Tag: writing

Why Have I Revived The Beat Magazine? It’s a labour of love and more.

by Richard Young

by Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager, The Beat Magazine 2025.

(Pictured: The Beat Arts In London, Issue 1, October 2009. Cover Art by Lionel Morise)

After a nine-year hiatus, I recently revived The Beat Magazine, an independent arts magazine I founded and published from 2009 to 2013, as The Beat Magazine 2025 website.

Since then, several of my peers and contemporaries have asked me one simple question: Why?

It’s a question I have asked myself many times over the last few weeks.

First and foremost, my reason for doing so is my humble attempt to make up for the lack of local arts and culture coverage in the mainstream media over the last several years. Frankly, I think this is criminal in a city the size of London. London and area creatives deserve better.

As one of our volunteer writers, Dawn Lyons, sums it up:

“London’s arts scene is alive with talent, creativity, and passion. It’s full of amazing artists across disciplines who continue to create, perform, and inspire, often without the recognition they truly deserve. I see The Beat Magazine 2025 as a way to showcase that energy and help connect people in the community with the incredible work happening around them.”

Much like the former print publication, the website provides timely, informed local arts news and commentary, and previews and reviews of local arts events. It also includes profiles of the area’s creatives and arts and culture venues. It is ad-free, and subscriptions are free. 

(Pictured: The Beat Magazine, Issue 30, March 2012. We featured Ceris Thomas on the cover. Ceris was appearing in The Drowsy Chaperone, then playing at the Palace Theatre.)

Second, simply because I want to.

Since the print magazine folded in the summer of 2013, I have kept myself busy doing many things.

I wrote freelance for a variety of local print publications, including Lifestyle Magazine, Business London, London, Inc., Professionally Speaking (Ontario College of Teachers), Scene Magazine, and the Villager Group of community magazines.

(Pictured: The Beat Magazine, Issue 25, October 2011. This cover featuring a cast member from Evil Dead: The Musical proved to be one of our most popular ones. We had difficulty keeping our stands stocked!)

I worked part-time/casually at a well-respected London Advertising & Marketing agency, writing copy about heavy industrial machinery. Talk about a learning curve! I thank owners Robert Adeland and Mina Thaler for their patience in teaching me the ins and outs of large cranes, dump trucks, excavators, and the like.

From December 2022 until August 2025, I was the Publicity and Program Department Head for Silver Spotlight Theatre, London’s theatre company that gives those 55 and older a chance to sing, dance, and perform on stage or backstage.

Most recently, I have served on the London Public Library’s Historic Sites Committee, the body that erects plaques around the city commemorating people and places of local historical significance. One project I take particular pride in is an Interpretive Sign Celebrating Wonderland Gardens’ Contribution to London’s Music History, which I prepared in collaboration with the City of London Culture Office. It will be officially unveiled on a date TBD.

(Pictured: The original Wonderland Gardens Outdoor Bandshell. Wonderland opened on May 24, 1935.)

That brings me up to the summer of 2025.

An unexpected medical diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease in July forced me to reevaluate many aspects of my life.

First and foremost, was changing my dietary and exercise habits. Gone are all processed foods, fast foods, and those with high levels of sodium and potassium. No more putting off going to the gym at least three times weekly.

Second, was relieving those things that cause me mental stress and unnecessary anxiety.

At my age (70-something), I decided that I want to fully re-engage with the local arts and culture community, rather than focusing on one aspect of it with my involvement with Silver Spotlight Theatre.

I also want to work at my own beck and call and not be accountable to others who may not always share my at times unbridled enthusiasm and relentlessness.

(Pictured: The final issue of The Beat Magazine, Summer 2013, featuring London dancer and choreographer, Amy Wright, on the cover)

In short, reviving The Beat Magazine seemed to be the best course of action to follow at this point in my life.

Has it taken up a lot more of my time than I thought? Hell, yes! But it’s my time and I love it.

Is there any financial return? Hell no! It’s strictly, to use the old cliche, a labour of love.

So, welcome to the new Beat Magazine in the form of The Beat Magazine 2025 website!

Let us know what you would like us to cover. Let us know if you would like to volunteer some writing about the local arts and culture scene. Let us know how we’re doing. What’s working and what’s not working.

Contact me at richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager, The Beat Magazine 2025, https://thebeatmagazine2025.ca/

Feature Story: Introducing London and Area Theatre Companies and Groups

by Richard Young

The Beat Magazine was London’s premier independent arts print magazine from 2009 to 2013. After a long hiatus (nine years!), I reactivated its website as The Beat Magazine 2025 in late July.

My reason for doing so is straightforward. My goal is to gather together in one place the local arts and culture news that the mainstream London media outlets no longer seem interested in covering, unless there are exorbitant advertising dollars involved.

Since going live online, thebeatmagazine2025.ca has published Weekly Arts & Culture listings, Q&A Interviews with local musicians and artists, Media Releases about local Arts & Culture events, reprinted theatre Reviews from Entertain This Thought, and other general arts news, most of which has not been reported in the local media.

In mid-August, I invited all known active London and area theatre companies – community and professional – to participate in a Feature Story profiling them and their 2025-2026 seasons. Each company/group was sent a generic Questionnaire designed to enable me to gather the necessary information. Most (but, unfortunately, not all) responded with the information I was seeking.

Some companies/groups had lots to say, others not so much.

In light of this, I have decided to organize the responses in a Q&A format using the eight Guide Questions I sent to the companies.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting a new Local Theatre Q&A every other day.

Posts will appear alphabetically, beginning with London’s AlvegoRoot Theatre.

AlvegoRoot Theatre – Telling local stories and creating local theatre of Southwestern Ontario. An Interview with Adam Corrigan Holowitz.

Q When was your company founded? By whom and why? 

AlvegoRoot Theatre was founded in 2009 by Adam Corrigan Holowitz. Over our first three seasons, we found our mission to develop local plays which speak directly and meaningfully to London and the Souwesto Region.

Q Is your company best described as professional or not-for-profit community theatre?  

AlvegoRoot is a professional theatre ensemble that primarily focuses on presenting local plays and supporting new play development. A quick note of clarification: not-for-profit vs non-profit. I am not a tax expert by any means, so I may not have the finer points down, but a non-profit exists for the advancement of social good (this can include clubs or recreational organizations) whereas a not-for-profit means any organization that does not have shareholders or an owner to benefit directly based on revenue. Almost all theatres in Canada operate on a not-for-profit basis, meaning they do not have shareholders. This includes most professional theatres. The artists and employees being paid for their labour does not make the venture for one. There are very few commercial for-profit theatres in Canada; Mirvish is the most notable. So, the distinction I generally make is between professional theatre and community/amateur theatre. Both are important, and both take different kinds of sacrifice.

Q Does AlvegoRoot Theatre have a Mission or Statement of Purpose? 

Telling Local Stories, Creating Local Theatre

London Ontario’s AlvegoRoot Theatre supports the work of local playwrights and puts local stories onstage. 2025 marks AlvegoRoot Theatre’s 17th Season. Over those 17 seasons we have produced over 67 productions, 29 of which were world premieres of local plays. At The Manor Park Memorial Hall, AlvegoRoot presents theatre year-round, dedicated to providing a range of dynamic theatre experiences for audiences and supporting the growth of professional regional theatre makers.

Q What venue(s) do you use to stage your productions? 

Our home base is The Manor Park Memorial Hall, where we present plays and special events year-round. We are honoured to manage and develop The Manor Park Memorial Hall into a performing arts venue that hosts the work of theatre artists and musicians from across our city. We also produce a summer production annually in June or July at Fanshawe Pioneer Village. We have been partnering with Fanshawe Pioneer Village since 2014.

Q Does your company have a Board of Directors and paid Staff?

Adam Corrigan Holowitz is the Artistic Director of AlvegoRoot Theatre, and Kydra Ryan is the Associate Artistic Director.

Q Tell me about your 2025-2026 Season. Does it have any underlying theme?

This season, our three mainstage productions, Medical Wonder, London Fog, and Sleigh Without Bells, have all had an overarching elemental theme of fire. The characters in each play must reconcile with humanity’s ability to create the means for destruction. In Medical Wonder, the character of Dr. Imogen Volek chooses between using her medical research as a means for healing or a means to create a biological weapon. In London Fog, the characters of Victoria and Albert use arson to disrupt and disturb the elite of Edwardian London. Finally, in Sleigh Without Bells, the massacre of the Donnelly Family of Biddulph is central to the play.

Q What show(s) will you be staging this fall? Tell me a little bit about each. 

This fall, we present Sleigh Without Bells: A Donnellys Story by James Reaney (October 22) and a theatrical concert version of Colleening: The Letters and Poetry of Colleen Thibaudeau (Nov 7 – 9).

About Sleigh Without Bells:
Lost in a blizzard, a young man finds himself at the Donnelly farmstead, the one place his father warned him not to tread. Now entangled in the darkest period in the lives of the Donnellys, his own life is in danger.

Written by James Reaney
Directed by Kydra Ryan
Performed by Adam Corrigan Holowitz.

About Colleening:
Going COLLEENING is always an adventure for the friends of the great London poet Colleen Thibaudeau. You never know where you may end up. Her letters and poems create a captivating journey through childhood memories, home life, and Canadian culture.

Featuring songs based on her poems by Oliver Whitehead and Stephen Holowitz, this theatrical concert celebrates a seminal figure in Canadian literature with all the playful intensity and tender wit for which Colleen was known.

Directed and Created by Adam Corrigan Holowitz
Text by Colleen Thibaudeau
Music by Oliver Whitehead and Stephen Holowitz
Music Direction by Stephen Holowitz
Featuring Katy Clark, Paul Grambo, Kydra Ryan

This concert version of Colleening is part of Colleening 2025, a grassroots celebration of the centenary of acclaimed London poet Colleen Thibaudeau (1925-2012).

Q Do you have any thoughts about the London area theatre community and your part in it? 

AlvegoRoot strives to create productions and events where our community can have meaningful interactions with live theatre. A goal of our work is to nurture rich relationships between the audiences, the artists, and the plays in a space where all members of the community can feel welcomed, needed, and comfortable to engage with theatre that tells our local stories and speaks to our local community.

The Souwesto arts movement, of which James Reaney and Colleen Thibaudeau were prominent members, greatly influences our work. The use of local stories, people, and geography is central to AlvegoRoot. Reaney’s playwriting influences me through aesthetics, poetry, and symbolism to tell local stories. Thibaudeau’s ability to saturate her poetry with local and personal details has influenced our writing and theatre-making. While a wide range of writers and theatre artists influence our work, Reaney and Thibaudeau’s work continues to influence AlvegoRoot on a spiritual level more than any other artists.

For more information about AlvegoRoot Theatre and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.alvegoroottheatre.com/

You can also follow AlvegoRoot Theatre on Facebook and Instagram.

Dorothy Parker On Writing.

by Richard Young

(Source: Writers Write)

How do you actually write out a story?

‘It takes me six months to do a story. I think it out and then write it sentence by sentence—no first draft. I can’t write five words but that I change seven.’

How do you name your characters?

‘The telephone book and from the obituary columns.’

Do you keep a notebook?

‘I tried to keep one, but I never could remember where I put the damn thing. I always say I’m going to keep one tomorrow.’

How do you get the story down on paper?

‘I wrote in longhand at first, but I’ve lost it. I use two fingers on the typewriter. I think it’s unkind of you to ask. I know so little about the typewriter that once I bought a new one because I couldn’t change the ribbon on the one I had.’

How about the novel? Have you ever tried that form?

‘I wish to God I could do one, but I haven’t got the nerve.’

Do you think economic security an advantage to the writer? 

‘Yes. Being in a garret doesn’t do you any good unless you’re some sort of a Keats. The people who lived and wrote well in the twenties were comfortable and easy living. They were able to find stories and novels, and good ones, in conflicts that came out of two million dollars a year, not a garret. As for me, I’d like to have money. And I’d like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that’s too adorable, I’d rather have money. I hate almost all rich people, but I think I’d be darling at it.’

The Paris Review interview by Marion Capron

Change is a fact of life.

by Richard Young

Most people reach a stage or point in their lives when circumstances, often beyond their control, necessitate major lifestyle changes.

In my case, it was a recent, unexpected diagnosis of Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease as a result of the Type 2 Diabetes I have lived with for over a decade. Although I have managed it reasonably well, keeping my A1C at 7.0 (3-month blood sugar average) or under, it has taken an unavoidable toll on my kidneys.

During a three-hour consultation at London’s Kidney Care Centre, I was informed that unless I make major changes to my diet, especially curtailing my intake of sodium (salt) and foods high in potassium and phosphorus, and adopting a more rigorous exercise regimen, I will be looking at the prospect of dialysis within two years.

Now, that is a sobering thought!

In addition to diet and exercise changes, they recommended that I avoid any undue stress in my life. Hmm….

Since retiring from my thirty-year high school teaching career in 2008, I have lived my life using the motto: “Retired, not Expired!”

Hence, I have pursued various activities and interests to keep myself active and engaged.

In 2009, a group of my fellow freelance writers and artists launched The Beat Magazine, a monthly independent arts and culture magazine. I assumed the combined roles of Publisher and Managing Editor, while my good friend, Nicole Laidler, became the Editor, responsible for gathering and editing the magazine’s content. Somewhat arrogantly, we called ourselves “London’s premier independent arts print magazine and leading source of informed local arts news.”

Despite bleeding money for most of our existence (publishing a profitable arts magazine in London is no easy task), it was a great ride, and we lasted until 2013 before the money finally ran out. Today, I maintain The Beat Magazine 2009 as a website and Facebook page.

After The Beat folded, I began freelance writing for other local publications, including, at one time or another, Lifestyle, Business London, London Inc., Scene, and the Villager Publications group of community magazines.

I also took on a casual part-time copywriting position at Marketing Strategies & Solutions, an advertising house that specialized in promoting heavy industrial equipment and services. Now, that was a learning curve!

In 2023, at the invitation of my former teaching colleague, Art Fidler, who had just founded Silver Spotlight Theatre, a community theatre group for people 55+, I agreed to put together a profitable performance Program for the group’s first production, Babes In Arms. The role expanded to publicizing the show in the local mainstream media and social media platforms.

I did the program and publicity for Silver Spotlight Theatre’s production of Into The Woods in November 2024.

I also publicized the highly successful variety show, Groovin’ for Good, a fundraiser for the London Food Bank in May 2025.

I had planned on doing the publicity and program for Silver Spotlight Theatre’s next production, Showtune, in December 2025. But the several factors that had caused me undue stress in my SST role, combined with my unexpected CKD diagnosis, prompted me to step away from the role late in July.

However, I’m not throwing in the towel altogether on my love of the local arts and culture scene, especially community theatre.

It’s the main reason I have reactivated The Beat Magazine 2009 website after an eleven-year hiatus!

It will give me the autonomy to do what I want, when I want, and how I want.

Please join me in this next step in my life journey at http://www.thebeatmagazine2009.ca

Thanks for reading this Blog post.