Strathspey Place, Mabou- 7:30 pm, Friday, April 22nd and Saturday, April 23rd

Ticket price – $20, $25 day of show

Are you ready to head to a square dance at Glencoe Mills that you will never forget? Then head to Strathspey Place to see the West Side Performing Arts Cooperative’s production of John Archie and Nellie! It’s the beginning of the 20th century and people are beginning to question the way women are treated, the value of the Gaelic language and the old style square dancing. John Archie has come back to Cape Breton from the West, and Nellie has just returned from the Boston States, and both have secrets that will make the community judge them harshly. Others are struggling to decide to stay or leave, but John Archie and Nellie have decided to make Cape Breton their permanent home.

John Archie and Nellie was first staged in April and August of 2012 to sold out crowds at Strathspey Place. It was the first of three plays written by Brenda MacLennan-Dunphy that starred Lisa Cameron and Barry Fougere, and they are back in the lead roles, bringing John Archie and Nellie alive once again. When they meet for the first time at a square dance in Glencoe Mills, sparks fly! Peggy (Lori Shaw) and Billy (Charlie MacKinnon) are Nellie’s friends and supporters at the dance, while Margaret Campbell (Jacqueline Boyd) and Lexie MacPhail (Evelyn Cameron) are sitting in the corner, gossiping. Lexie’s husband, Lester (Jim Mustard) and her brother Frank (Dougald MacNeil) try to nip out for a drink now from under her watchful eye. Soldier Sam (Rankin MacEachern) is looking for a woman and Ethel (Adèle LeBlanc) is looking for a man, but Florence (Emily Clegg) has had enough of men after living with all her brothers. Jessie Rankin (Elizabeth Matheson), the old school teacher, is just there to enjoy the music supplied by Theresa (Margie Beaton) and Mary Ann (Shelly Campbell).

The musical selections, under the direction of Laurel Brown, and accompanied by Brydon MacDonald, will keep everyone entertained. Cape Breton classics such as There was an Old Woman from Mabou, Go Off on Your Way, Rise Again, Fare Thee Well, Love, and The Island develop the characters’ stories. The play also features new songs such as Lisa Cameron’s Back Home and Calling Me Home, written by Lisa for John Archie. Shelly Campbell and Margie Beaton will play for the square sets, keeping alive the step dancing heartbeat of Cape Breton’s past.

This production will be directed by Cathy MacMillan and produced by writer, Brenda MacLennan-Dunphy. This WeSPAC production gratefully acknowledges the support of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and the Municipality of the County of Inverness for this production. Don’t miss the chance to see this local Inverness County story brought to life by this talented group of your friends and neighbours!

Halifax-based singer-songwriters Heather Rankin and Kim Dunn have teamed up to share the stage for an exciting show in Mabou.

Heather Rankin is perhaps best known as a member of the multi-award winning group, The Rankin Family. The Rankins made their mark throughout the 90s – touring the world, selling over a million records and bringing the music of Cape Breton and Nova Scotia to an international audience.

Heather’s broad career has seen her work with a long list of notable and diverse artists: Carly Simon, The Chieftains, Johnny Reid, Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy and many others. As a songwriter, Heather’s original music has been featured on two Rankin Family albums as well as the Rankin Sisters’ Christmas album.

For A Fine Line, Heather’s first solo recording, she enlisted producer David Tyson (Amanda Marshall, Jude Cole) for the project. Along with Tyson, Heather co-penned seven of the album’s eleven tracks. This new release sees Heather forge her own musical legacy with upbeat ‘Rankin-style’ numbers, soaring ballads, personal and poetic lyrics and bold collaborations including the first single, a cover of the Tears For Fears hit, “Everybody Wants to Rule The World” featuring Halifax rap artist Quake Matthews.

North Sydney’s Kim Dunn was the recipient of the first ECMA Musician Special Achievement Award for his work as a singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, musical director and pianist. His first solo record, Take This Hammer, was called “a polished gem” by The Chronicle Herald. He has performed extensively throughout North America and abroad and has worked with an ‘A-list’ of artists including Rita MacNeil, Bruce Guthro, Matt Minglewood, Alison Krauss, Jimmy Rankin, David Myles, Jill Barber, Dave Gunning and countless others.

Kim’s latest recording, Day By Day, picks up where Take This Hammer left off. As with it’s predecessor, Day By Day offers listeners an indelible collection of heartfelt, rootsy tunes anchored by a pitch-perfect tenor delivery and incomparable musicianship. This music is made to last and only gets better with each listen.

Regular admission applies.

The Men of the Deeps is a choir of working and retired coal miners from the island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. Organized in 1966 as part of Cape Breton’s contribution to Canada’s Centennial Year (1967), the group’s inception was an effort by the people of Cape Breton to preserve in song some of the rich folklore of that island’s coal mining communities.

Since 1967 the group has been singing of the work and lifestyle of the Cape Breton coal miner to audiences throughout most of Canada and the United States. In 1976 they became the first Canadian performing group to tour the People’s Republic of China after diplomatic relations between the two nations were restored in 1972. In September 1999 the men traveled to Kosovo in the former Republic of Yugoslavia at the request of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, where they performed in a gala festival organized by actress Vanessa Redgrave on behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund. The group’s most recent tours have brought the choir as far north as the Ekati diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, and as far south as Arizona, Alabama, Florida and the Appalachian coal mining communities of Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania. In September 2008 the group was invited to perform in Las Vegas at the international MineExpo conference where sold out audiences enjoyed its unique blend of songs and stories for six consecutive nights.

The musical repertoire of the Men of the Deeps is gathered from mining communities around the world. Many of the group’s songs are “home grown” – composed by contemporary Cape Breton bards, or traditional songs which trace their roots to their Celtic fore bearers in the old country. Professor O’Donnell has become an expert on coal mining songs in Canada, and published a major collection entitled And Now The Fields Are Green: A Collection of Coal Mining Songs in Canada (Sydney, Nova Scotia; University College of Cape Breton Press: 1992).

To belong to the singing group a man must have worked in the mine. The ages of the men range from the mid-thirties to the upper-seventies, about one-quarter of which have been with the group since it was organized in 1966. A special sense of authenticity is given to the group by the presence of several retired coal miners who recall vividly the days when coal miners were looked upon as “second class” citizens, forced to eke out a living mining coal in hazardous conditions while their lives were almost entirely dependent upon the company.

Today the Men of the Deeps are more than a singing group – it is a social institution. There is a comradery amongst the members of the group that carries over to their audiences wherever they perform. Clad in coveralls and hard hats, they make an impressive impact when they enter a concert hall in total darkness with only the lamps on their helmets for light.