Rita's Current Projects:
“Women, Contemporary Aboriginal Issues, and Resistance” best
practices kit -
for which Rita is the Principal Investigator
Kit to be released June 2013, Mount Saint Vincent University and will be available for groups and for educational programs.
*Rita is an Actor in…..
The
Hush Baby
A play about mothers, magic lost and found
by Dawna J. Wightman; directed by Winnie W. Wong
2013
Spring Works Festival, Stratford, Ontario
May
12 @ noon
May
14 @ 6 PM
May
15 @ 8 PM...tickets: www.springworksfestival.ca
Get your tickets now! Opens on Mothers Day 2013
Book - coming:
Fists Upon a
Star, a
memoir of Florence Bean James
Co-author Jean
Freeman
Epilogue by
Rita
To be published fall
2013 by University of Regina Press
Jean Freeman of Regina describes this project:
Jean Freeman of Regina describes this project:
The New University of Regina Press Pioneers World’s First
Reality Publishing Show
It is not every day that Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro
congratulate a university on the launch of its university press, but then, it is
a rare occasion when a new university press comes into being. Jumping to the
head of the class on the good wishes of these literary titans, on June 1, 2013,
University of Regina Press (U of R Press) officially launched the World's First
Reality Publishing Show online!
Beginning June 1st/13 viewers
to www.uofrpress.ca will meet the people (including new U of R Press Director
Bruce Walsh) who stick-handle a book from manuscript form through to
finished-and-launched product.
I'm extremely fortunate to be involved (as co-author) in the first book to
be published under the new Press' imprint -- "Fists Upon a Star:
A Memoir of Love, Theatre, and Escape from
McCarthyism" -- which will be
followed on the Reality Publishing site from its inception back in the 1960s
when North American Theatre Pioneer Florence Bean James set out to write the
story of the life which she and her husband dedicated to Theatre Of the People,
By the People, and For the People. At the time, Mrs. James was traveling
throughout the province for the Saskatchewan Arts Board when we met and became
close friends. I was honoured, in the years that followed, when she asked me to
help her with her book ... first, to help organize some of the material, then to
do some editing. I did, and she suggested that I might rewrite some things here
and there, and finally, if I would write some portions of the book and pull it
all together.
I was glad to help, honoured by
her friendship and trust, and her confidence in my ability, and we worked on the
manuscript regularly over the following years, until shortly before her death in
1988. The manuscript sat in limbo until a few years ago, when actress and
admirer Rita Deverell, who had known Mrs. James at Globe Theatre, and had done a
one-woman play about her life, told the U of R Press (then the Canadian Plains
Research Centre) about this remarkable woman whose actions and accomplishments
had had such a profound impact on the development of so many facets of theatre
and culture in Saskatchewan, Canada and the U.S.A.
One thing led to another: the
book is now deep in development, and the remarkable crew at U of R Press is
aiming for an early fall launch! (That's Early Fall 2013!!
Remarkable!)
So if you're interested in
seeing how this truly awesome process progresses, take a look at the trailer now
on www.uofrpress.ca, and keep visiting the
site in the days and weeks ahead to follow the action! I know I'll be out here
and there introducing and signing "Fists" so I'll try to keep you
posted!
Best regards (and please forgive
the Shameless Self Promotion!!) I think you'll enjoy the book!
Jean
Rex
Upcoming: "The Time of Trouble"
An Opera with Composer Elizabeth Raum
Watch this blog for more news
