 The Marysburgh Mummers, who are
celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, are an ever changing
group of volunteers of all ages. People come and go. Children start young and grow up on the Mt. Tabor stage. When they
graduate, they move on to different experiences. In the past, the
Mummers have honoured high school graduates by handing out PECI
Graduation Scholarships for students who have excelled in the arts in
their community. This year, they have decided to make some
changes.
“For the past ten years, we have been
privileged to be part of the PECI Awards Night. However, when we
took a look at the Mummers who graduated high school, several of them
had not attended PECI. Some lived outside the County.
Others chose to take the Theatre program at Centennial and some of our
Mummer families have recently left the area all together. Many of
these young people contributed a great deal to past Mummer
shows. We decided to change our awards criteria to enable us to
recognize their achievements," said Mummer Chairperson, Bruce Dowdell.
Those changes have been made and a
call for applications was circulated. “We are very happy with the
applications we received. It was a pleasure to read them and make
our selections. It really reinforced our decision to make changes
since one of our recipients is now living in Hamilton and another
attended St. Theresa’s in Belleville,” says Lori Farrington, Mummer
Vice-Chair and Chair of the Mummer Graduation Awards
Committee. “The other change we made was to award graduating
Mummers whether they are moving on to post-secondary education or
not. We felt that we wanted to honour the work that these kids
put into the arts and the Mummers during their high school years.
Theatre is all about thinking outside the box, and some of our
kids are moving in different directions, including work and travel.
For the inaugural Mummer Graduation
Award, four graduating Mummers were chosen: Brianna Gorsline,
Hugh Cameron, Daniel McGill, and Julie Lane. “I am extremely
thankful for receiving the graduation award. The Mummers have
changed my life in so many different ways. They broke me out of
my shell at age seven and taught me so many life and theatre lessons
that I know I will never forget. I have met some pretty fantastic
people who have also taught me so much. I am truly going to miss
the Mummers; they're my home away from home and I don't know what I am
going to do without them,” says Brianna Gorsline. Julie Lane
adds, “I will really miss the atmosphere of the Mummers, and doing
community plays in general. Drama has helped me be so much more
confident and I really hope that by going off to school I can help
others in the same way that drama, and the Mummers, have helped me.”
The Mummers are now taking applications for their 2nd Annual Mummer Graduation Awards! They will be presented to graduating high school students who have been a Mummer, either on stage, off stage, or in drama camp. The award is valued at $200.
** Applicants do not have to be residents of The County, nor a graduate of PECI.
Mummers have come from far and wide and some have moved away...all are eligible.
Forms are available to print by clicking here.
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