The Blyth Festival Premieres THE WILBERFORCE HOTEL, Now thru Aug 8

The Blyth Festival proudly presents the world premiere of The Wilberforce Hotel by Sean Dixon. Directed by Philip Akin, The Wilberforce Hotel is on stage at Blyth Memorial Hall from tonight, July 1 to August 8. Tickets are available by calling Blyth Festival's Box Office at 519.523.9300, Toll Free 1.877.862.5984 or online at blythfestival.com.

The Wilberforce Hotel is loosely based on the autobiography of Austin Steward; 22 Years a Slave, 40 Years a Freeman.

In the true, all-but-lost history of South Western Ontario, the town of Lucan (just outside of London), was originally settled by a colony of emancipated slaves who had come up from the United States in the hopes of building a new life, and a thriving community; They cleared that land, built those early roads, and laid foundations. At its height, Austin Steward was the president of the colony of Wilberforce, and he built and ran a hotel.

In Sean Dixon's fictionalized retelling, we encounter Austin on what will be the last night of the colony; everyone in town has left to resettle in Rochester, including Austin's own wife and children; but Austin can't bring himself to leave, after everything he has built, his dream for the future. Before he can finally close the hotel door, in burst two white fugitives on the run from the police. As the two plead for safe harbour, Austin discovers that they are in fact minstrel performers, with a popular local routine, performed in blackface.

Austin Steward makes the men a deal: if he hides them from the police, they will have to perform their song and dance for him. Through turns highly comic and deeply moving, the two musicians, who have spent their showbiz careers painting their faces, come to learn something life-changing about the actual experience of early black settlers in Middlesex County.

Making his Blyth Festival debut is Marcel Stewart as Austin Steward. To cast the role of the real life historical figure, director Philip Akin and Blyth's Artistic director, Gil Garratt spent hours and hours viewing auditions. "We made select lists, we put out the call across the country, and we saw a host of brilliant actors," says Garratt.

Marcel auditioned on the last day of auditions. Just forty-eight hours earlier, Marcel had been hit by a car while running for a streetcar in Toronto. He came into the room on crutches, pins and staples in his leg, an air cast, and his foot in a plastic bag. He couldn't stand, so they got him a couple of chairs, one for him and one for his leg... but in "an act of theatrical alchemy, Marcel transcended the room, the wound, the chairs, the crutches, the time, and the place," says Garratt, "we instantly knew that this was our Austin."

Playing opposite Marcel and making her Blyth Festival debut is Sophia Walker as Milly Steward. Sophia has been a company member of the Stratford Festival for the past nine years.

Familiar faces returning to the Blyth stage are Greg Gale, Eli Ham, and Peter Bailey. Greg played the ghost of a young lieutenant in Vimy and last summer in addition to his tank-top-sporting romantic caterer in Stag and Doe he was the cold, selfish banker husband in Kitchen Radio; Eli Ham played the Stag himself in Stag and Doe, and Peter Bailey was last at Blyth in World Without Shadows in 2007.

Creating the stage setting is Joanna Yu (set and costumes), Steve Lucas (lighting), and John Millard (sound and music director). Chantal Hayman is the Stage Manager and Neha Ross is the Assistant Stage Manager.

The Blyth Festival sponsored Sean Dixon's first workshop reading of his very first play, Falling Back Home in 1989. Two years later the Festival premiered his second play, The End of the World Romance, which was remounted twice in Canada and once in the UK. Ten years after that he returned to play William Porte, the narrator of Paul Thompson's massively successful The Outdoor Donnellys. Dixon's other works include Lost Heir at Blyth in 2006, A God In Need of Help, which was shortlisted for the 2014 Governor General's Award, and four novels: The Feathered Cloak, The Girls Who Saw Everything, The Winter Drey, and The Many Revenges of Kip Flynn.

Director Philip Akin is Artistic Director of Toronto's Obsidian Theatre Company. He has directed for various theatres including the Harold Green Jewish Theatre, Ryerson Theatre School, Shaw Festival, Obsidian Theatre, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, 3D Atomic, and Nightwood Theatre. This is his first time directing at Blyth. He has received numerous awards including Life Membership Award from Canadian Actors Equity Association for outstanding contributions to the performing arts, The Toronto Sun Performing Artist of the Year, the Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award, and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts Silver Ticket Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts.

Blyth Festival acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the 2015-2017 Season Sponsor Parkland Fuels/Sparlings Propane and 2015 Season Media Sponsor CTV.

The Wilberforce Hotel is generously sponsored by OLG (Production Sponsor) and 104.7 The Beach (Media Sponsor).

The Blyth Festival is a professional theatre that enriches the lives of its audience by producing and developing plays that give voice to both the region and the country. The theatre produces a repertory summer season of exclusively Canadian theatre, with an emphasis on new work. Blyth Centre for the Arts, including the Blyth Festival, was founded in 1975.

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