A storied local municipality within a municipality continues to bask in the spotlight.
Huronia Players is presenting an evening with playwright Jerrold Karch and a staged reading of his work Leaving Dollartown.
“We’re going to celebrate Dollartown,” says Sue Cook, who will direct the Nov. 30 production.
Cook says Karch approached the theatre troupe during COVID about possibly bringing the play to a local audience.
“We want people to attend and celebrate Dollartown and celebrate Jerrold’s work,” Cook says, noting Karch, who grew up in the area and has gone on to become a successful actor and writer, will also be in attendance.
According to Cook, the staged reading will give actors an opportunity to perform in a relaxed setting, focusing on delivering the script’s powerful narrative to the audience.
Cook says they hope to capture that kind of spirit in their reading of Karch’s work, which speaks to the area’s history along with the industries that once provided work.
The play centres around the experiences and lives of one family, led by patriarch Liam Byrne and his wife Bridget along with their two children Aidan and Ciara.
“We’ll work on developing the characters,” Cook said, noting the play is set in 1956. “It’s about that family, the decisions they make and the community they live in. I think it will be interesting.”
And Dollartown was indeed a busy place.
Goad’s Fire Map of May 1904 shows Midland (including Dollartown ) had a population 4,600 with 800 of those people calling Dollartown home.
“It might be hard to grasp just how busy the waterfront was at this period,” local history buff Rene Hackstetter previously wrote in MidlandToday.
“The waterfront west to east was filled with the lumber, shipping and allied trades,” Hackstetter wrote in the article. “A humming harbour filled with sounds must have been extraordinary. Work on a lumber mill green chain gang and the noise of the saws was loud. The clang of the crane at the coal dock, whistles from the shipyards, box and shook mills at full pitch, hammering and the sound of whirring mill saws.”
Mill houses were constructed just outside Midland’s 1875 boundaries by the industry-driven Dollar brothers John and Robert, with the border between the two towns at Russell Street.
Dollartown’s boundaries extended to Midland Bay Landing, but kept along Gloucester Street at the north and Yonge Street to the south, with its eastern edge extended out into Georgian Bay; annexation in 1904 absorbed Dollartown.
And just last week, Midland council announced that new street signs highlighting Dollartown will be installed around the area east of Russell Street.
Prior to the performance, a screen will be lowered featuring images and from Dollartown's early days with Karch coming on stage afterwards to answer audience questions.
But since the production won’t feature a big set or actors in full costume, Cook said they’ve opted to keep the ticket price relatively low at $15.
Added Cook: “The evening will be very entertaining and information.I think it’s going to be a very neat event and a lot of fun.”
For tickets to the show that begins at 8 p.m., click here.
