Media Release

For immediate release
February 1, 2006

Elegant Newfoundland play Tempting Providence comes to The Banff Centre stage

Theatre Newfoundland Labrador: Tempting Providence
Thursday, February 16, Friday, February 17, 8 p.m.
Margaret Greenham Theatre, The Banff Centre
Tickets: $16 adult, $13 senior / student / child
Banff Centre Box Office: 762-6301 or 1-800-413-8368

Performed at the National Arts Centre, Edmonton’s Magnetic North Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and on successful tours of England, Ireland, and Canada, Theatre Newfoundland Labrador’s successful original play Tempting Providence comes to The Banff Centre’s Margaret Greenham Theatre on February 16 and 17.

Tempting Providence follows the true story of nurse Myra Bennett, who arrived in Newfoundland from England as one of the region’s first “outport nurses.” In her 50-year career, Bennett traveled by horse, dogsled, and boat up and down distant coasts, providing the only medical care most of her patients would ever see. Known as the “Florence Nightingale of the North”, she landed in Newfoundland in 1921, and went on to deliver more than 700 babies, extract 5,000 teeth, and perform kitchen-table operations by lamplight.

Commissioned from playwright Robert Chafe, Theatre Newfoundland Labrador stages the play on a sparsely dressed stage that highlights the emotional interactions between characters, their stories and motivations drawn from Bennett’s own diaries. The result is an elegant story about a complex woman devoted to her family, her work, and this remote corner of Canada.

Founded in 1979 with an emphasis on telling original regional and Canadian stories, Theatre Newfoundland Labrador is devoted to finding and developing emerging talent. Based in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, the company is engaged in a full winter theatre season, touring productions, and the annual Gros Morne Theatre Festival.

Tickets for all Banff Centre events are available through The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301. The Centre’s Playbill Series continues with: Black Umfolosi (February 18), Colin James (February 24), Cori Caulfield Molt (March 2), Dulcinea Langfelder & Co. (March 4), The Laura Love Band (March 5), Flook (March 10), and much more.

For a print-ready, downloadable image from Tempting Providence:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/media_room/images/playbill/

For more information on The Banff Centre’s Playbill Series:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/events/playbill/