Talented siblings featured in fundraiser

Calgary, Alta.

Photo: Tim Wiebe-Neufeld belts out a tune from PDQ Bach.

The quirky music of PDQ Bach and ensuing laughter filled the basement of First Mennonite church here on October 26, as people gathered to support Trinity Mennonite Church’s building fund. Gerald, Tim, Sheldon and Jon Neufeld, sons of pastors Hugo and Doreen Neufeld, were the featured act. They brought considerable musical and comedic talents that delighted those in the packed room.

The Neufeld brothers described Peter Schikele’s PDQ Bach character as “the last and certainly the least of the great JS’s offspring…the worst musician ever to tread on organ pedals.”

The evening’s entertainment was rounded out in a refined manner by the sparkling performance of 11-year-old pianist Nicolas Schaber. A slide show featuring the work of photographer and musician Sheldon Neufeld urged the audience to care for the earth. Breathtaking scenes of nature were accompanied by original selections on acoustic guitar. Vocalist Val Wedel captured what many were feeling as her resonant voice praised the God of creation.

Donations and sales of Sheldon’s photographs raised a total of $4,292.00.

Having been refused permission to build on land purchased just south of the city limits, Trinity Mennonite is exploring other possibilities for land. Currently the congregation is renting worship space on Saturday evenings. The congregation continues to enlarge its building fund, secure in the vision that God is leading to a new building.—Donita Wiebe-Neufeld










Ted Friesen (left), representing Friesens Corporation of Altona, Manitoba, presents a copy of the new Low German Bible to Marilyn Hudson from Kindred Publications, a Mennonite Brethren publisher. In the background is Hart Wiens from United Bible Societies. Friesens printed the Bible. Publication was a joint effort of Kindred and the Bible Societies, with help from Wycliffe Bible Translators, Mennonite Central Committee and Friends of Plaudietch, a Winnipeg group. The translation built on earlier work by J.J. Neufeld and Ed Zacharias. The Bible will also be used by Low German Mennonites in Canada, Mexico and South America.—From reports, Photo by Elmer Heinrichs

Arts note

Art exhibit

An exhibition, “The Disappearance of the Plains Buffalo,” by artist Jo Cooper, opens on January 16 at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery in Winnipeg. Cooper, originally from Selkirk, Manitoba, lives in Quebec. Her art reflects her Metis roots and love of the environment. Her book, The Disappearance and Resurgence of the Buffalo, serves as a catalogue for the exhibit and is on sale at the gallery. The exhibition, on permanent display at the Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre in Herschel, Saskatchewan, runs in Winnipeg until March 4. The upstairs gallery will feature “From Andrews Street”—art by people of the Andrews Street Family Centre in Winnipeg’s north end. Mennonite Central Committee volunteer Caili Woodyard, a worker at the centre, has coordinated that exhibit.—From Heritage Centre release



Drama winner

Winner of the Governor General’s Award for Drama this year was Vern Thiessen of Edmonton. His winning play was Einstein’s Gift, based on the tragic story of German scientist Fritz Haber who saw his research turn into the first biological weapon in the 1930s. (The play also won the National Jewish Playwriting Competition.) Thiessen, 39, was born in Winnipeg where he attended First Mennonite Church. Beginning as an actor in Toronto, Thiessen began his playwright career with a one-man show called The Courier, based on his father, a post-war emigre from Russia. His dramas, including The Resurrection of John Frum, Blowfish and Apple, have been performed across Canada. Currently Thiessen is artistic director at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and president of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.—From reports



‘Joseph’ in Saskatchewan

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is being performed a number of times in Saskatchewan this winter by a group from Superb Mennonite Church: February 13 at Homecoming Hall in Luseland, 7:30 p.m.; February 14 at the Prairieland Centre in Kerrobert, 7:30 p.m.; February 21 at Muse Theatre in North Battleford, 7:30 p.m. and February 22 at 2 p.m.; February 27-28 at the Community Hall in Rosetown, 7:30 p.m.; and March 5-6 at the Station Arts Centre in Rosthern, 8:00 p.m.