The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

i vr t vv ismu9mo3 artie 9 itrrmkftvs ii economist sun suntribune nancy theatres do the most with the least by roger varley staff writer hoever said the show must go on never had to deal with sars sheldrake and the queensviue players had to con tend with that problem just days before their production of hello dolly was scheduled to open at keswicks stephen leacock theatre in early april the shows leading lady was quarantined by the sars out break forcing the community theatre group to cancel the first week of shows most community theatre groups do not use understudies to cover main roles v for example when a commu nity theatre group in oxbridge just north of whitchurch- stouffville lost its leading man in the man who came to dinner for one night a couple of years ago the director had to play the role reading from the script i strongly believe you dont use understudies because its unfair to the players and the understudies said ms sheldrake president of the queensville group we put extra shows on the following week but we didnt cover our costs it should have been a sellbut losing money hurts we dont have much money in the bank she said such are the trials and tribula tions of amateur theatre groups i- at least some of them 0 markham littletheatre on the other hand is very much alive and doing well according to life time member john storey a member of markham little theatre for 35 of its 37 years and a former president of theatre nancy sheldrake and the queensville players had to contend with sars just days before their production of hello dolly wais scheduled to open at keswicks stephen leacock theatre in early april the shows leading lady was quarantined forcing the community theatre group to cancel the first weekof shows extra shows the following week didnt cover costs staff photosjoerd witteveen ontario mr storey said the group has saved up more than 30000 over the years and recently was given property oh the markham museum grounds to build a rehearsal hall and workshop the move is expected to save the group money since markham little theatre now spends about 14000 a year on rental space mr storey said it helps that such town notables asmayor don cousens regional councillor gord landon and york district school board chairperson bill crothers are strong supporters and companies such as emerson electric and steelcase are treas ured donors it also helps that the 500seat markham theatre the groups home was built and designed for local amateur groups even though professional shows come into the theatre on a regular basis see theatre page 16 novel ideal ays book review novel all hat 308 pages 32 hardcover author brad smith publisher penguin books ray dokes gets out of prison ahd moves back to his small ontario town almost everyone seems happy to see him ri r it might have something to do with the fact he was incarcerated for beating up sonny stanton an overprivileged i thug known for breeding horses blow- ihg rnoneywhile abusing alcohol his employees and women sonny has been buying up farmland in town leaving residents worried about a suburban invasion of their rural con munity ry but disaster strikes sonny when his two nonetoobright lackeys make off with his prize racehorse opening the door to a caper that quite frankly strains all credibility all hat is not going to win any points for originality awardwinning canadian author brad smith has taken a dollop of dick francis a spoonful of elmore 0 leonard and pinches and smidges of various crime writers then canadianized it by setting the action on thedark side of the niagara peninsula like- a highstakes gambler mr smith holds backsome of his cards say- ing a few key details of the backstory until late in the book that and the abundant humour help mitigate a riiain plot that is preposterous to say the least the best aspect of the book is the finely drawn characters particularly dean and paiilie the horseswiping flunkies dean a farmhand who wears knock- off armani suits to work and spends most of his day drinking in the local nudie bar and complaining about his lot in life is the source of the title the old texas cowhand who takes ray into his home refers to dean as all hat arid no cattle even more entertaining is paulie who is believed by all around him to be see watt page 16 i snapshots qf frequents travelled areas g h e c k p u t t h e t r a f 1 i c c am to day n- v yorkre i j- cma 7a- i r nss 1