Annette Burke is the director of Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak, debuting at the Astor Theatre in November. (Rick Conrad)

Some new and familiar faces will be back on the Astor Theatre stage in November when the Winds of Change Dramatic Society presents Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak.

Rehearsals began earlier this month in Liverpool with the five-member cast. 

Annette Burke is directing, her first time guiding actors since the 2021 comedy Tom, Dick and Harry.

“I enjoy directing, and I do enjoy working with a small cast because it makes it easier to schedule things,” Burke told QCCR in an interview.

“It’s been a treat to work with this crew. I think we’ve put together a really solid team with lots of experience. … We’ve got some very creative and artistic people involved.”

The two-act farce from Canadian playwright Norm Foster centres around what happens when a woman with a colourful past steps off the bus and into smalltown life.

“I don’t want to give too much away but … it takes place in a small community where everybody knows everybody’s business or they think they do, and Sadie arrives, she gets off the bus just by chance, walks into the cafe and things get very interesting very quickly,” Burke says.

“It’s very funny and there’s a lot of humour that comes from just different innuendos and things like that so I think the audience is really going to enjoy it.”

Ashley-Rose Goodwin stars as Sadie Flynn, with Cynthia Walker as Rachel Blessington and Nicole Whynot as Bev Dupuis. Al Steele as Tom Shaw and Joseph Lyndon as Orson Hubble round out the cast. At least 14 other volunteers make up the show’s crew.

It will be a return to acting for Goodwin, who was last seen on the Astor stage in 2013’s Les Miserables. She has founded her own popular Mersey Rose Theatre Company in Liverpool, directing and producing youth in their own productions. She also directed the 2024 musical Follies at the Astor.

“I’m so excited that she agreed to audition,” Burke says. “I think she’s very much enjoying the experience. Sometimes when we don’t do something we love for a long time we forget how much we love it. And she’s very talented. … It’s been fun and I think I can speak for her and say that she’s been enjoying it a great deal.”

Burke says rehearsals of up to 14 hours a week at South Queens Middle School are going well, with the cast almost off-book through Act 1. 

“I think one of the biggest challenges with a show like this is the dialogue. There is a lot of dislogue and a lot of the exchanges are short and quick, so that to me is the challenge to make sure things are being said properly, important things aren’t being left out. The chemistry with the five of them is really great, so it makes it easier.”

She says it helps that all five actors have stage experience.

“Some people are just natural performers. I know the five of them have spent quite a bit of time over the summer delving into who their characters are. It’s been very exciting to see these characters develop and we’re not even halfway there.”

Burke is also president of Winds of Change. She says the community theatre troupe was looking for a show to get them back in front of an audience. And this one, with this cast and crew, seemed like a good fit.

“The support for Winds of Change for over 50 years has been incredible in this community. I can guarantee our Winds of Change fans that they will not be disappointed in this show and the people that get involved, it’s just all volunteer time. They’re showing up, everybody’s contributing, everybody’s pitching in, so this is what community theatre is meant to be. ”

Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak runs at the Astor Theatre Nov. 14, 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Astor box office or through Ticketpro.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Nicole Whynot, Cynthia Walker, Ashley-Rose Goodwin, Al Steele and Joseph Lyndon star in Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak at the Astor Theatre in November. (Winds of Change Dramatic Society)

CAST OF SADIE FLYNN COMES TO BIG OAK
Ashley-Rose Goodwin – Sadie Flynn
Al Steele – Tom Shaw
Joseph Lyndon – Orson Hubble
Cynthia Walker – Rachel Blessington
Nicole Whynot – Bev Dupuis

CREW
Director – Annette Burke
Assistant director – Jackie Leonard
Producer – Sue Beaumont-Rudderham
Costumes – Crystal Doggett and Kylie Doggett
Set design – Craig Doggett and Alex Doggett
Stage managing/props – Sheree Chandler, Jane Mullen, Sue Higgins and Jane Stevenson
Lighting/sound – Kevin Colwell
Posters/graphic design – Greg Tutty
Cast photography – Brenda Deveau
Videography – Dan Williams

More than 70 people turned out for the Astor Theatre Society’s annual general meeting on Monday evening in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

After years of discussing the need for it, the board of the Astor Theatre says that 2024 will be the year that they get serious about securing funding for a modern HVAC system.

The 122-year-old building has only ceiling fans in its performance space, making it pretty steamy in the middle of the summer.

The Astor Theatre Society board announced at their annual general meeting on Monday night that it plans to go after federal and provincial funding this year to make the whole building more energy-efficient and to install a state-of-the-art heat pump system.

That system would keep the Astor cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They also plan to replace windows, reinsulate the roof and change all lighting to energy-efficient LEDs.

Board member Lynn Cochrane told about 70 people gathered for the AGM that the board will work with the Region of Queens, which owns the building, to ensure they maintain the structural integrity and acoustics of the Astor.

She said it’s part of a major capital campaign that the Astor will launch this year.

They also plan to create an endowment fund, supported by corporate and individual donations, to ensure the Astor’s financial security.

“It is our Astor,” Cochrane said. “So this endowment will protect it for many years, and hopefully save us from having to go hand to mouth with our finances every year.”

The Astor also got a $100,000 donation from the Greenfield-based sawmill Harry Freeman and Son Limited. 

Board chairman John Simmonds told members that the Astor is in good financial shape, even though it reported a $40,393 deficit for the nine months ending Dec. 31.

The theatre’s total audience last year from April 1 to Dec. 31 was about 12,000, with 60 per cent of that coming from Queens County and 40 per cent from outside the region.

“So we’ve had a lot of people through these doors,” Simmonds said.

The first four months of 2024, however, were stronger, with 18 events bringing almost 3,750 people to the theatre, and a net gain of $27,900.

The Astor hosted many popular concerts and events from January to April, including the late February/early March production of Follies, its first adult musical production since 2018.

“The last few months have been very important to the Astor, we’ve been so successful, we’ve had so much going on,” Simmonds said.

He said the board plans to sign a 10-year lease with the region, which will help the Astor in its fundraising goals. 

“It also gives us an opportunity to go after grants that require a 10-year lease so that we can establish to the grantors that we are going to stay around for a long time. So that could bring in some fairly big numbers to allow us to do some of the things we want to do.”

The Astor’s net assets as of Monday’s AGM are $232,000, according to treasurer Loris Azzano.

The Astor Theatre Society’s members also voted to add three new people to the board of directors, bringing the total to 11.

They are Melanie Atkinson, who also volunteers at QCCR, Terri Faber and Cynthia Walker.

They join Simmonds, Azzano, Cochrane, Anne Espenant, Willo Treschow, Dan Williams, Heather White Brittain and Colleen Wolfe.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below