What makes a place worth remembering?
The Martian and the Mound explores memory and meaning with a science-fiction twist, all set against the backdrop of the Manitoba prairie. The play follows Dr. Phoenix Albright, an archeologist from Mars studying the unique draw a mound on the Manitoba prairie has, from ghosts across time to his own interest.
In every way, The Martian and the Mound is a love letter to the wide-open Manitoba prairies — of course, save for a singular, titular mound. A One Trunk Theatre production created alongside CandleWick Productions, a rural Manitoba prairies-based performing arts company, The Martian and the Mound also is a part of Theatre Projects Manitoba’s Live Art Trade Route initiative. The initiative stems from a desire to expand and enrich access to the arts throughout Manitoba, particularly within rural communities.
Travelling through southern Manitoba, the play’s opening night took place in the loft of the residence of Margruite and Paul Krahn, a Mennonite barn converted into a house and event venue. Both Krahns are involved in the production of The Martian and the Mound, with Margruite serving as set, prop and video designer and Paul as a set builder and playing the role of Bison. From there, The Martian and the Mound headed 45 minutes west to the Kenmor Theatre in Morden, home of CandleWick Productions, which is headed by executive director Richard Klassen. Klassen also served as rehearsal director and performed onstage as the elder version of protagonist Dr. Phoenix Albright and shared with the Manitoban exactly how this travelling production came to be.
“One Trunk [Theatre] was doing workshops and they called us up […] with the theater here in Morden to see if we wanted to do some workshops with them,” shared Klassen. “We started with the workshops, and all of the sudden got a call, ‘Yep, we’re working on a script, could [One Trunk Theatre] come and read it with us?’”
For Paul Bergman and Andew Braun, who both served on a team of the production’s creators and are joint composers and sound designers for The Martian and the Mound, being a part of the production since its inception and watching it grow has been “pretty special.” Bergman shared that through the process, he and Braun have been “just trying to keep our heads down and pay attention to what we’re doing, but obviously peeking an eye at [the production] and seeing it all come together.”
Director and co-creator Gwendolyn Collins’ words resonated with Bergman, and he shared Collins’ sentiment of the relationships forged in this production. “Collins’ emphasis on process and relationships, that’s actually been quite true, because the play has been fun […] Such great people to work with, including Andrew.”
For Logan Addison, who portrayed Bruce, the production hit close to home. “I feel very privileged to tell a story that’s so based in our history in southern Manitoba,” Addison shared. “There’s not a whole lot of shows that are based [here].” Hailing from Morden himself, Addison is a current U of M theatre student. His character, Bruce, represents a real-life Morden icon, Bruce the Mosasaur, a near-complete skeleton of a Tylosaurus pembinensis discovered in the region in 1974. This isn’t the only reference to southern Manitoba, however. “There’s a lot of jokes about the prairies,” shared Addison. “It just warms my heart, because I understand the jokes.”
One such element of the play was the dynamic between settlers of the area — portrayed as a race on stage. Vance Harrison Roberts, who portrays Sage, shared that the scene was a highlight for him. “It’s a play on the whole […] land discovery race that the settlers had during those times,” shared Roberts. “There’s a lot of […] jokes and little script moments that play really well in that scene, and I really enjoy it because of that.”
Taking this production from stage to stage has been a standout for cast and crew alike, Roberts shared. “It’s been really interesting working with the different stage spaces, because in our first performance at the Krahn barn, it’s about half, maybe even […] 40 per cent of the stage space we have [at the Kenmor Theatre].” There were, however, benefits to the smaller space. “Because it was more of a compact area […] we could work with the lighting a lot better. [I] definitely enjoy having more space to work with, though.”
The Martian and the Mound is once again packing up and moving to another stage from Nov. 14 to 16, this time to the Gas Station Arts Centre in Winnipeg. To get tickets, visit theatreprojectsmanitoba.ca/events.
