Veronica (played by Sarah Manderville) performs a solo of "Silent Night" at the Mountain School Christmas program.

My Mountain School Christmas
by Kellie Underhill

This year my Christmas festivities started early in December when my mother, Pauline, sister, Sherry, and I went to the Kin Centre around the square in Newcastle, Miramichi to attend a special dinner theatre performance.

A local theatre troupe, The Heritage Players, were staging their latest production called “A Mountain School Christmas.” The play was written by my aunt, Valerie Stewart, and it was about celebrating Christmas in 1960 at the one-room schoolhouse in Grey Rapids, NB that my mother and many of her siblings attended when they were children.

We sat at a table with other family members—my aunts, Noreen and Vida; my uncle, Hayward; and my cousin, Lorelei with her husband, Brian. Looking around the room I saw many familiar faces, more aunts and uncles, several cousins and their children, as well as other people from “up home” in the Blackville area.

On a snowy night like that one most people don’t like to drive too far if they don’t have to, but this was a very special occasion. Before the show began when my aunt Valerie, who also directed the production, asked the audience how many of them had attended the Mountain School, hands shot up all over the room. They were part of this history. They had been there, lived it. And I’m sure that’s part of the reason why so many people ventured the 20-30 minute drive into town in less than perfect travel conditions.

Rehearsal for the Christmas program at the Mountain School.

As the performance began and the characters started to be introduced, my mother tried to remember if this or that had ever really happened or speculated who the characters might be based upon in real life. She remarked about different aspects of the set that she recalled had been in the original schoolroom. For her this seemed to add an extra level of enjoyment; she noticed little details that the average viewer would probably overlook and they filled her with a happy nostalgia.

But you didn’t need to go to the Mountain School, or indeed any of the other one-room schoolhouses that used to dot our little province, in order to enjoy the play. I laughed so hard at times that tears rolled down my cheeks. At one point I was worried I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing and I’d have to excuse myself to regain my composure. And even though the larger consolidated school was the only school I ever knew personally, I was also moved to nostalgia. Times were much simpler even in the late 70′s and 80′s when I was a young student. I could relate to rehearsing for a school Christmas program and hoping your mother might attend.

An angry parent (played by Dorinda Glover) confronts the teacher, Miss Brown (played by Christina Donovan).

I won’t divulge any more details about the plot on the chance that you might get to see it one day. There currently are no plans that I know of to put it on again, but I hope they will. It deserves to be seen by a greater audience. It’s an important part of our heritage. And I know so many people who were unable to see the sold out show would enjoy it tremendously.

So why put in all the time and energy required to mount a successful dinner theatre for a one night only performance? As entertaining and tasty as the play and turkey dinner were, the reason for the whole production in the first place was the most important part of the evening for me. The event was a fundraiser for the Nelson Doyle Dancers.

The Nelson Doyle Dancers have been performing Irish dance on the Miramichi for 21 years. The group is a large one, consisting of girls and boys from age five to adult. Under the instruction of Ellen (Doyle) MacDonald, students do not pay a fee for their lessons but they are dedicated, practising sometimes many times each week.

A couple of the Nelson Doyle Dancers mid-air.

The group has been invited to Monaghan, Miramichi’s twin city in Ireland, to perform at several festivals there. For a Canadian group to be invited to Ireland to perform Irish dance is both a tremendous honour and also a testament to their incredible talent. But the cost of such a trip for a large group is considerable, so the dinner theatre was one of many fundraisers they will undertake in order to make the trip possible in August. I hope they’re able to raise the money. It’s such a wonderful opportunity for them to showcase their skills on an international scale. Should you come across any of their other fundraising endeavours, please show them your support. It is needed and well deserving.

To top off an already perfect evening some of the Nelson Doyle Dancers took the stage and showed us why the former mayor of Monaghan, Willie McKenna, extended the invitation in the first place. If you’ve never seen the group in action before, I urge you to seize your next available opportunity to do so. Words can’t begin to describe their talent or the feeling it evokes in the audience.

Nelson Doyle Dancers

There’s something about the beating drums and singing fiddles as dozens of feet furiously pound the stage before taking graceful flight in simultaneous leaps, spins and kicks that seems to call to the very core of my being. I can’t dance with them. I don’t know the steps and am probably too clumsy to execute them even if I did, but watching the performance I felt the Irish dance deep down in my soul. The experience took my breath and this time when tears sprang to my eyes it was because I was overcome with emotion. I sat there thinking, “This is my people, my dance. This is my heritage.” And this wasn’t the first time I’ve seen the Nelson Doyle Dancers. I’ve been to other performances before, and each time I have this indescribable experience of being “home”.

Maybe if half your blood isn’t Irish as mine is, maybe if your family’s roots don’t stretch as far back into the earth of the Miramichi as its first settlers like mine does … maybe then the experience would be less … magical … but I hope not. I think everyone must feel the powerful connection to art of the dance, if not to the heritage itself.

Overall, Christmas 2011 had its high points for me, but they were few and far between. Personally, I had one of those particularly challenging holiday seasons that I’m quite happy to finally be through with and on to other things. But way back on December 2nd, back at the Kin Centre surrounded by family, friends and neighbours, laughing until my sides hurt at a play that took me back to simpler times, enjoying my first taste of turkey for the year, feeling my heart swell with pride as it kept beat with the Celtic drums and followed the flying feet of the dancers onstage … back then the Christmas season had just begun and it held all the promise of being as gloriously wonderful as that first night. That is a memory I will cherish for years to come and think of fondly during future holiday seasons to immediately transport me back “home” and into the Christmas spirit.

Kellie Underhill is the Editor of Bread ‘n Molasses magazine. Her non-fiction and fiction writing have been published in newspapers and magazines across Atlantic Canada, as well as in Ireland.

Leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of Miramichi author, Doug Underhill’s latest book entitled Salmon Country. We’ll draw one winner from everyone who comments on any of our special holiday themed posts for our annual Twelve Days of Christmas event!

Children at their desks in the Mountain School.

When my mother was a girl she would walk up the road every weekday morning with her siblings and friends to the old Mountain School, a traditional one-room schoolhouse in Gray Rapids on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. I’ve grown up listening to stories of how children of all ages and grades learned their lessons from a single teacher in one not so very large room, before they were finally sent by bus to the new consolidated school in Blackville. Times were very different back then from when I was growing up and attending the same Blackville School starting in the late 1970′s until I graduated in 1987.

I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to have gone to a little one-room schoolhouse and now, thanks to my aunt and Mom’s sister Valerie Stewart, I need not wonder any longer. Valerie has written a play called “A Mountain School Christmas” which the Heritage Players will perform in a dinner theatre next Friday evening, December 2nd, at the Miramichi Kin Centre in Newcastle as a fundraiser for the Nelson Doyle Dancers to help them raise money for a trip to Ireland.

One teacher, played by Christina Donovan, undertakes the teaching of the entire schoolhouse.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a dress rehearsal of the upcoming performance and based on how much I laughed and enjoyed the few scenes I got to see I’m now very much looking forward to enjoying a traditional turkey dinner with dessert while I get to take a trip back in the past and immerse myself in the full one-room schoolhouse experience during the production next week. Plus the Nelson Doyle Dancers will be on hand to perform as well, which is always a special treat I enjoy and look forward to ever since I first saw these talented girls at an Irish Festival several years ago.

This is going to be a must see event on the river, so grab your tickets if you haven’t already! For more information the official press release follows below.

Dinner Theatre in Miramichi to Raise Funds for Trip to Ireland

What will happen when one overbearing mother, played by Dorinda Glover, visits the tiny schoolhouse?

The Nelson Doyle Dancers and the Heritage Players have joined forces to present a dinner theatre, “A Mountain School Christmas”, on Friday, December 2, 2011 at the Miramichi Kin Centre starting at 6pm. The evening will include a traditional turkey dinner with dessert, the premiere of the Heritage Players latest production and a performance by the Nelson Doyle Dancers. Tickets cost $25 and are available at Books Inn, Renous Convenience, the Blackville Post Office, by calling Hollie at 627-0181 or Valerie at 843-2849.

At the 2011 Miramichi Irish Festival, the Nelson Doyle Dancers were invited to Ireland by former Mayor of Monaghan, Willie McKenna. The group is slated to leave on August 7, 2012 for a ten day trip which will include performing at various venues and events in and around Monaghan. “The dinner theatre is one of many fundraisers that we are having as we have to cover the cost of our trip. We are very pleased by the support we have received thus far and thank everyone for their generosity,” says Hollie Sturgeon, one of the event organizers.

The Heritage Players cast of children star in "A Mountain School Christmas".

“A Mountain School Christmas” is the latest work from Heritage Players’ playwright, Valerie Stewart. When approached by The Nelson Doyle Dancers to write a play, Stewart did not hesitate since her granddaughter, Nora Sturgeon, belongs to the group. “My other play “Grammy Grace” had been well received so I volunteered to write the play, and to direct it as well, a new experience for me,” says Stewart. “The play is set in a one-room school in 1960. It takes place in Gray Rapids, but it could be in any of the one-room schools any where in rural N.B. during the late 50s or early 60s. Unlike Grammy Grace which was mostly true, this play is entirely fictional. Some of my former schoolmates may see themselves in the characters but this is coincidental. I am certain everyone will enjoy the play because there are funny parts, sad parts and lots of singing and audience involvement.” Besides Stewart as the director, the cast includes Emily McCabe, Noah Donovan, Nicole Nash, Nick Hallihan, Sarah Manderville, Laura Sturgeon, Christina Donovan, Dorinda Glover, Jeff Wilson, Bernie Colepaugh and Tammy Manderville.

Both Sturgeon and Stewart encourage everyone to purchase their tickets early as they anticipate a sold out show. “The Nelson Doyle Dancers are wonderful ambassadors for the Miramichi. It is a great honor for the dancers to be asked to go to Ireland and we all should be proud of them,” says Stewart.

Grammy Grace: A Mid-wife's Tale

The Heritage Players are in full dress rehearsals for their latest production, Grammy Grace: A Mid-wife’s Tale set to take the stage March 21 at 6pm and March 22 at 4pm at the United Church Hall in Blackville.

Written by Valerie Sewart of White Rapids this play takes place in April 1949 as Grace Sturgeon prepares to deliver her daughter’s sixth child. With the doctor not likely to make it in time, the expectant father away in a woods camp, and five other children to take care of, Grace has her hands full.

This production will make you laugh, cry and remember a  simpler time. Stewart captures the way life was like back then and audience members will enjoy mention of their neighbors, storekeepers and local landmarks.

Roast beef dinner with a variety of desserts will be catered by the 1st Blackville Pathfinders who are raising funds for their trip to Europe in 2010.

Seating is limited and both shows will likely sell out in advance. Tickets are $25 and are available by calling Lou Anne at (506)625-4336.