New Brunswick's beloved summer festival is back!
Here's the full schedule of events for the 2021 Festival By The Marsh.

(For more details see Festival Schedule Details below)

Janet Crawford – Artist-in-Residence
August 7th – 14th
Sackville artist Janet Crawford will be creating a mosaic on-site at Fort Beausejour NHS on-site from 12 noon to 4 pm August 7 – 14, and also from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm from August 11 – 14.

Sunday, August 8
7:30 pm – A Songwriters’ Circle with Kenny James, Alex Madsen and Jason Haywood - at Mel’s Tearoom, 17 Bridge St. Tickets are pay what you can. To reserve a seat click here.

Wednesday, August 11
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s hilarious comedy. At Fort Beausejour NHS, inclement weather location at St. Mark’s Anglican Church Hall, Aulac. To reserve tickets click here. Admission by donations.

Thursday, August 12
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company. At Bill Johnston Memorial Park. Entrance by donation. No need to book tickets in advance.
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. To reserve tickets click here.

Friday, August 13
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – see Wednesday August 11 listing for details. To reserve tickets click here.
8:00 pm – The Lockdown Trio Blues concert presented in collaboration with the Tantramar Blues Society. At Ducky’s Pub. More information on tickets coming soon.

Saturday, August 14
10 am – Eco Story Writing Workshop - presented by the Live Bait Young Company. To register click here.
1 pm – The Good, the Bard, and the Ugly presented by Live Bait Theatre – written by and featuring Michelle Daigle, Ron Kelly Spurles, and Don Rigley
At Fort Beausejour NHS, rain location at St. Mark’s Anglican Church Hall, Aulac. To reserve tickets click here. Admission by donations.
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – see Wednesday August 11 listing for details. To reserve tickets click here.

Sunday, August 15
1 pm – NotaBle Acts Theatre Company presents two award winning one-act plays - Life Goes On by Muriel Falkenstein – directed by Julianne Richard and MAD About Van Horne by Ron Kelly Spurles – directed by Alex McAllister. More details coming soon!
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performer's Theatre Company – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
8 pm – Celebrating Acadian Heritage En bilingual A Bilingual show celebrating Acadian Day with Frantically Atlantic. More details coming soon!

_________________________________________

Festival Schedule Details
Janet Crawford – Artist-in-Residence August 7th – 14th

Sackville artist Janet Crawford will be creating a mosaic on-site at Fort Beausejour NHS as part of the Festival. During this artist's residency Janet is looking forward to spending quality time examining and exploring the wide expansive landscape which Fort Beausejour overlooks.  Using the ancient technique of glass shards and mortar she will create mosaic works which will interpret this rich historical place.
Janet Crawford has been exploring the techniques of mosaic art making for over 10 years now. These explorations have included both representative and abstracted imagery using stained glass, vitreous glass tiles, smalti and stone.  Her varied background as singer songwriter and business owner (Fog Forest Gallery) influence her art practice.

Janet will be on-site from 12 noon to 4 pm August 7 – 14, and also from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm from August 11 – 14 (“Midsummer Night’s Dream” performance nights).

Sunday, August 8
7:30 pm – A Songwriters’ Circle with Kenny James, Alex Madsen and Jason Haywood. Join these three stellar singer/songwriters from Southeast New Brunswick as they discuss their songwriting process and perform some of their original material.
[Performer bios]
At Mel’s Tearoom, 17 Bridge St. Tickets are pay what you can. To reserve a seat click here.

Wednesday, August 11

6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare.
To reserve tickets click here.
Shakespeare’s hilarious comedy with fairies, mortals’ misadventures, and a group of well-intentioned but hopeless Mechanicals presenting one of the funniest plays within a play ever written. Performed in the stunning ruins of Fort Beausejour National Historical Site in Aulac NB (just 5 minutes east of Sackville).
Running time approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. Please bring bug spray and a chair if you desire one. Layers are recommended as the Fort can get cool in the evenings.
At Fort Beausejour NHS, inclement weather location at St. Mark’s Anglican Church Hall, 59 Mt Whatley Loop Rd, Aulac (5 minutes from Fort B). To reserve tickets click here (reservations are not required for the Fort, but they will be used to admit people to our rain venue which has limited capacity). Admission by donations.

Thursday, August 12

3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company
There once was a mayor who had a lovely daughter. The mayor also had an evil servant who liked to steal things. And then there was a troupe of actors who the mayor didn't like but that his daughter did like. And so the story gets complicated from there, so just come along and watch a fun, rollicking family play this summer. At Bill Johnston Memorial Park. Entrance by donation. No need to book tickets in advance.

Sponsored by the Sackville Rotary, Atlantic Windows, Soper Physoitherapy, Home Hardware and the Town of Sackville.

6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – see Wednesday August 11 listing for details. To reserve tickets click here.

Friday, August 13
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – see Wednesday August 11 listing for details. To reserve tickets click here.
8:00 pm – The Lockdown Trio Blues concert presented in collaboration with the Tantramar Blues Society.
Three funky, soulful songwriters come together to form Lockdown Trio: a powerhouse band and song circle in one package. Kim Dunn, Chris Kirby and Geoff Arsenault are among the most sought-after craftsmen in East Coast music today, with years of experience as both solo artists and side musicians for some of Canada’s finest. These days, you can find them performing together as members of Matt Andersen & the Big Bottle of Joy. Lockdown Trio’s music is a unique blend of roots, blues, folk and jazz - caulk-full of rolling pianos, slide guitars, and swampy rhythms. Each award-winning member brings something special to the melting pot, and the result is a show that transports you through space and time from pre-war Mississippi to 1960’s Chicago, with so much New Orleans flavour along the way you can taste the gumbo. There is no “front man” - just three exciting musicians taking turns leading the ace band through original and classic songs that will have you grooving, singing, laughing, and looking for more. Sponsored by Live Bait Theatre, The Marshlands Inn, Rod Allen, Ducky’s, and CHMA.
At Ducky’s Pub. More information on tickets coming soon.

Saturday, August 14
10 am – Eco Story Writing Workshop - presented by the Live Bait Young Company. A writing workshop designed to help young people create stories on environmental themes. For Middle School aged students. Free. Sackville United Church, 110 Main St. To register click here.
[PHOTO(S) FROM GBU]
1 pm – The Good, the Bard, and the Ugly presented by Live Bait Theatre – written by and featuring Michelle Daigle, Ron Kelly Spurles, and Don Rigley
Will Shakespeare needs a new play for the Queen – in less than a week. Desperately he puts together bits and pieces of plays he’s been working on but has yet to produce. The result is a show with many of Shakespeare’s most famous characters, speaking some of his most famous lines – out of order, to the wrong character, and sometimes confused with other lines! The outcome is a humorous smorgasbord of love lost, love found, lust, dramatic tension and absurdity with love potions, sleeping potions and death potions! All of this, and music to boot.
At Fort Beausejour NHS, rain location at St. Mark’s Anglican Church Hall, 59 Mt Whatley Loop Rd, Aulac (5 minutes from Fort B). To reserve tickets click here. (reservations are not required for the Fort, but they will be used to admit people to our rain venue which has limited capacity). Admission by donations.
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
6:30 pm – A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare – see Wednesday August 11 listing for details. To reserve tickets click here.

Sunday, August 15
1 pm – Notable Acts Theatre Company presents two award winning one-act plays - Life Goes On by Muriel Falkenstein – directed by Julianne Richard and MAD About Van Horne by Ron Kelly Spurles – directed by Alex McAllister.
Life Goes On - March to June, 2020. Six students are given an assignment, somehow as mundane as it is unthinkable: make a video time capsule, for the strangest year of your life, the one where time is now standing still. Interestingly, life does find a way to happen even if it does so in a tangle. The digital age creates webs across the stage, as love, interpersonal dramas, social conquest, and all the timeless problems of teenagers find new outlets in Zoom chats and journals rife with topical references, as their minds buzz with burning cities, melting ice caps and an increasingly uncertain future. Featuring performances by Nicole Zacharuk, Alex Dawson, Reinaldo Cascante, and Megan Murphy.
MAD About Van Horne - It is 100 years ago, and a St. Andrews barn is playing host to a half-baked rehearsal. Grace Mowat and her Music And Drama society are to put on a play about the town hero, railroad magnate and owner of Minister’s Island William Cornelius Van Horne, in the hopes that his widow, (and other folks of fine society,) might take notice. In this ode to both the dignity and misadventures of amateur theatre, the question is thick in the evening air- does it matter? Will anything have changed after the curtains close? Featuring performances by Dani Brun, Brenna Gauthier, Scott Harris, and Josef Addleman.
More details coming soon!
3 pm – A Banishment of Poets by Sue Rose presented by the Performers' Theatre Company - – see Thursday August 12 listing for details.
8 pm – Celebrating Acadian Heritage En bilingual A Bilingual show celebrating Acadian Day - Michelle Daigle and Don Rigley, of Frantically Atlantic, will be featuring their favorite francophone songs and tunes.
Frantically Atlantic is a musical duo based in Fredericton. Their instruments include fiddle (violin), vocals, hammered dulcimer, Irish bouzouki, bodhran (Irish drum), tin whistles, guitar, concertina and spoons. In their combined history tjey have served up their bill of fare in the Maritimes, Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario, New England and Ireland. Their digital album “Frantically Atlantic” was on the “Top 60 Albums of Atlantic Canada List” of 2017 through East Coast Rising, and it was nominated for the 2018 Music NB Awards in the category of traditional/roots artist of the year.
More details coming soon!