupathy Ratnasabapathy, Sarah Miller, Saraswathy Kumarakulasingham, Sivayogamalar Sivapatham
POLICE OFFICER/TICKET COLLECTOR Pathma Mahalingam
TICKET COLLECTOR Annapooranam Gnanassambandar
RETIRED STATION MASTER Kamala Ramasurian
STATION MASTER Sulogini Sothynathan
FATHER Lyndon Alvares
MOTHER Melrose McGill
SON Tyler Alvares
FATHER AS PUPPET Dillon Cox
SON AS PUPPET Arber Makri
PUPPETEERS AND PROJECTIONISTS Bill Livingstone, Brooklyn Wang, Jess Shane, John Pyette, Junyee Wang, Kaitlyn Wang, Kaitlynn Rodgers, Kamala Poopal, Kamala Ramasurian, Karis Jones-Pard, Earlena Dawson, Nirven Armoogum, Olivia Wallace, Ragupathy Ratnasabapathy
Other Contributors
Adelyn Wang, Beverly Larsen, Christina Fedak, Hapbishan Vijayakummar, Jasmine, David Phan, Kamala Jeyananthan, Oren, Margaret, Marlene Wolfer, Minnie Choi, Mithila, Munzir Rahman, Pushpavany, Annasundaram, Zakariyu, Zarameena, Dharshana Jayapathy and the Tamil seniors from the SCHC programs at 50 Tuxedo Court, 65 Greencrest and the East Scarborough Storefront, members of the story groups at 65 Greencrest and 4175 Lawrence.