There are some wonderful performances coming up in Flin Flon over the weekend.
On Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 9, the incredible and amazing Lynne Hanson will be performing house concerts in town as part of the Home Routes series. These shows are always special, but this month is exceptional.
Hanson won in two of the five categories she was nominated in at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in December 2018. She won in the English language songwriting category and with her collaborator Lynn Miles in the contemporary ensemble category.
Just to put that into some kind of perspective – in case, unlike me, you are not a folk music nerd – she won English songwriter of the year against Bruce Cockburn, who did win in the solo artist of the year category, against Buffy Sainte-Marie and David Francey, Jolene Higgins (Little Miss Higgins) and Catherine MacLellan.
Hanson really is a whole other level of performer and songwriter. The cost for her adventures in Flin Flon is still only $20, with all the ticket money going to the artist.
For Friday evening seats, email [email protected]. The doors at 19 Hemlock open at 7 pm and the music begins at 7:30 pm.
For Saturday tickets email [email protected]. That show will be at 183 Murton Blvd, same times as Friday. You may bring your choice of snacks and drinks.
A Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (RMTC) production will be shown at the RH Channing Auditorium on Sunday, Feb. 10.
Shelley Hoffman and Stephen Sparks’ new Canadian play, Buying the Farm, is a romantic comedy that explores through a multi-generational lens the challenges of maintaining the family farm against the encroaching pressures of development.
“When Brad Deacon, a young real estate agent trying to prove himself to his father, arrives at the Bjornson farm, he’s determined to succeed where others have failed. And that just may happen since the old, bachelor farmer, Magnus Bjornson, is now finding himself backed into a corner with mounting debt and suburban neighbourhoods advancing from every direction. But chores, skunks and ants get in the way, not to mention Magnus’ high-spirited and secretive great niece Esme, who is unwavering in her resolve that this farm is not for sale. How much is a fourth generation farm worth? Is it possible to hide from one’s self? And can anyone hold back “progress?” To answer these questions, Magnus, Esme and Brad must break through the divisions between urban and rural like to build a better future for them all…” (description from the RMTC website)
Tickets are on sale at Northern Rainbow’s End until Saturday and again at the door, 30 minutes before the show time of 7:30 pm.
RMTC always has fabulous production values and the Flin Flon Arts Council (FFAC) is using this show to say thank you to its season pass holders for all their advance support of the season, by giving each one a guest ticket for the play that they may give to a friend. Well done, FFAC. That is a sweet thing to do.
There is something special happening in the visual arts sector in Flin Flon/Creighton/Denare Beach next week.
Jaime Black, one of the Resilience project indigenous artists, who gave us the phenomenal photograph of a woman dancing in a red dress that was on the billboard on Third Avenue hill during the summer, will be in Flin Flon on February 14 and 15 for the REDress Project, a memorial and consciousness raising event to memorialize missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.
The artist will hang an installation of red dresses in the town of Flin Flon and will meet the public in an artist talk at NorVA. She will also work with our kids at the high schools around this issue.
The Flin Flon Public Library is having its fundraising event again this year, on Feb. 16 at the RH Channing Auditorium.
Talk Wordy to Me will feature many of our favourite local musicians and performers on stage, doing their thing as well as a dessert bar and photo booth. The cost of admission is only $20 and the event starts at 8 pm. Please support the Library, it’s a good thing.
