Event

Pete Seeger's The Incompleat Folksinger with Mark Hellman

PETE SEEGER'S THE INCOMPLEAT FOLKSINGER: a 2-act solo play about the late, great folksinger and activist--based on his 1972 autobiography of the same name--imagining a Seeger concert 'somewhere on the road, 1970' in which the book comes to life.

In his own words and the music of many, he looks back on 35 years: on the road with mentors Woody Guthrie and Lee Hays, finding his great love Toshi, WWII, Cold War, confronting government committees(HUAC) and media blacklist, singing in defence of the poor and oppressed, on the front lines of the civil rights movement and in conflict zones overseas.

Invited to sing on all or part of 29 songs, the audience--now a mass pop up choir--becomes part of the action/story as Seeger discovers his greatest gift to the world: 'the power of song'.

PERFORMER:
Actor, musician, puppeteer, teacher, director and independent producer MARK HELLMAN (AFM, CAEA, ACTRA) started his career on the road in 1981 with the renowned Story Theatre Co. (Victoria, BC), touring from coast to coast, and from Orlando to Old Crow, Yukon. Since then he has lived and worked in Montreal (Centaur Theatre, APA), Winnipeg (PTE, Contemporary Dancers, MTYP, Ragamaroons), Armstrong (Caravan Farm Theatre), returning to Victoria in 1998, where he has continued his work as an innovator, independent producer and community builder. He was commissioned by the Other Guys Theatre Co., (Ladysmith, BC) in 2014 to co-create a performance dedicated to Pete Seeger, one of his early musical heroes.