By Jenn Watt

Published March 26 2019

On Friday March 15 and Saturday March 16 local thespians came together at the Haliburton Highlands Museum to do staged readings of four plays in progress through Rural Rogues.

Rural Rogues is a group started in 2016 that works on building community capacity to stage locally written plays using local cast and crew. Plays reflect the culture history and/or landscape of the Haliburton Highlands.

The plays – “The Pearly Gates” by Oliver Zielke and “This Is Our Home” by Sue Vorvis on Friday and “The Art Of Immigration” by Fay Martin and “A Woman Has To Be Able To Look After Herself” by Kate Butler on Saturday – told a variety of stories from conflict in the cottaging experience to two women carrying out a murder in the 1930s.

Members of the audience were encouraged to weigh in on the scripts so far asked to provide feedback on the plot and dialogue and suggestions for setting.

Workshop instructor and director Michael Clipperton said Rural Rogues is holding a director’s workshop four Wednesdays in April from 7 to 10 p.m. starting April 3. The workshops end with a performance. Cost to participate is $100.

This summer the plays being written now will be performed on the museum grounds in July. And in September the next playwrights workshop will be held: a six-week commitment where participants write one scene.

For more information contact Kate Butler at kbutler@haliburtonhighlandsmuseum.com.