Tale of a Town to be in Medicine Hat on Nov. 3

By Jeremy Appel on October 28, 2017.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Tale of a Town, a cross-country multimedia theatre performance is making its way to the Esplanade on Nov. 3, the only Albertan date on its current tour.

The show, which has been in the works for four years, depicts stories from each Canadian province and territory, incorporating local performers.

Lisa Marie DiLiberto, the show’s co-director and lead performer, said that although each show is structured the same every night, they deliberately leave space for city-specific performances.

“The show is built, from the beginning to end, (as) a national show, but there are blank spots inside that template where different local performers and different content are woven into the piece,” she said, describing the event as a “trip across the country.”

DiLiberto, who’s also the artistic director of Fixt Point, which puts on the performance, said Medicine Hat was an ideal stop for their nine-show tour, due to its extensive collaboration with the Esplanade on the national show.

“We’ve been lucky to have a super-strong partner here,” she said.

Attendees can expect the Medicine Hat High Choir and Mayor Ted Clugston, as well as some local musical acts, to appear.

Although the show is coming to the Hat for only one evening, the Hat makes an appearance at every stop on the tour, as the focus of its Alberta portion.

One section of the national portion tells the story of Harry Veiner, who was Medicine Hat’s mayor 1952 to 1966 and 1968 and 1974.

“Everywhere we go, a local notable plays Harry Veiner,” said DiLiberto.

She said the material for the play was taken from interviews done with more than 3,000 people in 200 communities across the country in Fixt Point’s mobile recording studio.

“It’s a culminating show,” she said. “It has a documentary, scrapbook-type feeling.”

DiLiberto said the ultimate goal is to get audiences to think critically about the world around them.

“Our mandate is to inspire audiences to imagine change … to question things around them in their life and relationships,” she said.

Advance tickets are available for $10 at https://buy.tixx.ca/taleofatown.

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