Play Guide
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The Play Guide for Dear Johnny Deere was created by: Zachary Moull Assistant Dramaturg
Want to get in touch? Send an email to zmoull@theatrecalgary.com Connect with us on our Facebook page Tweet us @theatrecalgary #tcDeere Follow our Instagram @theatrecalgary
Dear Johnny Deere runs from April 28 to May 31, 2015 (No performances in the week of May 18) For tickets, visit theatrecalgary.com or call (403) 294-7447 Front cover image by David Cooper
Table of Contents THE BASICS Cast and Creative Team ..................................................... 01 Who’s Who? ...................................................................... 02 Time and Place ................................................................. 02 The Story .......................................................................... 02 Song List .......................................................................... 03 EXPLORATIONS Playwright’s Note by Ken Cameron ..................................... 04 Fred Eaglesmith ................................................................ 07 Challenges of the Small Family Farm ................................... 08 John Deere Tractors .......................................................... 09 Mighty Big Cars ................................................................. 10 CONVERSATIONS Conversation Starters ........................................................ 11 Dear Johnny Deere’s Dutch Connection ............................... 11 Reading List: Life on the Farm ............................................ 12 Movie Night: Jukebox Musicals ........................................... 13 Sources ............................................................................ 14
THE BASICS
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Cast and Creative Team
DEAR JOHNNY DEERE THE FRED EAGLESMITH MUSICAL
Book by Ken Cameron Based on the music and lyrics of Fred Eaglesmith Additional music and arrangements by David Archibald THE CAST
David Archibald Rebecca Auerbach Jeff Culbert Allison Lynch J.D. Nicholsen Capucine Onn Jody Richardson
Boomer Caroline McAllister Pianist, Fiddler Johnny Fiddler Mike, Hendrik, Collector
THE CREATIVE TEAM Eric Coates David Archibald Patricia Flood Deitra Kalyn Jason Hand Chris Jacko Jane MacFarlane
Director Musical Director Set Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design Voice Coach
Patti Neice Heather Rycraft Carissa Sams
Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Apprentice Stage Manager
THE BASICS
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Who’s Who? Johnny:A farmer and mechanic Caroline: A farmer, married to Johnny McAllister: A farmer, the publisher of the town’s newspaper, and Johnny and Caroline’s next-door neighbour Mike: A land speculator who’s come back to town from the big city Hendrik: Johnny’s father, a Dutch immigrant, who appears in flashbacks Boomer: The bartender at the Legion Hall The Collector: A stranger who wants to buy Johnny’s tractor
Time and Place Dear Johnny Deere is set in a small Canadian farming town just after planting season. The story takes place in the present day, with occasional flashbacks to Johnny and Caroline’s past. Many scenes are set on Johnny and Caroline’s farm, with other locations including the local liquor store, a nearby farm auction, and the town’s Royal Canadian Legion Hall.
The Story Johnny and Caroline’s farm is in trouble, with bad weather spoiling their crops and creditors threatening their property. And after thirteen years, their marriage is in no better shape. When a land speculator from the big city comes with word that the new highway will pass straight through their land, their lives reach a turning point. Do Johnny and Caroline need to sell the farm to solve their problems?
THE BASICS
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Song List Dear Johnny Deere is based on the songs and lyrics of Canadian singersongwriter Fred Eaglesmith. Playwright Ken Cameron worked with Eaglesmith’s songbook extensively, drawing stories and characters from the evocative lyrics and incorporating more than a dozen songs into his script. The show’s musical director David Archibald then arranged each song for the cast of seven talented performers, all of whom sing and play multiple instruments. Musicals that use previously released songs as their score are sometimes called jukebox musicals. Well-known jukebox musicals include Mamma Mia! (ABBA), Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), and Rock of Ages (`80s glam metal). These are the Fred Eaglesmith songs that are woven into the storyline of Dear Johnny Deere: Act One Yellow Barley Straw
Act Two Yellow Barley Straw (Reprise)
White Trash
Ordinary Guy
White Rose
White Rose (Reprise)
Spookin' The Horses
Small Motors
John Deere B
Old John Deere
I Wanna Buy Your Truck
Freight Train
Bench Seat Baby
Worked Up Field
Wilder Than Her
York Road
Time To Get A Gun
Wilder Than Her (Reprise)
“He’s got a heart made of yellow barley straw All wrapped up in calico patches And plum chuck full of love...” – Fred Eaglesmith, “Yellow Barley Straw”
EXPLORATIONS
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Playwright’s Note By Ken Cameron This is a Calgary story. Dear
Johnny
Deere
was
conceived only a few blocks from Theatre Calgary in the Palomino Smokehouse, one of Calgary’s
premier
music
venues. It was here that I approached Fred Eaglesmith and asked him for permission to turn his music into a stage production. Ken Cameron
I’d been introduced to Fred via email by Calgary actor Esther PurvesSmith. Esther had played his love interest in the made-for-TV Christmas special The Gift. They’d become such pals that Fred had written and recorded the song “Me and Esther” and Esther had written “My Friend Fred.” Fred’s response was classic: “I hate theatre. I don’t want to be involved in any way. I don’t want to see a script and I’ll never come to a rehearsal. But you go nuts.” Fred, if you’re reading this, I’ve never properly thanked you for the blank cheque. This is also a Banff play. The Banff Centre for the Arts provided an ultrasound in the form of a Play Finding workshop with Canadian theatre icon Daniel MacIvor. I had arrived with what I laughingly called a “shortlist” of forty-odd songs and a plot that involved two brothers, two wives, both parents, and a slew of
EXPLORATIONS
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neighbors. That week Daniel whittled it all away and we found the play that you will see tonight. This is also an Alberta story. Thanks to the vision of Kelly Robinson, the Banff Centre for the Arts subsequently offered an intensive developmental workshop with musical dramaturg Neil Bartram. Neil became our midwife and offered us a crash course in musical theatre structure. I was already familiar with the basic rule that the characters should exit each song in a very different state than they enter it. Many of Fred’s songs read like O. Henry short stories – with a distinctive voice, a clear narrative arc, and a twist ending – and these songs translate to the stage because they create just that kind of arc. This is also a Blyth play. Eric Coates, who has returned to direct this production, was then the Artistic Director of the venerable Blyth Festival in southwestern Ontario. Eric not only commissioned the play and directed its premiere production,
Members of the Dear Johnny Deere cast in music rehearsal at Theatre Calgary (Meghan McMaster)
EXPLORATIONS
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he was also its doula. It was Eric who uncovered the central metaphor of Johnny’s musical life: his silence. It’s odd to conceive of the lead character in a musical as silent, but Eric determined early on that, as far as Johnny was concerned, talking about feelings was for city folk. The result was the powerful, explosive relationship that actors J.D. Nicholsen and Rebecca Auerbach brought to life and that had Jeff Culbert desperately ducking for cover. Eric’s
lifelong
friend David
Archibald was – well, David’ll kill me if I stretch the metaphor too far and call him our wet nurse. But it was David who, standing in for Fred, undertook the awesome responsibility of finding the sensitive and clever arrangements for these songs that showcase the great range in Fred’s songwriting. Let’s call David and Capucine Onn the
Rebecca Auerbach, J.D. Nicholsen, and Jeff Culbert in music rehearsal (Meghan McMaster)
brother and sister who took us by the hand and sang softly during the surprisingly easy labour that birthed this play. Finally, this is a Theatre Calgary homecoming. Artistic Director Dennis Garnhum made the mistake of revealing that his family reunion was “in the vicinity” of the Blyth Festival. So, like any expectant parent, I proudly updated Dennis on all the intimate details until he finally relented and came to see it. I’m flattered that he did. As a long-time Calgarian, it is such an honour to be here at Theatre Calgary to share our little Dear Johnny Deere with you.
EXPLORATIONS
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Fred Eaglesmith As one of his songs says, Fred Eaglesmith “was born in the springtime of the '57 Chevy,” one of nine children in a rural Ontario farming family. At the age of 15, he left home to hitchhike, hop freight trains, and hone his craft as a songwriter. “I played everywhere,” he said in a press interview. “I played in every lumber camp, fire camp, and youth hostel I could find.”
Fred Eaglesmith (press photo from fredeaglesmith.com)
In the four decades since, Eaglesmith has fashioned one of the most distinctive singer-songwriter careers in Canadian music. His twenty albums are filled with songs about the twists and turns of rural life in a musical range that defies description: folk, rock, roots, country, altcountry, bluegrass, or all of the above, depending on whom you ask. “We just play rock’n’roll,” Eaglesmith said about a recent tour. “The root of it all is my little bit of creativity, that little ball of fire inside me. I just do what feels like the truth to me.” Eaglesmith is on the road almost constantly, playing upwards of 200 shows a year and traveling in a former school bus fueled by used vegetable oil from local restaurants. He calls it a “never-ending tour.” His devoted fans – known as Fredheads – are more likely to find Eaglesmith playing a small-town bar or community hall than an arena or concert venue, as he tries to live up to his simple motto: “I’m gonna play good, sing good, write good, and act good.” Official website: http://fredeaglesmith.com/ CBC Music page: http://music.cbc.ca/#!/artists/Fred-Eaglesmith Performance on Letterman: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs9lUZbwVRw
EXPLORATIONS
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Challenges of the Small Family Farm Much of Canada was settled by farming families, but although more than 90% of Canadian farms are still family-run businesses, the agriculture industry is facing both economic and demographic challenges. Small farms are particularly vulnerable. Johnny and Caroline are hardly alone in struggling to make ends meet – Statistics Canada reports that less than half of farms with revenue under $100,000 bring in enough money to cover all their expenses. In recent years, many of these smaller farms have been bought up by larger corporate operations that benefit from economies of scale on the global market, have the capital to invest in new equipment, and are able to weather the extreme ups and downs of an unpredictable industry. This trend caused size of the average Canadian farm to increase from 80 hectares in 1991 to 315 hectares in 2011. At the same time, the average Canadian farmer is getting older. Farms have traditionally been passed down from one generation to the next, and government tax benefits are designed to encourage this practice. But with today’s challenges, some question whether the new generation will want to stay on the farm. In 2011, less than 10% of farms were operated by a farmer who was under 40 years old, down from 25% in 1991. More than four out of five Canadians now live in urban areas, so cities have also begun encroaching on historical farmland. Urban sprawl speeds the sell-off of farms by boosting land values near growing suburbs and new highways, while creating inconveniences for farms that remain.
“Farming is part of Canada’s cultural heritage, and is closely identified with the economy and the social fabric of rural life.” -Marc LeBlanc, Canadian Library of Parliament report
EXPLORATIONS
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John Deere Tractors The word ‘tractor’ comes from Latin word tractus, meaning ‘pulled.’ Tractor designs aim to maximize pulling force (by sacrificing speed), so that the tractor can drag heavy equipment such as a plow through a field. Gasoline-powered tractors began replacing horses for farm work during the early 20th century. John Deere was an Illinois blacksmith who developed the steel plow in the mid-19th century. In the early 20th century, his company (now run by his granddaughter’s husband) entered the tractor business by purchasing the company that made the popular Waterloo Boy tractor. From 1923 on, John Deere tractors have been fixtures on North American farms. In the play, Johnny fixes up a vintage John Deere B tractor. Released in 1934, the Model B was
restyled
by
industrial
designer Henry Dreyfuss in 1938 to create the iconic John Deere
look.
Dreyfuss,
who
started out as a theatrical set
Model of a John Deere B tractor in the Dear Johnny Deere rehearsal hall
designer, had a hand in many other iconic utilitarian products, including the Bell rotary telephone and the Hoover vacuum. The John Deere B remained one of the most popular tractors on the market until it was retired in 1952. How to start a John Deere B: www.youtube.com/watch?v=frnqyhMQHeY
EXPLORATIONS
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Mighty Big Cars Johnny’s beloved old car “Lucille” is fixed-up 1952 Cadillac convertible. These were among the largest cars in production: 19 feet long, nearly 8 feet wide, and weighing up to two and a half tons. They could get around 12 miles per gallon on a good day. In 1952, Cadillac celebrated its 50th anniversary. The luxury car brand marked the occasion by releasing the most powerful cars in America, adding more than 30 horsepower to the previous year’s models. These iconic cars of the 1950s were known for their large frames, bold styling, and powerful engines.
A 1952 Cadillac Series 62 convertible (wikimedia)
“The last of the sweet old time gas guzzlers. Hard to drive, harder to park. Elvis had one and so did Hank. It doesn’t look like money, it looks like the bank.” -Johnny in Dear Johnny Deere, from Fred Eaglesmith’s “Mighty Big Car”
CONVERSATIONS
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Conversation Starters
Which musical instrument would you most like to play?
What music do you like to play in the car? Has your taste changed at all over the years?
How does playwright Ken Cameron use Fred Eaglesmith’s songs to tell the story of Dear Johnny Deere?
If you’re familiar with Fred Eaglesmith’s music, did their use in the story or their new musical arrangements make you hear them differently?
What’s the role of the small family farm today?
What, if anything, should the government do to protect rural businesses?
New highways: good or bad?
Does owning a gun make you safer or put you at risk?
Should a single infidelity mean the end of a marriage?
How important is it to talk about feelings?
Dear Johnny Deere’s Dutch Connection Fred Eaglesmith was born Fred Elgersma, the son of a Dutch family that immigrated to Canada from Friesland in 1939. Dutch filmmaker Huib Stam made a documentary There Ain’t No Easy Road that follows Eaglesmith’s first journey back to his ancestral homeland, where he plays a gig for a hall full of distant relatives.
There Ain’t No Easy Road: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3BhtPG80is In the play Dear Johnny Deere, Johnny’s father is a strict Dutch immigrant, making this is the second play in Theatre Calgary’s season (after David van Belle’s Liberation Days) with a connection to the Dutch immigrant experience. How are the two shows’ perspectives similar or different?
CONVERSATIONS
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Reading List: Life on the Farm Who Has Seen the Wind, by W.O. Mitchell Novel, 1947. Frequently on lists of the best Canadian novels, W.O. Mitchell’s mid-century classic shows life on the Saskatchewan prairie through the eyes of a young boy.
The Other Side of the Bridge, by Mary Lawson Novel, 2006. Longlisted for the Booker Prize, Mary Lawson’s second novel – one of three she’s written set in the fictional small town of Struan – focuses on two very different sons from a Northern Ontario farming family. Critics have called it suspenseful and shattering.
Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life, by Brian Brett Memoir, 2009. Canadian poet Brian Brett describes his life on a small Salt Spring Island farm in a raucous memoir that’s filled with meditations on choosing a rural life in the modern era – what he calls his “rebel decision.”
The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love, by Kristin Kimball Memoir, 2010. The bestselling non-fiction story of a New York journalist adjusting to rural life after she falls in love with a farmer. Says the author: “This book is the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming – that dirty, concupiscent art – and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer."
Who By Fire, by Fred Stenson Novel, 2014. Set in both the 1960s and the present day, this novel by Albertan author Fred Stenson follows the influence of the oil industry on two generations of a southern Alberta farming family.
“The small farm hasn’t got an ice cube’s chance in hell. But we’ve made our rebel decision. That’s what makes the fight so beautiful. Farming is a profession of hope. You will not meet a farmer without hope.” -Brian Brett, Trauma Farm
CONVERSATIONS
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Movie Night: Jukebox Musicals Like Broadway, Hollywood has a strong tradition of jukebox musicals, in which a story is told using pre-existing songs from a particular artist, era, or musical style. Here are some of the most popular ones: Beatles films There’s a wide range of Beatles films, ranging in style from adventurecomedy to rock opera to romance. A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Help! (1965), and Yellow Submarine (1968) feature performances by the Beatles, while Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and Across the Universe (2007) use covers of Beatles songs.
The Blues Brothers Dir. John Landis, 1980. In this film based on their popular Saturday Night Live sketch, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star as blues musicians on the run. The soundtrack is rhythm-and-blues, with guest performances by Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and James Brown.
Walk the Line Dir. James Mangold, 2005. This bio-pic about country legend Johnny Cash uses Cash’s own songs to tell the story of his rise to fame.
Mamma Mia! Dir. Phyllida Lloyd, 2008. Adapted from the stage musical based on the songs of ABBA, the film of Mamma Mia! stars Meryl Streep as a mother faced with three former lovers at her daughter’s wedding in Greece.
Rock of Ages Dir. Adam Shankman, 2012. A story about struggling artists working at a bar in Los Angeles, set to the tunes of `80s glam metal hits by Journey, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and more.
Jersey Boys Dir. Clint Eastwood, 2014. A bio-pic about crooner Frankie Valli and his band The Four Seasons, using their own songs.
CONVERSATIONS
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Sources Canadian Press. “Number of farmers is shrinking, while average age is climbing.”Global News. Feb 18, 2014. http://globalnews.ca/news/1156570/number-of-farmers-isshrinking-while-avg-age-is-climbing/ Craft, Dan. “Travelin’ Man.” Pantagraph. Sep 13, 2012. “Fred Eaglesmith.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fred-eaglesmith-emc/ “Fred Eaglesmith.” All Music Guide to Country. Ed. Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine. San Francisco: Backbeat, 2003. Hellenberg, Mark. “Fredheads Unite.” WOUB Public Media. Jun 14, 2012. http://woub.org/2012/06/14/fredheads-unite-acclaimed-troubadourreturns-nelsonville “Henry Dreyfuss.” Encyclopedia Britannica. www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/171541/Henry-Dreyfuss “John Deere.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deere LeBlanc, Marc. “Federal Taxation of Farmers.”Library of Parliament Information and Research Service. July 4, 2006. www.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/researchpublications/prb05102-e.htm Statistics Canada. “The financial picture of farms in Canada.” www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2006/articles/finpicture-portrait-eng.htm Taylor, Alistair. “On the phone with: Fred Eaglesmith.” Campbell River Mirror. Feb 12, 2015. www.campbellrivermirror.com/entertainment/291756471.html “1952 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible Coupe.” Bold Ride. www.boldride.com/ride/1952/cadillac-series-62-convertible-coupe