The Rotary Club Of Festival City

President:  Dianne Yundt

Minutes of the meeting of May 28, 2013

Club email:  festivalcityrotary@gmail.com

Club website: www.festivalcityrotary.ca

Guests: From the Stratford Rotary Club we welcomed Bob Martin. Leticia Figueiredo is our Exchange Student.

Door Prize: Etienne Leushuis donated the prize won by Vincent Hill.

Announcements:

1.     Nominations for the Board of Directors: Rotarians interested in serving on the board of directors or nominating someone for a position should email President Dianne with the name of a seconder as well.

2.     Area 3 Meeting: The meeting chaired by Stan Malcolm is May 30 in Mitchell at 7 PM.

3.     3. Rotary Dues: The membership has received invoices for the 2013-2014 Rotary year. Please make cheques payable to the Rotary Club of Festival City Stratford. Cheques can be post-dated to July 2. Give cheques to treasurer Etienne Leushuis.

4.     Coffee: El Salvador coffee beans or ground coffee in 1lb bags is available from Randy Matthews for $15 each.

5.     District Assembly: Takes place June 7-9 in Sarnia. Anyone attending and wishes to travel with President Dianne should speak to her.

Guest Speaker: President Dianne introduced Pat Quigley from the Stratford Festival. Pat is retired from her Director of Education position and is a consultant to the Festival. Pat gave the membership an update of the 2013 playbill and began by encouraging everyone to consider attending a Forum session. Of particular interest to her is John de Chastelain who speaks on June 15 at 10 AM. His topic is “Ancient Grudges and New Mutinies”. Pat connected his topic with the role of the peacemaker in Romeo and Juliet who tries to bring an end to an ancient feud. Sally Armstrong speaks the next day about the “Ascent of Women”, her new book. On the same weekend the ARC Ensemble will present two concerts of Jewish music. Stephen Lewis talks on August 17.

 

Pat’s playbill recommendations include Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit”. During a séance the ghost of Charles Condomine’s dead wife returns to haunt his marriage to his new wife Ruth. In “Waiting for Godot” the ghost is talked about but never appears.

“Mary Stuart” has the best cast. The play resonates with today with its mix of politics and religion creating a tragic heroine, Mary Queen of Scots. This play is selling well with two more performances being added.

Both “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Merchant of Venice” tackle the theme of community and anti-Semitism. Scott Wentworth playing Tevye is not to be missed and neither is Jonathan Goad playing Gratiano in Merchant.  Othello played by Dion Johnstone is the outsider being accepted only because of his military power.

“Tommy” is a technological marvel and very loud. If you love the music of “The Who” you will love this production.

Pat was thanked by Peter Moreton.