After shining bright in North Bay, a group of Timmins student actors are on their way to Toronto under the guidance of their teacher.
Students from O’Gorman High School are headed to Toronto next week to perform Overdose, a play written and directed by teacher Michael Buhler.
He said that the play deals with some heavy issues around addiction and faith, but these topics are handled as delicately as possible.
“We try to handle it as respectfully as we can,” said Buhler. “The first thing we did before we started rehearsing was talk about what we’re doing here and the nature of the subject matter and how to handle it.”
Two plays were presented from O’Gorman High School at The National Theatre School Northern Regional Dramafest in North Bay, and the cast of Overdose won best performance and best acting awards.
The second play was Apostrophe, a comedy directed by two teachers who have been running the drama club this year.
Both shows will be performed at Timmins High and Vocation School on this Thursday (May 4) before the cast of Overdose drives to Toronto for the next competition.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” he said about the trip to Toronto. “It was a very mature performance and very well done.”
The show, says Buhler, is meant to show the human side of addiction, as well as the faith that can survive in extreme situations.
He said he’s seen the effects of the opioid crisis in Timmins and wanted to address that in the work.
“I’ve been aware of how the nature of the downtown has changed, including green spaces where my kids played when they were little, they could no longer play there at all, we’ve lost things in this town because of the opioid issue,” said Buhler. “I know that people OD in the alleyways as well as in their apartments, so the issue is important.”
Living near downtown Timmins, he’s seen the changes in the community over the years and has seen the effect of addiction.
“These people have an inner life, just like you and I,” said Buhler. “There’s a spiritual experience and pilgrimage going on there, and I wanted to honour that.”
The inspiration for the play came from a poem Buhler had written about a man he knows.
The man served as a basis for the Jesus allegory in the play.
“The play is based on that poem,” he said. “How grace works through figures that might sometimes surprise us.”
His students, while having been very successful in their performance, did not have a lot of experience prior to this performance, but he said they’ve risen to the occasion beautifully.
“I had to handpick students in the hallway that I thought would fit the roles in terms of visual look, and obviously I needed students who were comfortable reading and good with words and could memorize things,” said Buhler.
The adjudication they received at the North Bay event highlighted how believable the performances were.
“The adjudicator in North Bay said that this is a play about 20-year-olds and at no point was the illusion broken,” said Buhler. “That's a testament to the actors, they just nailed it in North Bay.”
This is not Buhler’s first writing or directing experience, as he and the former drama teacher at O’Gorman produced another of his plays, War Vet, which dealt with a returning veteran contemplating suicide.
“This time I’m doing it on my own, and I’m just terrified,” he said. “I’m not sure if I’m doing it right, like am I rehearsing them enough or not enough?”
He said that dealing with heavier topics can be mitigated by adding humour.
“We find ways to help people laugh,” he said. “It’s within the context of the story, and it sort of fits and it makes sense.”
The students will leave for Toronto on May 10.
“That will be the final performance of the year, and everyone’s tired,” said Buhler.