The Great Whorehouse Fire of 1921
NLT is pleased to be producing the professional premiere of this play, by Edmonton Playwright Linda Wood Edwards.
November 18 – 28, 2021
Varscona Theatre
10329 – 83 Ave
“Big Valley is a small town. Making everyone’s business your own comes second nature, I’m sure. Gossip is just the news in a red dress.”
Featuring: Sue Huff as Hastings and Twilla MacLeod as Smith
Director: Trevor Schmidt
Production Designer: Alison Yanota
Original Composition Sound Designer: Mason Snelgrove
Production Manager: Chris Hicks
Stage Manager: Elizabeth Allison
Cinematographer and Editor: Ian Jackson (Epic Photography)
Make Up Artist & Production Poster: Kendra Humphrey
Running Time – Approximately 65 minutes
Program
Performance Dates
Thursday, November 18 – Preview 7:30pm
Friday, November 19 – 7:30pm
Saturday, November 20 – 7:30pm
Sunday, November 21 – 2:00pm Matinee, Director’s Circle Event 1pm
Sunday, November 21 – 7:30pm
Tuesday, November 23 – 7:30pm
Wednesday, November 24 – 7:30pm
Thursday, November 25 – 7:30pm
Friday, November 26 – 7:30pm
Saturday, November 27 – 7:30pm
Sunday, November 28 – 2pm Matinee, Closing
Subscriptions for the 2021-22 season are available now!
Drama with Comedic Themes
December 29, 1921 Big Valley Alberta News:
“Big Blaze near Big Valley. A house occupied and owned by a woman named Hastings who was living a mile and a half North of town was totally destroyed by fire at 4:30am on Monday morning. The cause of the fire is unknown. The occupants had a very narrow escape, as when they awoke the house was full of smoke and fire. Nothing was saved and the loss is estimated at $4,000. [approx. $50,000 in contemporary funds]. The Hastings woman and another person who was staying with her had to walk into town clad only in night attire with blankets over them, and had a terrible time from cold and exposure. The police are investigating the affair.”
There was no investigation, and no charges were laid. Any references to ‘a woman named Hastings’ and the woman who was staying with her the night of the fire have disappeared from the official annals of Big Valley’s history, being passed down only through local, communal memory: a group of townswomen who banded together to defend their community by burning a local ‘brothel’ to the ground.
Linda Wood Edwards’ play imagines the events as they played out. Moving beyond the stereotypes, the play looks at the uneasy intertwining of prostitution and ‘proper’ society, and the ways that women support and sabotage one another. This historically based drama is laced with, humour and heart.
THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921 was first played to sold out houses at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival in 2018, Produced by Maa & Paa Theatre, Directed by David Cheoros, and starring Linda Grass and Sue Huff. Maa & Paa Theatre’s work focuses on historically based Alberta stories.
PLAYWRIGHT
Linda Wood Edwards
Linda Wood Edwards
Playwright
Linda is thrilled to be in Northern Light Theatre’s season with THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921. Linda has been producing her plays at the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and beyond since 2005. THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921 premiered in 2018 as a MAA and PAA Theatre (David Cheoros) production.
Select plays include THREE NIGHTS TO FOREVER (Edmonton 2019), TRAIL AND ERROR (Edmonton 2016), SPRING ALIBI (Adelaide AU 2015; Edmonton 2005, 2014; Washington DC 2006; Yukon 2007; Saskatchewan 2012); FOUR IN THE CRIB (2012, 2013, High River 2018), TRUE GRID (2007, 2010), SUPPORT HO’S (2009), GIBBERISH V. GENIUS (Canmore, Edmonton 2018), and ALMOST THE PIONEER BREWING COMPANY (Canmore, Edmonton, Fort McMurray 2018).
Linda’s plays have garnered some sweet accolades including two Sterling nominations. Thanks to David Cheoros for a million theatre and life related things over the years.
CAST & COMPANY
Trevor Schmidt
Director
Trevor Schmidt
Director
Trevor is the Artistic Director of Northern Light Theatre as well as a performer, designer of set and costume, a published playwright and a multiple award winner. He has been awarded twice for playwrighting (THE WATERMELON GIRLS, and CHANGE ROOM),for directing the Canadian premieres of Carol Anne Duffy’s THE WORLD’S WIFE and Sean Graney’s THE 4TH GRADERS PRESENT AN UNNAMED LOVE-SUICIDE and the outstanding production award for the Canadian premiere of Elise Forier Edie’s THE PINK UNICORN. For Guys In Disguise, where he is an Artistic Associate, he has also performed the one-man show COFFEE DAD, CHICKEN MOM, AND THE FABULOUS BUDDHA BOI, penned by Nick Green in New York as part of the FRIGID FESTIVAL for which he also received the award for Outstanding Performance, and the Outstanding New Fringe Play (co-written and created with Darrin Hagen) for FLORA & FAWNA’S FIELD TRIP (both at the Sterling Awards), and Outstanding Touring Production at the Critic’s Awards in Calgary. Also for Guys In Disguise, he received an Orlando Fringe award for his performance for Bette Davis in the much-lauded BITCHSLAP.
Sue Huff
Isobel Hastings
Sue Huff
Isobel Hastings
Sue is thrilled to be returning to Northern Light Theatre to reprise her role as Mrs. Hastings, this time with full mobility! When THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921 was premiered at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 2018, Sue was confined to a wheelchair so her entire performance took place in a chair (and in pain!)
Sue is so grateful to have the opportunity to work again with Trevor Schmidt and Gina Moe, who she loved to bits for the Sterling-award winning production THE FOURTH GRADERS PRESENT AN UNNAMED LOVE-SUCIDE and the intense and powerful CHERISH.
Sue is an Edmonton-based actor, writer and family peer supporter. Over the past 20+ years, Sue has written and acted for film, television, radio and theatre. She has also written a book and hosted a few episodes of a podcast. More recently, Sue has moved into the mental health field and provides coaching to caregivers who have a loved one with a mental illness or substance use issue. (www.suehuff.ca)
Sue dedicates this performance to the memory of her Mum, Jenny Hawkins and Linda’s husband, Brian Edwards.
Twilla MacLeod
Florence Smith
Twilla MacLeod
Florence Smith
Twilla is pleased as punch to be joining Northern Light this season as Smith in THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921. Twilla is an Edmonton-based musician, actor and writer. She is a co-founder of the percussion duo Booming Tree, and has been playing taiko drums for people across Canada and beyond for over a decade, as well as teaching drumming workshops. Twilla is a graduate of the U of A BFA Acting program and also holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Lethbridge in Voice. In 2019 Twilla wrote and acted in A MAN DRAWS A BIRD a play about brain injury, when Booming Tree was named as the inaugural recipient of the Westbury Family Fringe Theatre Award. Other acting credits include MOTE (Blarney Productions), SAILOR’S SONG (Trunk Theatre) and ORANGE FLOWER WATER (Shadow Theatre), for which she was awarded a Sterling. A lover of Early Music, Twilla has sung the role of Anima “The Soul” in Hildegard von Bingen’s medieval masterpiece ORDO VIRTUTM (The Ordo Collective) in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. Much love to Greg for his booming joy and his open heart.
Alison Yanota
Production Designer
Alison Yanota
Production Designer
Alison is a graduate from the Mount Royal University Diploma in Technical Theatre and the University of Alberta MFA and BFA in Theatre Design. She is an artist and educator, who believes in the performance space as a form of interactive sculpture.
Recent design credits include: FEVERLAND – Set and Lighting Design, A SIMPLE HAPPY LIFE – Lighting Design, and LOST LEMOINE – Lighting Design for Teatro la Quindicina; CRIME AND PUNISHMENT – Production Design for Cloudsway Dance; EVERY BRILLIANT THING – Production Design for The Citadel Theatre; THE WEDDING PARTY – Lighting Design, for Alberta Theatre Projects; THE COMEDY COMPANY – Set and Lighting Design, Shadow Theatre; AFTER THE FIRE – Set and Costume Design for Punctuate! Theatre; PREMIUM CONTENT – Production Design for Major Matt Mason Collective; MISS KATELYN’S GRADE THREES PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE – Production Design for Tiny Bear Jaws; MIXIE AND THE HALFBREDS – Set and Lighting Design for FuGEN Theatre; THE LONELY DINER – Lighting Design, and WAIT UNTIL DARK – Lighting Design for Vertigo Theatre.
Mason Snelgrove
Original Composition Sound Designer
Mason Snelgrove
Original Composition Sound Designer
Mason is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this show through sound design. Previous sound designs include: The Great Whorehouse Fire of 1921 (Northern Light Theatre), Woman Caught Unaware (Davina Stewart/Fringe), Destination Wedding (Whizzgiggling), and Destination Vegas (Whizzgiggling). Mason is an accomplished instrumentalist, composer and performer.
Chris Hicks
Production Manager
Chris Hicks
Production Manager
Christopher Hicks – But mostly known as Hicks since there is a saturation of Chris’s in the world – is a seasoned theatre and festival production creator. He has worked with magnitudes of major festivals in Edmonton and beyond, from dinosaur building and electronic music, to downhill canoe racing on snow. Graduating from the MacEwan Theatre Production program 10+ years ago, Hicks is still making art happen and enjoys it!
Like many still giving it out here, Chris has been successfully navigating the feast or famine, zero to sixty entertainment climate that has been the last 3 years. Avoiding burnout and learning all the intricacies of live streaming theatre, along with the reality of more multimedia shows in general, he has been quite proud of some of the recent achievements!
Hicks is stoked to be joining Northern Light Theatre for a return to full season action. This will be his 4th season in a row with NLT. He is once again pleased to be transforming the space into a powerful show you will be enjoying this time around.
However… Who wants to run away to the mountains with me?!
Liz Allison-Jorde
Stage Manager
Liz Allison-Jorde
Stage Manager
Ian Jackson
Cinematographer and Editor
Ian Jackson
Cinematographer and Editor
Ian is delighted to be back at Northern Light Theatre to work on THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921 after filming each of NLT’s 2020-2021 productions for digital release last season.
Ian is also an accomplished professional photographer, videographer and Sterling Award Wining Multi-Media Designer.
Past Multi-Media Design work includes: METRONOME for Workshop West Playwright’s Theatre, INFINITY, IRMA VOTH, BUDDY, and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH for Theatre Network, THE LOOK, SPEECH AND DEBATE, I GOOGLE MYSELF, URBAN TALES (multiple years), WATER’S DAUGHTER, and KAFKA’S AMERICA for Northern Light Theatre; PETER PAN for the Citadel Theatre.
Kendra Humphrey
Make Up Artist & Production Poster
Kendra Humphrey
Make Up Artist & Production Poster
Kendra is an Edmonton based actor and makeup artist. She moved to Edmonton from Red Deer, Alberta to attend Grant MacEwan University’s musical theatre program. Since graduating she has been in several shows: Straight Edge Theatre’s CULT CYCLE, IMAGINARY FRIEND. Walterdale Theatre’s THE GREAT GATSBY and Thousand Faces Theatre’s THE NIGHTINGALE.
Kendra is a self-taught free-lance makeup artist, focused primarily on drag, fantasy and horror, however she also has roots in glam and natural makeup. Her credits as a makeup artist include: Northern Lights Theatre: 2020-2021 Season Premiere Photos, Grand Prairie Live Theatre: Drag Makeup Workshop and Ollie Quinn: Promotional Makeovers.
An Interview with Playwright Linda Wood Edwards
With NLT’s Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt
Trevor Schmidt: When did you write THE GREAT WHOREHOUSE FIRE OF 1921- and how did it come into being?
Linda Wood Edwards: The play was written over several months in 2018. David Cheoros (MAA and PAA Theatre) had seen the blurb in the Big Valley News while searching the Provincial Archives of Alberta for something else. It intrigued him, so he launched an investigation to see what happened. After scouring historical articles and police records, as well as conducting interviews, it was clear that nothing else existed and only rumours and speculation remained with a handful of Big Valley residents. He shared his disappointment with me and it occurred to us that manufacturing a story could be way more fun that actually writing the history. I asked if I could be in on writing the play and David generously agreed. I gave it a working title (which stuck!) and got to work. David and I had vastly different ideas on how the story might play out, and I really like where the play ended up – not too dark but dark enough.
TS: Could you speak briefly about the nature of the way that MAA and PAA interact with the Archives?
LWE: The two partners in MAA and PAA Theatre are David Cheoros and Karen Simonson. Karen is an archivist by profession and David is a history nut. This winning combination has resulted in many of Alberta’s stories being brought to the stage. They are excellent producers and really respect the creative process in getting Alberta’s stories out to the world. This play is one of the stories that needed to be told because the lack of historical record on this event is a story in itself.
TS: What made you choose this particular footnote in history?
LWE: I think this story is attractive because it was merely a footnote. Had this happened to anyone besides a business woman (madam or not) in a “respectable” town in that era, there really would have been an investigation. Questions would have been asked, answers would have been found. But because Hastings operated outside the boundaries of convention, the crime was brushed under the carpet. This woman could not maintain the place she carved out for herself in that society, but she could move on and try again. And again. And hopefully even again.
TS: Did you do a lot of research of the history and the area? Road trips? Other deep dives into artifacts or files, clippings, etc.
LWE: David Cheoros did considerable research before the project hit the wall due to the complete lack of information. I think deciding to write it anyway was inspired and, as noted, infinitely more fun. David visited the area a few times, and then later I joined him to get the lay of the land. We could see where the Colliery had been and where the brothel most likely had been. There is nothing left of anything and even though there is a “historic” outpost in downtown Big Valley, almost nothing is written about this chapter in their history. I still believe that someday, someone or something will turn up that tells us more but for now, this version of the story will have to hold us.
TS: What do you think actually happened? Is this play’s conjecture what you believe to be the “truth”?
LWE: I actually do think the townswomen burned down the brothel. For the place and time, women had very little power in the community but they have always exercised power among other women. Never mind what patriarchal society does to us, I have witnessed and experienced the “pecking order” and lateral violence women inflict on each other; making sure no one gets too big for her boots or threatens the social order. What I especially love about this version of the story is the unlikely friendship between Hastings and Smith, and that even friends screw up. It all feels true to me.
TS: The original production was plagued by an unfortunate illness for one of the actors. How did this affect the production?
LWE: It broke our hearts to see Sue Huff in such discomfort! All of us (except Sue) suggested calling a halt to the production as Sue’s health was the highest priority. Sue kept putting off that call, always finding another gear (or another family member to carry her), until eventually we had re-blocked the entire production to allow her to be preset and seated throughout. This resulted in the other cast member (Linda Grass as Smith) doing literally every movement on stage, every prop acquisition/disposition, every everything else. The show went on only because these two actors exhibited the highest level of professionalism I have seen by anyone anywhere. Shout out to Geri Dittrich who made them look amazing as they gutted out this very difficult production.
TS: Are you working on a new project?
LWE: Of course…yet it is ever so slow to emerge. I discovered in the pandemic that my inspiration comes from overhearing other people talk. Having kept mostly my own company for so many months, I learned I’m not all that interesting on my own. I have tried to keep my pencil sharp by writing some 10-minute plays, but the next longer one is simmering just under the surface. I can’t wait to see what shows up!