A musical covering the history of Regent Park
Community Sponsor RBC along with event producers Innocon, Lafarge, The Daniels Corporation and Artscape presented The Journey – A Living History of the Regent Park Revitalization, a musical that follows the history of the Regent Park community throughout the years and leading up to its current revitalization. The Journey is a community event that tells the stories of Regent Park through the voices of the people living in the neighbourhood.
Written by the president of The Daniels Corporation, Mitchell Cohen, with script adaption by Anne-Marie Woods (playwright and Harry Jerome Award Winner), each year The Journey is created in collaboration with members of the Regent Park community who help shape the stories seen on stage. Under the guidance of Woods, who also acts as creative director, and musical director Henry Heillig (from Juno Award-winning jazz band Manteca and Heillig Manoeuvre), the production combines spoken word, dramatic scenes, music and dance – telling almost 70 years of Regent Park history and its exciting revitalization.
“Directing the Journey for the second year in a row is a very rewarding,” said Woods. “To work with an inter-generational cast that pulls together professional and emerging artists with youth from the Regent Park community is an experience that these young people will never forget. I have had the privilege of watching their growth and interactions during rehearsals which has been nothing short of spectacular.”
The June 19th and 20th musical performance had a multi-talented group of up-and-coming artists and young people from the community, led by Regent Park spoken word artists Trevlyn Kay (5 Fingers 1 Fist) and Britta B (2013 Toronto International Poetry Slam Champion) with R&B singer-songwriter Steve Harmony. The Journey’s local cast has a unique opportunity to share the stage and receive personal mentorship from professional heavyweights like award-winning jazz and blues vocalist Jackie Richardson (Big Mama, The Willie Mae Thornton Story), acclaimed pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo, gospel songstress Lisa Henry and stage veteran Jeremiah Sparks (The Lion King; Drum).
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