Altona Collegiate - Green and Gold Yearbook (Altona, Manitoba Canada)

Page 21 text:

Festival Drama Competition Although no trophy has yet been designated for the drama class in the Festival, competition in this field was held for the second time this year. Altona Collegiate presented the one-act drama, “Shall We Join the Ladies?” by J. M. Barrie, and received the creditable mark of 86 from adjudicator Mrs. Kay Rowe of Brandon. Mr. Albert G. Braun directed, and Eric Friesen played the lead role. The performances were well attended and met with much approval.

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The Ensemble In previous years an octette of eight singers was chosen from the choir to represent it in places where it was inconvenient for the whole choir to be presented. This year, Mr. Braun added four more to the original eight to make up the Collegiate Ensemble. The ensemble was organized primarily in re¬ sponse to an invitation from the Good Roads Association of Manitoba to provide entertainment at a banquet held in November at the Fort Garry Hotel. We arrived at the elaborate hotel at the specified time and had the “privilege” of viewing the convention and hearing the Honorable Eric Willis from behind the stage curtains! When the tension which was caused by a number of well¬ intending long-winded speakers had mounted to a peak, we were called upon to perform to a very appreciative audience. The numbers we sang were: “The Keel Row,” “The Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” and “A Rovin’ ” to contrast with “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Scarlet Ribbons.” These same numbers were sung at the Variety Concert given by our collegiate during Education Week. The ensemble also sang a number of German and English carols at our collegiate Candlelight Service in December. Due to the lack of solo voices in our choir, some solo parts in the cantata were taken by the various parts of the ensemble. The collegiate ensemble has functioned mainly as a “crystallized’ form of the choir, it is only one of the many activities which help to make our school a more fit place of survival. —Elizabeth Falk. The Collegiate Choir Should a stranger unexpectedly enter the halls of our collegiate sometime during the course of Friday morning, he would hear mingled sounds coming from the auditorium at the south end of the hall. After making sure that the dramatic shouts were only the exhausted efforts of our enthusiastic choir director, Mr. Braun, either to get the basses to sing or else to get the attention of some singer who was already “sticking out like a sore thumb,” the stranger would recognize the “noise” as being that of the collegiate choir at work. At Christmas the choir worked hard to make the annual candlelight carol service a success. The carol service is fast becoming a tradition to Altona residents. This year the choir performed a cantata, “The Miracle of Bethlehem” as well as a number of well known German carols. In February, the choir rehearsed a number of Negro spirituals which formed a part of the Variety Concert rendered by the collegiate one evening during Education Week. A few spirituals that were especially enjoyed were “Lonesome Valley,” “Were You There?” and “Go Down, Moses.” The same evening, the collegiate en¬ semble rendered a number of musical selections which they had used previously in the year in providing entertainment at the Good Roads Con¬ vention in Winnipeg. To climax our school year as far as music is concerned, the choir entered the festival pieces: “O Head So Sorely Wounded,” and “Neighbour’s Chorus,” and tied with Winkler for the Dr. S. S. Toni trophy. And—just by way of explanation: the choir periods do not only mean a chance to get away from routine; a student may enter the auditorium looking “so low,” but he is sure to come out singing! —Elizabeth Falk. 21