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‘Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story’
Created and performed by Beau Dixon
Music and Lyrics by Susan Newman and Rob Fortin
Originally directed and developed by Linda Kash
Stage managed by Andrea Houssin
A spellbinding one-person musical and true tale of seven miners trapped beneath a small mining town and the racial tension that surfaced as a result.
Maurice Ruddick, an African Canadian, was awarded “Citizen of the Year” for saving the lives of his fellow workers after a historic mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia in 1958. Actor Beau Dixon will recall the events of seven miners trapped two miles beneath a small mining town, the effect it had on their rural Canadian community and the racial tension that surfaced as a result.
Beau Dixon plays 10 characters: Maurice; the six miners whose lives he was credited with saving; a news reporter; Valerie, one of Ruddick’s 13 children; and Ruddick’s wife, Norma. Beneath Springhill is a story filled with tragedy, drama and comical – yet conflicting – moments of hope and bravery.
