THE RIMERS

“The students get a very thorough and
first-rate introduction to theatre in our
program,” says Young. “It's beginning
to show, too, because our audience is
growing. | think many people were at
first surprised by the high calibre of our
productions.”

Last fall, the theatre students had a
great success with the musical
comedy Where's Charley. Several
nights of their two-week run were sold
out, and the critics were impressed
with the students’ performances and
the elaborate sets and costumes.

Young says this production will be
quite different from previous ones
since they have seldom undertaken
dramotic or experimental theatre, but
he says people can still expect a very
entertaining and thought-provoking
evening.

“The actors are facing an enormous
challenge. The characters use coun-
trified language and they have a great
deal of difficulty expressing their feel-
ings. It’s sort of a poetic drama.”

Throughout The Rimers, scenes flow
in and out of one another, and at times,
several scenes occur simultaneously.
Time frames also shift without obvious
transpositions; yet Wilson manages to
maintain a level of coherency from
beginning to end by using repetitions
and strong correlations between
scenes, says Young.

Although, the play relies heavily on
technical effects, “this highly stylized
drama is accessible to anyone,
whether they are regular theatre-
goers or not.”

“The message is very powerful. It's
about the violence and injustice we do
to ourselves and to others through nar-
rowmindedness and _ intolerance. |
think people will be moved: it’s a pretty
enduring theme,” says Young.

 

The Rimers of Eldritch opens on March

18 at 8:00 P.M. at the 350-seat
Douglas College Performance Theatre
in New Westminster. The play will run
March |8th through 2Ist and again
from March 24th to 28th. Tickets are
$6.00 for general admission and $4.50
for students and seniors. On Tuesday,
March 24th a special admission price
of $2.50 will be available for everyone.
Reservations may be made by calling
520-5488.

CO-OP
EMPLOYMENT
TRAINING
GRANT
RECEIVED

Douglas College will start preparing
women for employment in the co-
operative sector of the economy this
month following the announcement of
a federal job re-entry grant aimed at
job training for a potential growth area
of the economy.

“This program takes an entirely new
approach to dealing with job re-entry
problems for women by focusing on
co-operative employment,” says Rita
Chudnovsky, Douglas College
Community Programmer.

The new program, Co-operative Em-
ployment for Women, will train 20
women who have been out of the
workforce for the last three years in
job-specific skill areas - computer
technolgy (word processing, data-
entry and graphics); and _ food
management and merchandising -
emphasizing preparation for employ-
ment in co-operative enterprises.

The training will run from March 23 to
September 18 this year, at Douglas
College in New Westminster and at a
number of co-operative work situ-
ations where participants will gain
practical work experience. The train-
ing will include communication skills,

 

 

confidence building and _ career
awareness, in addition to job-specific
skills, in order to overcome some of the
barriers many women face in returning
to the workforce.

Co-operatives have several advant-
ages over other businesses for many
job re-entry women, says
Chudnovsky.

“Women are often not equipped to
compete for jobs after being out of the
workforce for awhile, especially with
continuing high unemployment and
shrinking opportunities in traditional
areas. In co-operatives, women can
learn a trade and pick up business
skills, be involved in the decision-
making, build self-confidence and
share all the resources.”

Chudnovksy also says the co-
operative sector plays a significant
economic role in Canada in a wide
range of areas, from resource to
service industries. Citing the 1984
Report of the National Task Force on
Co-operative Development, she says
co-operative organizations had over
12 million memberships in 1982, and
in 1980 revenues of co-ops topped
$15 billion.

“Co-operatives provide an interesting
potential for employment creation in
our economy, and quite often that is
stable employment.”

For further information about Co-
operative Employment for Women,
two information sessions will be held
at Douglas College on March |! and
March 16, or contact Rita Chudnovsky
at Douglas College Community
Programs & Services, 520-5473.

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