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NOW ONLINE: STUMP CITY STORIES archival video free to public starting Canada Day 2020

Celebrate BC history this Canada Day and beyond, with a free online broadcast of 
STUMP CITY STORIES!
Edited archival footage of the 2009 light-hearted musical based on New Westminster's history, along with a talk-back panel of local historians, is available here .

And on facebook  https://www.facebook.com/citystagenewwest/ (Unedited archival musical here.) 

2009 poster design by Lucian Leibman
This Ovation Award-nominated musical by George Ryan was commissioned in 2009 as our contribution to New West's 150th celebration. It was featured news on CBC radio, Omni TV, in Sing Tao Daily and locally. In 2010, it was brought free of charge to over 1500 New Westminster students. A professional cast album was made in 2015 as a cultural legacy gift to the City.  A remarkable cast (the late Broadway actor Sean Allan, Damon Calderwood, Dora Brooks, and Jeremy Lowe) depict lives and events in New West since 1858, including in New West's Yi Fao district, once British Columbia's largest Chinatown.  

 Per union regulations, no sets or costumes were allowed for this filmed Workshop performance in 2009, but the great music, stories, and heart-felt performances prompted enthusiastic responses nonetheless, such as director Scott Swann's of Applause Musicals/Ovation Awards: "Busloads of British Columbians should see this musical!"

Due to Covid 19, special permission was granted by Canadian Actors Equity and the Union of British Columbian Performers to make archival footage available free to the public. We hope the joy of the musical and its tales of resilience will lift hearts once again during these challenging times, as we all--to quote the musical--"imagine the future [we] dream of...now".

Stump City Stories tells only a part of New West's and British Columbia's history. Guest speakers and local historians Wayne Wou, Arwinder Kaur of New Westminster's Sukh Sagar Gurdwara, Oana Capota of New Westminster Museum & Archives, and Gavin Hainsworth, co-author with Katherine Freund-Hainsworth of A New Westminster Album join artistic director Renee Bucciarelli for a chat about New Westminster's diverse communities, and to answer audience questions.
 
2015 professional cast recording CD cover by Kaitlyn Hunter


Link to song lyrics by George Ryan.
Link to Omni TV interview with actor Jeremy Lowe.
Link to 2013 Kickstarter video with show clips.

 Explore our History Resource List of diverse New West stories, videos, texts.

 Find us on Twitter @CityStageNW 
  
City Stage New West wishes to thank Canadian Actors Equity Association and UBCP/ACTRA for their special permission and cooperation, and the City of New Westminster for making this project possible through the Social and Cultural Vibrancy grant.