On Canada Day close to 50 people gathered at the Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake for a special unveiling of a historic mural. The celebration took place at what was the former site of the old Union Hotel, which later became known as the Sharbot Lake Hotel and was a hot spot in the area for 85 years. Four markers in the ground showed the approximate footprint of the hotel, which once was located across from the former Sharbot Lake railway station, at the intersection of the north/south K&P line and the east/west CPR line. It faced the lake and backed onto Elizabeth Street. Remains of the old hotel include part of a stone wall and an old stone fireplace that was once used for cookouts by the guests.

The hotel was relocated to the site of the present-day mural after an older hotel, which once stood where the Sharbot Lake Medical Centre now stands, burned down in 1888. It was erected four years after the new railway station was built near the site by the CPR.

The hotel was owned and operated by many different owners until 1946, when Herb and Millie Moyst took it over and moved into it with their young son Skip, who still resides in Sharbot Lake with his wife Anita. The hotel was run by the Moysts as a family business. Millie was in charge of the kitchen and Herb acted as host and guide. Son Skip later became a guide and daughter Heather, a waitress.

As it reads on the mural, “The hotel catered to labourers, tourists, commercial travelers, fishermen”, and a host of steady boarders who at one time came by rail and by the mid-fifties came mostly by car. The mural was created by local sign makers Rodger MacMunn and Donna Larocque.

The hotel was open all year but busiest in the summer months. The family ran it solely on their own in the off season. Included in the mural are 19 portraits of some of the people who worked at the hotel from 1946-1970. They include Skip and Anita Moyst, Heather Moyst, Mary Raymond, Sandra (Hansen) Hallam, Janet (Sully) Rhyndress, Doreen (Warren) Kirkham, Ann (MacPherson) Walsh, Howard Hepner, Vicky Closs, Ada Fox, Greta Kierstead, Dean Sly, Lorne Consitt, Herb Campbell, Russell Yateman, Marlene (Donnelly) Beattie and the Moyst's family dog, Jack.

Following her speech at the unveiling, Ann Walsh thanked all involved in the mural project including the Railway Heritage Society and everyone who donated pictures, information and funds to enable the project to be completed. Following Ann's address Skip Moyst, Heather (Moyst) Gillespie, and Mayor Janet Gutowski were brought forward to do the official unveiling and guests were then invited to enjoy a spread of refreshments that included cinnamon buns, also depicted in the mural, which were Millie Moyst's famed specialty item. Unfortunately, after the hotel was sold by the Moysts in 1970, it burned down four years later, in 1974. A detailed history of the Sharbot Lake Hotel will be kept in the caboose museum which visitors can read when the museum is open to the public.

There was standing room only at the cafetorium at Sharbot Lake High School on June 26, where friends and family gathered to celebrate the achievements of the last official graduating class from SLHS. The school is slated to be demolished once the new Granite Ridge Education Centre is completed and that fact made for an especially lively, emotional and very energetic ceremony that saw numerous graduates receive multiple awards, trophies scholarships and bursaries.

The commencement program included addresses by Principal Heather Highet, Vice-principal David Russell, senior management director with the Limestone District School Board, Brenda Hunter, and School Trustee Ann Goodfellow, as well as live musical entertainment courtesy of the SLHS band. Meaghan Kirby introduced the valedictorian of 2013, Cadence Cumpson, whom she described as spirited, kind, genuine, determined, bubbly - in a nutshell - a fireball.

Cadence took on a leadership role in many areas of the school while simultaneously working hard and succeeding academically. She was active in athletics, music, student council and many other special school events. In her address Cadence proved those descriptors to be true and made a very humorous, moving and impassioned speech about the school she entered four years ago as a grade nine newbie and how the staff and students there all helped to shape and inform her. She spoke about many memorable events and her easy speaking nature and fine sense of humour made the final valedictory address a memorable one.

Congratulations to all of the graduates, who will long be remembered as the last to graduate from Sharbot Lake High School.

In a special school closing ceremony at Sharbot Lake Public School put on by current staff and students on June 20, former students and staff had a chance to bid farewell to the school that holds many cherished memories for them.

The current school was built in 1930 and replaced the former one-room school house, which had been erected in 1887 further down the hill from the present site. The public school is slated to close in the upcoming school year when students and staff will be moved to Granite Ridge Education Centre, the new school currently under construction in Sharbot Lake.

The closing ceremony included addresses by Trustee Anne Goodfellow, current and former school council representatives Sarah Sauve and Cheryl Allen, SLPS grade 5/6 teacher Stephanie Leeder and former staff member Pam Woods. Each spoke of what the school has meant to them over the years and remembered SLPS as a small rural school with a big family feel. Each class at the school made a special presentation that included numerous songs and readings and Mrs. Harding wrapped up the presentations with a slide show commemorating the history of the school in photos from both its former and recent days.

School Principal David Allison saved for the end a special presentation- the opening of a school time capsule that was left at the school and meant to be opened in 2020. The capsule included many artifacts from 1999, the year that it was created.

Following the ceremony guests were invited to peruse a number of old and treasured school artifacts that were set up in a special “memory room” and visitors had a chance to leaf through and marvel at the fascinating collection of old notebooks and other school memorabilia kept by former teachers from as far back as the early 1900's.

While many were sad that the small school will be closing its doors for good in the upcoming school year, many expressed their confidence that the move to the new school in Sharbot Lake will make for an exciting change for both staff and students. The special ceremony represented the final chapter at SLPS, the small rural school perched high on a hill overlooking Sharbot Lake, which will long be fondly remembered by the hundreds of students and staff who passed through its doors in its 126-year history.

Citing the impact of a roofers’ strike on the construction schedule, Sharbot Lake High School Principal Heather Highet said last week that the Granite Ridge Education Centre will not be fully operational at the start of the school year in September.

“Until the roofers’ strike, construction was ahead of schedule,” Highet said, “and now the roof is finally going up, but even the contractors will have to wait until it is up and everything is completely dry before they move on to the next step.”

Highet told a group of parents at a meeting in the cafeteria of Sharbot Lake High School last week that the Limestone Board has developed two scenarios for next fall, Plan A and a Plan B. Under Plan A, the new school will be substantially completed by September and the current building will have been demolished. Students in grade 5 or 6 and up will attend Granite Ridge in September, “but students from Kindergarten to grades 4 or 5 will attend at the current Sharbot Lake Public School building until construction is completed,” said Highet.

This includes students who are attending Hinchinbrooke Public School this year and are slated to move to Granite Ridge.

Plan B is a more complicated scenario. It will be put into place if the new building is not substantially completed by September. In that instance students between grades 6 and 12 will be accommodated in the existing Sharbot Lake High School (SLHS) building.

Under Plan B, the existing school will be demolished sometime during the school year. Highet did not know how long the demolition and clean-up would take and SLHS needs to be removed in order for the parking lot and landscaping plan at the site to be completed.

Within the next two weeks a decision is expected concerning which plan will be put into place.

School staff are particularly anxious to find out which plan will come into effect.

“Either we have to pack everything up and put it into storage because this building is being torn down, or we have to prepare to receive students here in the fall, and then move everything over to the new school when it is ready,” Highet said.

Whichever stage the new school is at come September, the bussing for the students to Sharbot Lake will be in place. Gord Taylor, the Executive Director of the Tri-Board transportation consortium, said that most of the students throughout the wide region that is covered by the new school will be picked up at about the same time they were in the past. He acknowledged that a small number of students will be facing a bus ride of over an hour, “but not any more than previously.”

James MacDonald, who is currently the vice-principal at Hinchinbrooke, will be the new vice-principal at Granite Ridge. He said that based in part on a survey of all the students who will be attending the new school, the new school colours will be blue, green and silver, and the school’s mascot will be a Gryphon.

“The choice of colours and of the Gryphon, which has three parts, both recognize the fact that the new school is a coming together of three schools,” MacDonald said.

Melanie Robinson, who heads up the Phys Ed program at Sharbot Lake High School, emceed their annual Athletics Banquet on June 4, where a plethora of awards were given out to honor the school's junior and senior athletes. Though the school's winter season was cut short due to the climate at the school this year, Robinson decided to increase the number of awards given out to each team that played a full season, with two members from each team (and in one case three) receiving coach's awards and one member, the most valuable player award.

Called to the stage numerous times during the presentation were two athletes, one junior and one senior Panther, whose names are currently on the sign board in front of school. Both athletes received gold medals at the Eastern Regionals in Belleville and both will be heading to the OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) finals this Saturday, June 8 in Oshawa.

The first is a grade 10 student, David Cox, who won a gold medal for junior boys high jump with a jump of 1.75 metres. Cox, who made it to OFSAA last year and placed 13th, said he is hoping to make it into the top ten this year. He said the sport is all about form. Cox also received two MVP awards; one for the junior boys volleyball team and the second for track and field, and he was named the Junior Male Athlete of the Year.

SLHS teacher and coach, Ben Moser, who presented Cox with the Junior Male Athlete of the Year Award, said that Cox is “a true, natural, stand out athlete. In every sport that he plays and the way he moves tells you that he is natural. He's improved his personal best year over year to the point where he is now jumping 180 centimetres, which puts him in the top ten junior male jumpers in the province. Not only that but he's also a great student, a great teammate and a great person.”

Johnny “Boom Boom" Vinkle also made numerous forays to the stage to receive awards; as the senior boys MVP in volleyball and in track and field, as well as the Senior Male Athlete of the Year. Vinkle will also be heading to OFSAA in the shot putting event, having won gold in the Eastern Regionals where he beat out the silver medal winner by just under one metre. Vinkle also made it OFSSA last year in the same event. He will be competing against 23 others at OFSSA this year. Vinkle has been shot putting since grade eight and said he played it for years more as a “filler event” for him. Vinkle said he is seated 12th going into the event and he hopes to finish off in the top ten. He also said that he plans to continue playing volleyball at the post-secondary level. One of Vinkle's coaches, SLHS teacher Randy McVety said of Vinkle that he is "a great athlete who got the name “Boom Boom” because of hard hitting on the court... The thing is... Johnny is not at all an aggressive guy but rather, a very reliable player who can keep his cool and he is a player who plays hard but understands that sports are important but not the end of the world. He is also a player who always represents his school very well.”

Other notable athletes who made numerous forays to the stage to receive awards were Skyler Howes, Taylor Welch, Cadence Cumpson and Aadan Kempe. Congratulations to all of the Panthers who received awards this year.

As former Sharbot Lake High School teacher Gary Giller put it, there were two major drivers behind what turned out to be a highly emotional and satisfying send- off for Sharbot Lake High School last Saturday.

The first was Craig Bakay, who asked Giller about a year ago whether he had given any thought to bringing back some of the musicians who have graced the cafetorium stage at the school over the years.

“I hadn’t though about that, but we started working on it right away,” said Giller during his remarks at the opening ceremonies of The Last Waltz. “Sharon MacDonald, long-time office manager at the school, said that this is the 65th anniversary of the school, so we thought we would put it all together to make it a fitting farewell for the school. A great committee came together, and here we are.”

Photo: musician Shawn McCullough, former studen at SLHS performs at the Last Waltz, marking both the 65 anniversary and the closing of the school at the end of June.

To mark the continuity and variety of musicians that were a feature of the day, HD Supply, the rock band that was fostered through the School of Rock at Hinchinbrooke Public School and is now based at the high school, played a set before the opening ceremonies, and just after the ceremonies the Strat Cats (Centre Stage Band) a band that features Giller, former SLHS student and faculty member Jim MacPherson, former SLHS student and current teacher at Land o'Lakes Public School, Terry Reynolds, and relative newcomer to the area, Dave Limber, played a set.

That set the tone for the day, as act after act with a variety of connections to the community and the school took the stage in front of an appreciative audience.

The opening ceremonies, so often something to be endured at events like this, were an exception to that rule. In a fitting turn, Paddy O’Connor, in his Town Crier role, made reference to all of the plays that have been staged there by students and the North Frontenac Little Theatre, some of which O’Connor himself has participated in as an actor and set designer/builder.

He also read out a short verse by Jim MacPherson:

“A famous bard once said, ‘All the World is a stage’

Alas I stand before you on this stage in its final stage.

Indeed the Board of Education has determined that this stage is an 'aged' stage.

We all go through changes in our lives. And in the 65th year of its life, the final curtain falls on this great stage. Singers, dancers, actors, musicians, performers of all type have graced this stage.

Now a new stage will rise to the north which will surely become the rage.

But, for today, to many a fine performance and song sung on this stage, we pay homage,

On this fair day, let us dance 'The Last Waltz'”.

School Principal Heather Hyatt, Board Trustee Ann Goodfellow, and School Council Chair Cheryl Allen all spoke briefly, and Brenda Hunter, the Director of Education with the Limestone Board spoke for a longer time. Aside from bringing greetings from the board and talking about its commitment to students in what the board calls “the north” Hunter shared some anecdotes based on conversations with her husband, Jack Fox, a former supervisor with the board and an alumni of SLHS.

As Brenda Hunter recounted, when Jack Fox attended SLHS in the 1950s, students were required to join the army cadets, which involved a lot of marching and standing at attention. For the boys it also meant that any boy who did not have one already was given a .22 caliber rifle and ammunition, and target practice took place at the rear of the school.

“We don’t know if the girls were given rifles as well,” Hunter said, “but I know that if we did something like that today, we would certainly hear about it - if not about the rifles, certainly about the fact that only the boys were given them."

A number of people who were students in the first year of the school were in attendance, but the keynote address was delivered by Eric Wagar, who started at the school in its second year. He went on to a teaching and administrative career with the school board as well.

Wagar said he was touched when Gary Giller called him, expecting that Giller would ask him to dance the last waltz with his wife Muriel, who is also an SLHS graduate.

“But then he asked me to give a talk instead,” said Wagar.

He went on to talk about the early days of the school, and some of the characters and the antics that the students got up to, not mentioning if they ever got caught or punished.

He concluded by quoting from the final public statement ever made by Jack Layton, in reference to the future of the new school and the surrounding community.

“Whether you agreed with Jack Layton’s politics or not, there was something true about his final words: ‘My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.’”

Former NHL Hockey great, Theo Fleury, passed through Sharbot Lake on his “Victor Walk”, an effort to bring attention to the issues surrounding childhood sexual abuse.

Fleury, 44 years old, wrote about his own experience of childhood sexual abuse in his 2009 autobiography titled Playing with Fire in which he wrote of the sexual abuse he experienced by his former junior hockey coach Graham James, who is currently serving jail time for abusing Fleury and also former junior player Sheldon Kennedy (who also went on to play in the NHL). James recently had his sentence increased from two to five years by an appeals court in February 2013.

Fleury, who since writing his book has become a vocal advocate for childhood sexual abuse survivors, believes that awareness is critical to promoting healing.

Fleury last played in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2002/2003 season and he is best known for his career with the Calgary Flames where he played on and off for 11 seasons. It was with the Flames that Fleury won the Stanley Cup in 1989. He also played with the Colorado Avalanche and the New York Rangers and he was part of the Canadian team that won the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Fleury's Victor Walk began in Toronto at the Child Abuse Monument there on May 13 and it will end at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 23 where he said he aims to get the attention of politicians there and in doing so, hopes to see stricter child sexual abuse laws passed in this country. “When it comes to childhood sexual abuse, we have been sweeping it under the carpet for 100,000 years. In this country alone there are eight million survivors of childhood sexual abuse, 63 million in the U.S. and almost one billion world wide,” Fleury said when I spoke to him by the side of Highway 7 on May 20 near Sharbot Lake Provincial Park. “The system in Canada is backwards. It protects the perpetrators and re-victimizes the survivors. The reason we are calling this walk the ‘Victor Movement’ is because it's the opposite of victim. The experience that happened to me occurred when I was young and innocent and I now consider myself a victor over it.”

Upon his arrival in Ottawa Fleury will be reading his Victor Impact Statement along with others. When I came across him on Victoria Day, Fleury was flanked by a large Winnebago, a jeep and by fellow walkers, best friend Zoran Zelic of Calgary and Los Angeles film maker Michael Lynch. Lynch is shooting a documentary film about the walk. Fleury, who has been walking 50-60km a day since the walk began, said that some of the best conversations he has had in his life have happened while walking and that that is what inspired him to hit the highway with his cause.

“I thought, ‘Let's just go for a walk and see what happens', and it's really been life changing. People all along the way are seeking us out and are telling us their own personal stories.” Asked why it is so important to get these stories out, Fleury said, “It's part of the healing process. It gets rid of the shame, shame that we have been carrying around for years and that really is not our shame to bear. The shame belongs to the people that abused us and to the politicians in Ottawa for not doing enough and to the judges who give out lenient sentences.”

Proceeds raised from Fleury's Victor Walk will go to supporting an expansion at Siksika Health Services in the Siksika Nation in Alberta, who have partnered with Fleury on the walk, as well as to Edmonton’s Little Warriors Foundation and the Sexual Assault Centre for Quinte and District in Belleville, Ont. For more information or to donate to the cause visit www.victorwalk.com.

“I never dreamed of being where I am today,” said Father George Kwari, the new minister of the Anglican parishes of Parham-Sharbot Lake and Maberly-Lanark. Father Kwari hails from Zimbabwe and officially took up his new post on April 1.

When I interviewed him following a service he gave on May 19 at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Sharbot Lake, Kwari said he considers his own life a miracle. Born in Zimbabwe and raised by his grandmother, Kwari said he is forever indebted not only to God but also to the many generous people including the current Anglican Archbishop Fred Hiltz, who assisted in facilitating his studies here in Canada.

Father Kwari was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and grew up very poor in a humble adobe house “with no television, or radio and where bread was often a luxury”. He recalled that it was “through the grace of God I was able to attend school both in Zimbabwe and in Canada.” Kwari received his Bachelor of Divinity at the Africa University in Zimbabwe and was ordained there in 2005. Before that he received an Honours Degree in Philosophy at the Jesuit School of Philosophy in Harare, Zimbabwe, and most recently, after arriving in Canada in 2007 with his wife, received his Masters in Pastoral Theology at St. Paul’s University in Ottawa. He currently resides there now with his wife and two young children. He has served in other Ontario churches before coming to his new post. He spent two years as the assistant curate at a parish of the Algoma diocese in Northern Ontario, and following that, served as the interim incumbent at St. Thomas Anglican Church in Bracebridge.

Kwari, who is planning to relocate to Perth with his family in the near future, is looking forward to serving his new congregations. Asked of his strengths Kwari said, “When I speak, I speak of the God that I know I have experienced first hand.” He also spoke of his rigorous prayer life, which he credits his great grandfather, a lay reader in the United Methodist Church for instilling in him, and who taught him that “The living God is in charge as long as we have faith in Him.”

Kwari also spoke of his enjoyment in working with people from different cultural and racial backgrounds. He seems to be settling comfortably into his new post and said that he is impressed with the members of his new congregations who have gone out of their way to make him feel welcome.

Regarding the challenges that come with any new posting, Kwari said that serving rural communities has its challenges, one being the lack of young families in the church. “Not having young families in the church poses the risk that our church may not survive the next generation and also makes the church feel incomplete in that the Body of Christ is missing a vital component.” He was sorry to say that the lack of young people means the cancellation of certain programs that otherwise would greatly benefit the community. Also the overall size of the parish poses its own unique challenges. “Having six congregations under my care will be a challenge because of a lack of continuity. Seeing my congregations just once every other Sunday will make it difficult to maintain continuity in certain programs.”

On a more positive note, Kwari said that he remains hopeful and that he is already taking steps to try to attract more young people to his congregations. In a new special outreach program the church will be holding regular monthly movie nights for children ages 5-12, which will be open to members of the local church community, and all denominations. He will also be starting up a community prayer ministry where all parishioners will be prayed for daily along with other members of the community who would like to be involved.

Kwari, who has a very gentle and open manner of speaking, said that he is both hopeful and grateful to the members of his new church community who have already reached out to him. “The care, kindness, generosity, and respect that I have received from the people here is amazing. It is one of God’s miracles. God’s love inspires us and empowers us to love any person unconditionally. The congregations have welcomed me with open arms and many have welcomed me into their homes. This shows me that there is room for everybody and I want people to know that our doors are open and we will always have a seat for our guests.”

For more information please call Father Kwari at 613-561-8455.

It was more of a whirlwind at the end that anything else, as crews have transformed an ageing Sharbot Lake Freshmart into a shiny Mike Deans Superstore in 23 days.

On Friday morning, May 3rd, the superstore opens its doors.

Shoppers will be greeted with a full produce section along the sidewall, a full meat sections at the back, dairy and bread to the left, and a limited selection of groceries. For now.

Only the original building has been completed for the opening this week. Two remaining sections are still under construction and plans are to have them opened within a short time frame, hopefully by the May 24th holiday weekend.

The other thing shoppers will notice is a new entranceway, floors and ceilings, and store design. In short, a brand new store.

Gordon Dean has been supervising the construction project.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve done this,” he said, one day last week from site as dozen’s of carpenters, electricians, and other tradespersons were working away.

“We have worked with all of the contractors a number of times, most recently earlier this year in Almonte, where we’ve just opened a new store. So they know the drill.”

The Sharbot Lake store is the sixth store for the Winchester based company, which operates its own warehouse and carries national brands and it’s own Nancy’s Fancy and General Merchant brands.

“We’re not shy about our what our stores offer,” said Gordon Dean, “Our prices compare favourably to a anybody in the region and I will stack the quality of our meat and produce against anybody else.”

The conversion of the Sharbot Lake store is typical of what the company has done elsewhere, taking over older grocery businesses in rural towns, and converting them in short order to the Mike Dean’s model of a store.

“We are a rural store, you can see that from our interiors, it’s wood over steel. And we serve rural communities with quality, fresh food at a very good price. That’s all there is to it,” said Gordon Dean.

The North Frontenac Little Theatre's "God of Carnage" is not for everyone. But for those wishing to delve beneath the surface of couple-dom, marriage and parenthood to find what dirt might be lurking there, the NFLT's production of Yasmina Reza's play was the ticket. While some regular North Frontenac Little Theatre goers may have been deterred by the first and third words in this play's title, for those who attended its four-show run at Sharbot Lake High School from May 2-5, God of Carnage proved a refreshingly rewarding and highly entertaining night out.

The play appears at first to be a jovial, simple and civil meeting of two respectable couples, Annette and Alan Raleigh (Martina Field and Robert Bell) in the upper class living room of Veronica and Michael Novak (Karen Steele and John Stephen), where the entire play unfolds. But very quickly the dialogue first meanders then dives head first into the uncharted waters of marital resentment, nastiness, and bitter couple-to-couple combat. The play was a serious undertaking for the entire four-member cast, with Reza's unrelenting, rapid fire dialogue never ceasing for a second, which forced the actors to rely on each other's cues more than might be necessary in productions with larger casts. But the small cast definitely rose to that challenge.

The premise for their meeting is a playground altercation between the couples' two 11-year-old sons, whom we never do meet. At first it seems that the Novaks and Raleighs will be able to agree on a plan for their sons' reconciliation but a blame game quickly makes mincemeat of that first initial try. At the door and about to leave, the Raleighs edge back for a second try over clafouti and coffee. The play is clever and much of its comedy lies in the fact that at every turn when a reconciliation seems imminent, bedlam ensues. Adding to the building tension throughout the play are the characters' touching on seemingly unrelated worldly issues and gender-based topics, which in fact demonstrate both couples' faults and flaws.

Reza's gift and what gives the play its momentum is her ability through the dialogue to pull the couples constantly back and forth between the point of resolution and all-out battle. Reza touches on the idea of hypocrisy in Veronica's case, as she curses out Annette after the latter succumbs to her growing nausea, and in what is the first great shock of the play's uncivil decorum, pukes all over Veronica's very expensive coffee table art books.

Later on, the gents insult each other's chosen lines of work, with the cell phone-dependent, high flying, holier than thou corporate Alan finding fault with Michael as a lowly seller of plumbing fixtures. Part of the fun of the play is the ever changing alliances that are struck between the men and women.

On the subject of gender issues, which is focused on more deeply and to great comic effect in the second act of the play, the gals get increasing tipsy and Annette, who is by far the more reserved and submissive of the two ladies (her husband calls her Woof Woof), lets down her guard and in disgust at her husband's incessant cell phone interruptions, grabs it and plunges it into a vase of tulips. Meanwhile the men join forces, finding comradeship in their love of their former childhood gangs. The bossy and demanding Veronica (Karen Steele) demonstrates the tension in their relationship with endless quibbling about trifles like cake recipes. Steele played the chatty and bossy Veronica with deftness, making her desire for control in her marriage and her love of conflict and one upmanship a delight to witness.

John Stephen was likely the most imaginably likeable of the four characters and he played Michael with a veteran actor's naturalness, every line ringing true.

Martina Field's spot on portrayal of the neurotic, timid and finally drunken Annette was highly comedic and her shredding of the lovely tulips near the play's end was a delightful shock to witness.

And last but not least, kudos to first time performer Robert Bell, who created a wholly unlikeable and pompous Alan and whose biggest challenge was managing the multiple cell phone conversations that occurred throughout the play. Kudos also to Kelli Bell, who must have had a great time not only directing her husband but also tackling a very dense and subtle script.

The stage looked sharp and very civil thanks to Donna Larocque and Peter Platenius, who created the sets and Jeff Siamon, who lit it. Those who missed the play can see the movie version of the play, called simply “Carnage”, directed by bad boy Roman Polanski and starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz and John C. Reilly.