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Home Arts/Entertainment Local artists Auditions open for ‘Potato Dreams’ in Williams Lake

PostHeaderIcon Auditions open for ‘Potato Dreams’ in Williams Lake

Arts & Entertainment

040612_pot_houseBy LeRae Haynes

Local artist, choreographer and dance instructor Debra McNie is in the process of turning a dream and a vision into stage reality as the date nears for auditions for characters in her collective community theatre project, ‘Potato Dreams,’ which is scheduled to take place following the 2012 Stampede Street Party.

The dream for this production had its beginnings in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Debra McNie was a young girl in Williams Lake and would pass the Potato House with her mother and stop to chat with Manuel and Alcina and see their magnificent garden. 

After leaving for Vancouver in 1965, Debra became a successful choreographer and dance instructor. She said that she returned to the Cariboo in 1992, and when she saw the Potato House and its inhabitants still there, she felt that all was right with the world. 

“I eventually found that Alcina passed away and that Manuel was still there, and then one day the house was empty,” she said. “When I heard about the Potato House project I started doing research about the site. This was a vision for me, and the project was born.  

“I talked to Potato House project instigator Mary Forbes at the open house about what I wanted to do, and the Board said yes.”

It’s now a collective community theatre project. “The ‘community’ I’m reaching out to is all ages and all experiences—Williams Lake, Horsefly, Likely and beyond,” she continued.

“My goal is to open up the theatrical experience in the Central Cariboo in creating an original production. The entire thing is original: the script, the development of characters and all the music.”      

She said that the foundation of the historic fiction story will be a woman visiting the Potato House when she’s in her 60s and finding it empty. “It will include ‘dream sequences’ that will go back and tell the story from the beginning—from when she was a little girl living with her parents in the house and spending time in the potato garden with her father,” she stated. 

“The dream sequences that tell the story will be created and submitted by separate groups and individuals—they will work independently to write it, do the original music, put the costumes together, direct it and stage it. Right now we have around six dream sequences in the works and each one will have a message.”

The deadline for the dream sequence portions is April 10, and auditions open on April 15 for the main characters.

She said that her vision for the production is sustainability for people of the Cariboo—their land, arts and culture.  There will be strong culture and ethnic elements, and it will incorporate the experiences of people who live here. 

Debra explained that she has a personal heritage here that goes back generations, and has roots in Williams Lake that go back and go deep. “I’ve been waiting a long time to try to implement this here. It’s how I like to work—to be inclusive of a wide range of people’s life experiences,” she continued.  040612_pot_house_1

“We will have theatre seats on location at the Potato House and there will be a tour of the Potato House afterward.”  

(Besides being a heritage site in Williams Lake, the ‘Potato House’ is the subject of an upcoming collective community theatre project.)

She said that her experience as a choreographer and a dance instructor has made this process natural for her. “I am used to starting with nothing—simply being inspired by a storyline.  

“Our community is culturally rich, and there are such  pockets of talent in the Cariboo Chilcotin. I’ve always thought that if you build so that everyone can come, they will.     

“In this production the audience is roving and moving on the site—it’s very interactive and individually interpretive,” she said. “It’s like wrinkles and bubbles in time—you let your imagination take you through the experience.” 

If you have a ‘dream sequence’ outline and application form, please submit it no later than April 10, 2012. For more information about the project, contact Debra at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at www.potatohouseproject.com You also can contact Debra at 250-398-6344.

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