The Opeongo Line

The Opeongo Readers’ Theatre offers this special edition show with Cathy Chapeskie, Joshua Blank, Peter Glofcheskie, Angela Lorbetskie, Shirley Mask-Connolly and Theresa Prince – all reading from their latest local history research and telling the story of how our local Kashubians came to Renfrew County.

The Opeongo Readers’ Theatre offers up this special edition show with Cathy Chapeskie, Joshua Blank, Peter Glofcheskie, Angela Lorbetskie, Shirley Mask-Connolly and Theresa Prince – all reading from their latest local history research and telling the story of how our local Kashubians came to Renfrew County.

Born during the Second World War, Joan Archambault grew up on the shores of Victoria Lake before moving to Madawaska. She was a frequent guest on the 10,000 acre estate of one of Canada's richest tycoons; she helped fight a forest fire that nearly destroyed her home, she worked with her grandmother, a part-time undertaker, and when Joan wasn't down at the river swimming or fishing, she was often jamming with a rockabilly band.

Five short stories about love and marriage in Springtime by that master of short fiction, O. Henry, read by Lesley Betts, Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke, all members of the Opeongo Readers' Theatre.

Isadore Yantha was born on March 25th, 1933 in Wilno, Ontario, famous as Canada's first Polish-Kashub settlement. Now 88-years old, he talks with 'Back in the Day' host, Martina Coulas, about his life and times growing up on a rugged hard-scrabble farm, making a name for himself in the local timber industry as a skidder man, and living for the pure joy of dancing the night away with his young wife, Monica, at Plebon's Lakeside Pavilion.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a rousing selection from Lady Gregory's curious research concerning the Patron Saint of Ireland. Drawn for ancient Irish manuscripts and the 1,500-year-old story-telling tradition of the Emerald Isle, this episode contains everything from an old Irish monk praising his cat, Pangur Ban, to a wild, insult-filled debate between Patrick and Oisin about the merit's of Christianity versus the the joys and sorrows of being the last living member of Ireland's mythological band of great men, the Fianna.

Ruth Coulas was born in 1927 on a farm near Cross Lake, six miles from Madawaska, Ontario. At 94 years of age, Ruth tells a story of her life and times second to none. Funny, fiesty and full of remarkable eye-witness observations of the social history of the Upper Madawaska Valley in the early and mid-20th Century Ruth talks with Back in the Day host, Martina Coulas.

Ruth Coulas was born in 1927 on a farm near Cross Lake, six miles from Madawaska, Ontario. At 94 years of age, Ruth tells a story of her life and times second to none. Funny, fiesty and full of remarkable eye-witness observations of the social history of the Upper Madawaska Valley in the early and mid-20th Century Ruth talks with Back in the Day host, Martina Coulas.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre celebrates winter with twenty traditional poems drawn from famous Canadian, British and American poets, everything from light verse to weighty words worthy of a BBC mini-series. We also have a bone-chilling reading of Jack London's classic short story, "To Build a Fire."

Martina Coulas, host of 'Back in the Day,' chats with 95-year-old Maxie Mintha, that much beloved former businessman of Barry's Bay who recalls all manner of things about his home town, and none more pleasing than his main street bakery where locals enjoyed his wife, Susan's, oven-warm homemade bread and cinnamon rolls.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents the second part of Dr. Francis Codd's 1847-1852 Letters, about his practice of medicine and his many adventures throughout Renfrew County in it's earliest days. An entertaining and informative look at life in the Upper Ottawa Valley nearly 175 years ago. Performed by Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Kristian Marchand and Lynn Stewart.

Host Martina Coulas presents another episode of 'Back in the Day,' this time with Freeda Higginson who grew up in the little village of Madawaska between the Great War and the Second World War. She saw everything from her hometown picked up and moved inland to make way for a hydro-electric dam in 1942 to seeing the King of England up close and personal.

Host Martina Coulas presents another episode of 'Back in the Day,' this time with Freeda Higginson who grew up in the little village of Madawaska between the Great War and the Second World War. She saw everything from her hometown picked up and moved inland to make way for a hydro-electric dam in 1942 to seeing the King of England up close and personal.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre rings in the New Year with five inspiring tales from Canada's famous author of Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Lesley Betts, Cathy Chapeskie and Carol Peterson perform five short stories that all involve incidents that occur on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. A perfect way to close the door on 2020 and open it on 2021.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents three short stories, all with local interest and all about Christmas: James Elverson's 'Lost on the Limit,' Lucy Maud Montogomery's 'Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket,' and Barry Conway's 'A Christmas Wish.'

'Back in the Day' host Martina Coulas chats with Carman Palubeski about his life growing up in Barry's Bay in the mid-20th century when his parents ran a diner and later a variety store. He also talks about his exotic travel, and his love of reading, music and dancing. He also reveals more than a few interesting stories about some of the great characters he once knew, along with the odd salty local expression.

'Back in the Day' host Martina Coulas chats with Carman Palubeski about his life growing up in Barry's Bay in mid-20th century when his parents ran a diner and later a variety store. He also talks about his exotic travel, and his love of reading, music and dancing. And he reveals more than a few interesting stories about some of the great characters he once knew, along with the odd salty local expression.

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas continues her wide-ranging discussion with Merita Recoskie who talks about growing up in Barry's Bay during the Second World War and pursuing a career in nursing. With an amazing power of recall, Merita vividly describes life along the main streets of her home town.

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas has a wide-ranging discussion with Merita Recoskie who talks about growing up in Barry's Bay during the Second World War and pursuing a career in nursing. With an amazing power of recall, Merita vividly describes life along the main streets of her home town.

The Opeongo Reader’s Theatre presents a unique collection of eye-witness accounts by young men and women who went off to the Second World War. It includes everything from two letters written by a young woman from Barry's Bay to her older brother serving overseas, to a daring escape from a POW train under cover of darkness as it hurtled through the Ottawa Valley.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents its annual Halloween show, five classic ghost stories including: Anatole France's 'The Mass of Shadows', Guy de Maupassant's 'The Flayed Hand,' Algernon Blackwood's 'A Woman's Ghost Story,' Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Masque of Red Death,' and Myla Jo Closser's 'At the Gate.' Performed by Lesley Betts, Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke.

Local historian Mark Woermke presents a fascinating look at 31 German-speaking families who emigrated to Renfrew County, Ontario between 1858 and 1900, looking closely at six particular families who settled near Rockingham and noting what happened to them after they arrived.

Martina Coulas talks with Beth and Johnny Hilderbrandt about how they first met, Beth's first trip to Barry's Bay by train, and Johnny's early life growing up here on a farm. Forever young, the Hildebrandts offer up great stories about hog-wrassling in the old railway stockyard, sneaking into the Exchange Hotel underaged, and helping to save the old Barry's train station.

The Opeongo Line presents Martina Coulas in conversation with two Lorbetskie women; first, Martina speaks with Julia Lorbetskie who was born nearly 101 years ago near Paugh Lake, four miles north of Barry's Bay. After she married, she moved into town where she and her husband Johnny raised six children, including their youngest daughter, Connie, who Martina speaks with and learns of her abiding joy in having the good fortune of growing up in Barry's Bay in the 1950s and 1960s.

This second interview conducted by Martina Coulas deals with the local history of two Lorbetskie women. First, Martina spoke with Julia Lorbetskie, the nearly 101-year-old mother of her youngest daughter Connie, who in this second interview speaks about growing up in the village of Barry's Bay in the 1950s and 1960s

Lesley Betts and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present new documentary evidence that reveals in significant detail the early life of John Samuel James Watson, Rockingham's man of mystery. An inspirational leader and founder of one of the most productive and progressive villages in Renfrew County in the latter half of the 19th century, Watson was also a man with a shocking secret that he successfully managed to hide until now.

Back in the Day host Martina Coulas talks with William J. Goulet, a young man who arrived from Eganville in the early 1960s and established Barry's Bay's first funeral home. And when Bill wasn't getting ready for the next funeral, working in a hardware store, checking hydro meters, driving ambulance, or working for the school board, every Saturday night he was dancing up a storm down at the Lakeside Pavilion.

'The Local' host Sean Conway chats with Joshua Blank, author of "Stills in the Hills: Moonshine Memories from Around Canada's First Polish Kashub Community," an award-winning article about illegal moonshine made in the Wilno hills.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present The Boogie Man, or what happens one summer afternoon in 1897 when Biddy Culhane, a milk-maid from Maynooth meets Taig Harrington, a shepherd from Douglas in the OA & PS Train Station in Killaloe. Performed by Kristin Marchand, Lynn Stewart and Jeff Bowman.

In the first of a two-part series about John S.J. Watson, the much-fabled founder of Rockingham, Lesley Betts and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre reveal new documentary evidence about Watson's exotic life prior to emigrating to Canada where he built one of the most progressive 19th century villages in all of Renfrew County.

During the Second World War, Theresa Prince was born near Barry's Bay on a small, hard-scrabble farm with no electricity, no indoor plumbing and no easy chance to live out her dreams. Yet her story is more than just about her irrepressible courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It's really a story about the heart and soul of our local culture and heritage.

Four short stories taken from James Joyce's The Dubliners: Araby, Eveline, The Boarding House and Counterparts, each one a revelation, if not an epiphany. Read by Jeff Bowman, Cathy Chapeskie, Lynn Stewart and Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre.

A special Canada Day celebration with Arthur Milnes, a curious Canadian, who regales us with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our Canadian Prime Ministers and other world leaders.

A special Canada Day celebration with Arthur Milnes, a curious Canadian, who regales us with a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at our Canadian Prime Ministers and other world leaders.

The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present three oral histories collected in the Upper Madawaska Valley in the early 1990s. They include Rose Burchat Chapeskie (1909-2000), Evelyn Hildebrandt Villeneuve (1919-2002) and Bernice O'Grady Billings (1926-2005).

Jeff Bowman, Kristin Marchand and Mark Woermke perform three classic ghost stories as The Opeongo Readers' Theatre presents Saki's Open Window, Edgar Allan Poe's Tell-tale Heart and W.W. Jacobs' Monkey's Paw.

In this year of Covid-19 when every major social event seems to be cancelled, our intrepid Opeongo Readers' Theatre arrives just in time to help celebrate Victoria Day like only Canadians do, and like only a village with a curious Balmoral connection to Queen Victoria can. Listen to some unique historical moments in the life of the 19th century England, as well as one very giddy British ghost story by Canada's favourite humorist, Stephen Leacock.

Mark Woermke of The Opeongo Readers' Theatre performs some of Robert Service's best-loved poems -- The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Cremation of Sam McGee -- along with some other unique works, appropriate for a pandemic. It's a performance bound to lift your spirits.

Join Rural Roots' host Mark Woermke as he rides in an old half-ton truck with two of the locally-famous members of the 1973-74 Women's Hockey Association Champions, Marie Villeneuve and Judy Whelan, as they relive their glory days.

In honour of the Ottawa Valley Irish and St. Patrick's Day, The Opeongo Readers' Theatre present two of Lady Gregory's best Irish comedies, Hyacinth Halvey and The Workhouse Ward, performed at the Hastings Highlands Public Library in Maynooth, Ontario.

For more than fifty years, the social event of Barry's Bay was the annual St. Hedwig’s Summer Picnic. Launched by a young Father Peter B. Biernacki in 1912 to help build his St. Hedwig’s Roman Catholic Church in 1914, this little village picnic quickly outgrew even his wildest dream. It became so widely known in Eastern Ontario that special nine-coach excursion trains would arrive, adding to the thousands of people who were already there for the premier church picnic of the Ottawa Valley.

Three short one-act comedies adapted from Anton Chekhov: A Tragedian In Spite of Herself, The Proposal, and The Bear. Performed in Barry's Bay, Ontario at the old train station on February 9th, 2020 by The Opeongo Readers' Theatre in front of a live audience in honour of St. Valentine's Day.

In the winter of 1847, a young British physician arrived in Montreal and made his way up through the Ottawa Valley, arriving eventually in a tiny backwoods settlement along its western frontier. What he experienced there over the next few years, he put into a set of uniquely vivid letters he sent back to England. Performed by The Opeongo Readers' Theatre at the Pembroke Public Library on January 25th, 2020, those letters provides a unique window into the dark, druidical world that would become Renfrew County.

One of the great institutions of Barry's Bay, The Balmoral started out as a small railway hotel, built in 1894 by Josh Billings in response to the coming of the OA & PS Railroad. Over the next 100 years, it became much more to the local community. Joanne Billings-Olsen reminisces with The Local host, Sean Conway about the life and times of The Balmoral, including working there when she was only eleven years old.

An adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "A Russian Christmas Party" performed live at the old Barry's Bay Train Station on Tuesday, December 10th 2019 by the Opeongo Radio Flyers.