2 weeks Ago By Michael Oleksyn
MAD Archival Photo Pat Butt and Dale Link performing in Melfort Amateur Dramatics (MAD) production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park in 1982. Melfort Amateur Dramatics (MAD) is celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2025. The group is hosting the TheatreOne Festival on April 24 to 26 at the Kerry Vickar Centre, and that led some longtime members to look back on their involvement.
Peter and Michelle Waldbillig moved to Melfort in 1979 and joined MAD. Michelle said that reaching the 50th year milestone is fantastic. “We have had such a really interesting history throughout the past 50 years and the changes in how we do plays and what kind of plays we’re able to do and the number of people that we’ve had involved,” Michelle said.
“We were saying at our last Christmas Dinner Theatre that when we look at the audience, probably half of the people in Melfort have had a part of doing something involved with MAD over the years. They’re all connected somehow, and not just in the audience, but as being either backstage or on stage or doing something with the advertising,” she added. “It’s amazing the connections we’ve made over the years.
” Peter said it’s even more impressive when you consider how many drama companies no longer exist. “We’re probably one of the few communities that still has a thriving drama company after 50 years,” he said. “When we started there was Prince Albert and Saskatoon and Regina, Swift Current and Weyburn.
Most of those companies no longer have drama, so the fact that we’ve been able to survive and to grow over the years I think speaks well for the community.” Peter and Michelle have a wealth of knowledge about the founding and first few years of MAD. “We missed the first couple of years, but we’ve caught up,” Michelle said.
“I was emceeing the other night and I told the people I’ve only been MAD for just about 50 years,” Peter said. Michelle said that the existence of the MAD House on Main as their rehearsal hall and media call space has been beneficial. They are one of the few groups in the province to have one.
“When we started with MAD, we were rehearsing in people’s basements and finding evenings or afternoons when we could get together downstairs in somebody’s living room or their basement rec room so that we had a place to rehearse,” Michelle said. As the group progressed they went from doing shows in school auditoriums to the Heritage Inn in Melfort. They also had storage areas throughout the city and for a time rehearsed in the basement of the old City Hall.
“We had a space of time where we didn’t have any place to actually perform,” Michelle remembered. “We stored a whole bunch of our stuff over in a storage room at the back of Burke school yard.” Members Keith Woods and Betty Woods bought a warehouse on the south side of Melfort which they used as rehearsal space before the MAD House was in place.
Over the years they also performed at the old Melfort Leisure Centre. “We have been able to do our dinner theatres over at the Kerry Vickar after that became a good building and we do our in-house productions now in our own building,” Michelle said. Michelle said the Heritage Inn was a fine performance venue.
“The only drawback was we had to literally build the stage,” she said. “We would bring all the platforms and the risers and stuff and build our own little stage and our dressing rooms or upstairs. You’d come down the back kitchen area to get on stage, and it was interesting.
It was a fun time.” The group has done a variety of plays in 50 years and since then has only grown. “(We) didn’t have all the fancy lighting or anything like that, and over the years we’ve learned to use lighting and sound equipment and a whole lot of different stage effects and building sets,” Michelle said.
“We’ve learned a lot of things just by going to festivals.” MAD was founded in 1975 after Mary Anderson called a meeting of people who wanted to start a theatre company in Melfort. Michelle said they originally had around 25 members.
The first production came in March, 1975. It was “See How They Run” directed by Mary Anderson. The play cost $1.
50 for adults and was performed in Reynolds School. The group used Reynolds School because member Keith Woods was the principal “A lot of our productions were at Reynolds School because of that,” Michelle said. People from all walks of life were part of the group including people who worked at the Melfort Research Station, educators, lawyers and others have joined in the past 50 years.
“That’s one of the great things about belonging to a theatre group like this because you meet a whole range of people that you normally would never have anything to do with in your regular profession or the workplace,” Michelle said. “You get all of these new ideas and interesting people with fun ideas to do things with. It makes a really enjoyable kind of learning experience as well.
” The group has done many projects working in the community including plays with the Legion for Remembrance Day including with Grade 6 and Grade 7 students. “They were really, really a delight to work with. Then we also did a play out at the exhibition grounds as part of the fair under the tent and had kids and families sitting around while we re-enacted a children’s play,” Michelle said.
They also did two years running productions of Chautauqua under a big tent on Main Street. MAD Archival Photo The first performance of Chataqua in the big tent on Main Street. “That was that was an experience because we had a variety of entertainment from musical numbers to poetry readings, to dramatic readings to a short play.
And the audience was under the tent. Fortunately, it was good weather for most of it, but you had the traffic going by on the street as well, so you were competing with that, but it was just a fun thing to do,” Michelle said. They also did One Act in the Park in Waskesiu and also worked with students from MUCC when the school had no drama program.
They attended their first provincial festival in Saskatoon in 1980. “The first one, we took Marriage Wheel and that was a really fun little group to work with because it was a costume piece. We had to do that with costumes and with special sets for people coming through the windows and things like that,” Michelle said.
They also produced their first radio play in 1980. “That was an experience with learning how to how to do the sound effects a and the storyline,” Michelle said. MAD also produced Travelling Theatre in 2019 and 2023.
The travelling theatre opened at the MAD House and then moved to the Marguerite Riel Centre and Chances R. MAD has also been a part of several workshops. “We bring in someone from TSI (Theatre Saskatchewan Incorporate) who is an accredited director or makeup artist or someone like that,” Michelle said MAD has also done Christmas Dinner Theatre for other organizations like the Wheat Pool, City of Melfort and Melfort Curling Club Banquets.
Members Keith Woods and Betty Woods received the Provincial Volunteer Medal in 1988 for her work with MAD and with the provincial executive. Current members Michelle Waldbilig and Imogene Schick also received provincial recognition Michelle said she remembers the work of Keith and Betty Woods ” They were in a number of plays and they’ve certainly been very strong supporters of MAD,” Michelle said. Louise Claggett was the longtime treasurer for MAD.
“She would come to the rehearsals, and when we did productions in the hotels and whatnot, she did not want to have to get into her costumes backstage. We had to make her a cardboard dressing room backstage for her to get into, so (we) have wonderful, fun memories of things like that,” Michelle said. Peter explained that for MAD’s 40th Anniversary the group put together a booklet called Memories of MAD: 1975-2015.
“There’s been ever so many people that have belonged to MAD, who have acted on our stages,” Michelle said. Peter said the backstage people were just as important as the people on the stage. “The backstage people were just as important as the people who are on stage.
We used to have a man by the name of Terry Fennel, Fennel and he was a genius improvising, creating the smoke and the glitter of that the other Cinderella was able to sprinkle over the Kindergarten kids at Reynolds School,” he said. Michelle said they also used to perform the Passion Play at the Covenant Bible Church. Peter said that they have had a number of ministers involved with the club over the years.
They also did musical numbers with the Kinsmen Lobsterfest and one member performed as Elvis Presley. MAD has also partnered with the Melfort and District Museum for productions such as movies on the founding of the Melfort Co-op and the Beatty Trek of Melfort original resident Reginald Beatty. “We’ve done a couple of those and t you learn very quickly, Emery Nelson was doing sound on that and we ran into issues where you’re trying to film outside.
Well, the wind comes up and you lose half of your sound system,” Both Peter and Michelle said that the work of MAD could not be done without the support of sponsors. “We can’t say enough about the sponsors in Melfort the different organisations and businesses that provide funding and provide things that we require for doing these productions and keeping the club operating because they’re so important,” Michelle said. Peter said they receive support of nearly $6,000 or more which helps them pay taxes on the MAD House, travel and purchase props.
Michelle said that royalties on plays have increased, and the support helps them cover that cost. “The sponsors and our audiences are amazing. They have always really come through for us and they’ve been so good.
The audiences are wonderful because they just cheer us on and tell us how good our plays are and how much they enjoy coming and it. And they keep coming,” Michelle said. Peter noted that the support for theatre from the many senior high-rises is also great.
“That part of it has just been really great to have and to see and it just encourages us, which may or may not be a good thing, but there you go,” Michelle said. michael.oleksyn@paherald.
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