David Ferry - Short Waves/Short Stories

Talk about time flying.

This year we will present the 15th edition of Short Waves/Short Stories, the wildly innovative live theatre experience created by our friend, the Newfoundland-born actor, director and writer David Ferry.

On Sunday we will gather once again at the Legion for an early afternoon libation and some collective listening, as David and his troup of actors and musicians perform one of his original stories, Bannerman Park.

Here’s how David describes it:

It was his first summer as a lifeguard.

Summer of ’67.

Summer of Love.

Centennial Year.

Leyton Elliot was sixteen and working at the Bannerman Park swimming pool in St. John’s.

It was a summer of Expo and new Arts Centres popping up around the province like dandelions and LSD in broken mirror letters on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post and psychedelic pop on VOCM every day from noon to midnight making the denizens of Bannerman Park think they were from California…The summer of the Lovin’ Spoonful and Summer in the City and Scott McKenzie and San Francisco. In the mornings the tinny radio in the supervisor’s office playing Ron Pumphrey’s “Hello my lovelies!” on his VOCM Open Line call-in show or Knowledgeable O’Dea’s competing call-in show on CJON, before someone would tune it to ‘Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly’ music.

This summer Leyton (Leek to his co-workers) was in the big leagues. He had a cherished lifeguard gig. Sitting in the high chair over the deep end. Lathering on the baby oil and iodine mix to turn brown. Teaching the little ones to swim became his specialty. He loved them, they loved him.

And it was a summer of girls.

Before this year he had seen himself as a geek. This summer he had a confidence.

He believed.

He had a lot to learn.

And he would learn it.

The hard way.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 9 at 1PM Newfoundland time via Ticketpro!