Entertaining the Shuswap since 1977!

Our Vision

To enrich the lives of community members through diverse and inspiring live entertainment and opportunities for creative dramatic experience.

Festival Workshops

We are pleased to offer two excellent, two-hour workshop experiences for festival goers, both affordably priced at $10 per person. 

Rehearsal Games

Astrid Varnes
Friday, May 26, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
At the yellow building 1/2 block west of the theatre at 101 Hudson Ave NE

You’ve likely used games as a warm-up, but did you know they can also be used to further your work on the play? In this fun and participatory workshop, Astrid will introduce you to a variety of games you can use in rehearsal to help you quickly:

  • establish relationship
  • enliven the world of the play
  • define physicality
  • build tension

Experience how playing can contribute to the play by fostering trust, relaxation, risk-taking and creativity.

Astrid Varnes is a professional theatre artist living in beautiful Salmon Arm, BC. She holds a BFA in Political Science/Acting from the University of British Columbia and an MA in Applied Theatre from the University of Victoria. As an actor, Astrid has performed in schools across British Columbia and taught acting workshops throughout the Lower Mainland. As an applied theatre practitioner, she has worked with high school students and seniors alike, in both French and English. She approaches the work using physicality, intellect and play, and loves sharing her passion for theatre with others.

Seniors’ Theatre

Peter Blacklock and members of Ida and Old Baldy’s Seniors’ Theatre group.
Saturday, May 27, 1:30 – 3:30 on the stage

Ida and Old Baldy’s Seniors’ Theatre invites you to join us and experience what has become the fastest growing theatre phenomenon in North America— Seniors’ Theatre. There are currently over 1000 registered Seniors’ Theatre companies in North America and a huge number who are playing unofficially—a ten-fold growth over twenty years.

The fastest growing segment of our Canadian population is in the 60 plus age group. Knowing there are so many of us, we need to be taking charge of our own well-being.  We are all aware of the need to be non-smokers, to minimize alcohol consumption and to maximize exercise; to be proactive in knowing our bodies.

Just as important to those physical components of health we also need to:

  • Stay mentally alert by challenging ourselves intellectually and creatively, and by being lifelong learners
  • Stay socially active and engaged and to widen our circle of acquaintances
  • Stay involved in the events of our community
  • Take a step or two outside our comfort zone

And guess what!  Research into the relationship between Arts and Aging is validating what we have known intuitively for a long time—involvement in the Arts keeps us healthy.

Seniors’ Theatre does all of the above.  Ida and Old Baldy would like to show you what we do and why we say, You are never late for Seniors’ Theatre—where the PLAY is the thing!

Peter Blacklock is the founder of two Senior’s Theatre groups in the Shuswap. A retired drama teacher and principal, Peter has also written and directed numerous musicals both for Shuswap Theatre and for the annual Vittles and Villains outdoor summer theatre at Haney Heritage Park in Salmon Arm. He is joined for this workshop by some of the participants in Ida and Old Baldy’s Seniors’ Theatre. Using a New Horizons grant, Peter has produced a set of online resource materials to help seniors anyywhere start their own groups.