Right now, Prairie Theatre Exchange is presenting a show that makes the proposition, “If Heaven is real, it is a small prairie town. And if you go there when you die, you become the truest version of yourself for eternity, and the stories and myths that you and your family have lived and created will be remembered forever.”
Running from November 5 - 17, PTE is presenting Ponderosa Pine. Written by Andraea Sartison, the play explores a family’s history through the fictional prairie town of Valhalla, where the only thing breaking up the horizon is a large Ponderosa Pine that has sprouted from a tiny seed. The tree is a symbol of the community itself and the array of characters that live in the town.
Ponderosa Pine is a one-woman show whose story is told through the eyes of the narrator. The narrator tells the myths and legends and spins the tales of the people in Valhalla.
The Narrator for PTE’s presentation of Ponderosa Pine is played by actor Tracy Penner. Penner is a Graduate of the University of Alberta. She has performed with such companies as Dry Cold Productions, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Shakespeare in the Ruins and The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.
Playwright Andraea Sartison has a deep interest in family oral histories and the stories that come out of those histories. For Ponderosa Pine she turned to her family and asked them all the same question. As Sartison explains, “It was a time in my life when I had just had first child and at the same time my Morfar which is the name for my maternal Grandfather was passing away. So, I was really interested in the stories we pass on. What is our legacy, what do we inherit? So to explore that I started talking to a lot of my family members, about what are some of the stories that are really iconic for them in their lives...and I posed this question, ‘if heaven was a small prairie town and you are the truest version of yourself; how old are you and what are you doing.’ Their answers became the characters in the town. And those stories that they identified, they played out those stories in different ways...in ways that did not happen in real life, but ways I reimagined it for the story.”
The task of telling the tale of the town of Valhalla and depicting the various characters is given to the narrator who is also a resident of the town. Penner describes how the characters are worked into the story. “The narrator starts telling the story and as she does... I think, just as we do when we are telling stories to each other... you want to imagine yourself in the moment. And so, you have the layer of the older narrator telling the story, but then to tell it the way she needs to, she needs to see it through her own eyes as her twelve-year-old self. And that is when the events come alive, and as she goes through telling the story that is when she inhabits these various characters that are so dear to herself. There is just this slipping in and out of the different characters as she tells the story.”
There are no costume changes that happen on stage. Penner, Sartison and the Director for Ponderosa Pine Arne MacPherson all agreed that less is more. The play's mood and atmosphere are helped by the production's lighting and sound design elements. As Penner says, “The text is so poetic and the images that it carries are almost otherworldly. Fo me to try to show some of those...it’s actually simpler for me to just say the words and let the lighting and the sound create the world for me...and they [Lighting Designer Adam Parboosingh and Composer and Sound Designer Dasha Plett] have brought so much magic and theatricality to the stage with their designs...it has just been such a collaborative effort...such a lovely team.”
The Ponderosa Pine is left to the audience's imagination. There is no tree on stage. The play's text is such that the audience does not miss the tree yet accepts it is there. “I think the words and images that Andraea has written for us carries it further than anything we could possibly try to recreate on the stage,” says Penner.
Ultimately Ponderosa Pine is about family and community; understanding our roots, and where we all come from, and the stories that bind families together. As Sartison says, “If there was anything that would be satisfying to me in an afterlife...it would be this idea that I could be reconnecting with people that have passed but also, the people that came before... and having a sense of understanding about who I am from a more profound point of view....not just the stories I inherit but that sort of lineage. I think that for anybody else, their interpretation of that afterlife, rebirth, re-meeting, or whatever that is... I think anybody could have a different town or a different interpretation. It is kind of fascinating to talk about”
Spend some time in Valhalla, courtesy of Prairie Theater Exchange and Andraea Sartison and discover the characters and myths that make up this unique prairie town. In the process, you might find yourself asking questions about your own place in your family and community in general.
Ponderosa Pine runs from November 5th through to November 17th. For more details click here.
