20 February 2008
Gaspereau Press Book Adapted for Stage

Gaspereau Press is pleased to announce the upcoming stage production of Harry Thurston’s novella-in-verse, A Ship Portrait (GP, 2005), by Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. The book, which was nominated for the Atlantic Poetry Prize, is a tribute to the life and art of John O’Brien, a nineteenth-century painter of ships. Thurston’s poetry brings to life the stories behind several of O’Brien’s portraits, and details life in Halifax during the Golden Age of Sail.

The adaptation was workshopped last fall, and an $18,000 grant to Ship’s Company from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture & Heritage, announced earlier this week, will enable a full rehearsal and the development of set designs. The first production is scheduled for this summer as part of the Ship’s Company 2008 line-up. A province-wide tour, in conjunction with the Tall Ships itinerary, is planned for 2009.

BACKGROUND
Harry Thurston is the author of several collections of poetry, including Broken Vessel (GP, 2007) and If Men Lived On Earth (GP, 2000). He has travelled widely as a freelance writer for many of North America’s leading magazines, including Audubon and National Geographic. His A Place Between the Tides was shortlisted for the 2004 Drainie-Taylor biography prize and the Dartmouth Book Award. Thurston lives in Tidnish Bridge, Nova Scotia.

Gaspereau Press is a literary publisher and printer based in Kentville, Nova Scotia. The press is committed to literature and the book arts, incorporating a range of modern and antique forms of printing and binding to create books that are distinctive in manufacture and design. Its publications have won numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Evelyn Richardson Prize, the Atlantic Poetry Prize, the Alberta Book Award, and several Alcuin Awards for excellence in book design.

Ship’s Company Theatre was established in 1984. For the first twenty years the theatre was housed in a ship, the M.V. Kipawo, berthed in the Parrsboro harbour. Since 2004 the company has operated out of a new facility built around the ship. The Company is committed to producing the work of Canadian playwrights and to contributing to the culture and economy of the local community.

For more information contact
Beth Crosby at Gaspereau Press
47 Church Avenue, Kentville, NS, B4N 2M7
902-678-6002, info@gaspereau.com