Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story is a true tale of hope, resilience, and race
Bobby Garcia directs the new Arts Club Theatre production starring Jeremiah Sparks about the Black Canadian hero and singing miner
Bobby Garcia (left) directs Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story, starring actor-singer Jeremiah Sparks.
The Arts Club Theatre Company presents the Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story at the Granville Island Stage August 5 to 29.
IN 1958, MAURICE Ruddick was named Canada’s Citizen of the Year for the role he played in a mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Seventy-five men died after a coal-mine shaft collapsed, leaving a handful of survivors trapped underground. Some were rescued within days, while Ruddick and six others were stuck near the bottom of the mine—then one of North America’s deepest, at more than four kilometres—for nine gruelling days with little air and without food or water. Despite the pain of a broken leg, Ruddick kept the men’s spirits up by leading them in song.
A father of 12 and a descendant of slaves who were brought to Nova Scotia by Loyalists in the late-18th century, Ruddick was known as the Singing Miner, not only because of that ordeal but also because he would regularly orchestrate musical breaks among his fellow miners, breaking out into songs like “Bye Bye Love” and “Don’t Be Cruel”. He and some of his older children also performed at local venues, calling their act the Singing Miner and the Minerettes.
The mining rescue, meanwhile, made headlines and Ruddick enjoyed brief celebrity, though racism would diminish his recognition. Here’s one example of how: The governor of Georgia at the time, Marvin Griffin, had heard the story and invited the surviving men and their wives to a resort on Jekyll Island. Once Griffin learned that Ruddick was Black, however, he insisted that stay in a trailer outside the resort and visit a separate beach. Ruddick’s colleagues refused to go without him, but he and his wife, Norma, accepted the invite, hoping to create positive change.
Ruddick died 30 years later.
This true tale forms the basis of Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story, which the Arts Club Theatre Company presents from August 5 to 29. Originally directed and developed by Linda Kash, the Vancouver version is created by Beau Dixon, with music and lyrics by Rob Fortin and Susan Newman.
Actor-singer Jeremiah Sparks portrays multiple characters in the one-person show, which is directed by Bobby Garcia.
In a phone interview with Stir, Garcia says that he fell in love with the script and felt it was particularly relevant for 2021, with its complexities and nuances related to race, optimism, and resilience.
“It is an incredible true story about a Canadian hero, and at the same time, because of what we were going through as a community with COVID and the darkness that was engulfing the world, I thought it was so important because it is a story about hope and the places we find hope and how we hold onto hope amid the darkness—how when we see the light, we head toward it and make our way into that light,” Garcia says. “We’re reminded that there are still things we need to reckon with in that light, and that’s exactly where the world is right now. It’s a reflection of the story and this Canadian hero and what we’ve experienced over the last year.
“We listen to stories based on the lens of the times we’re living in, and I think that this show in this period has very different meaning because of what we’ve been through,” he adds. “We’ve had really important conversations over the last couple of years about race relations and about injustices and about diversity, and I think it’s important we now come back into the rehearsal room, into theatre…having really listened to those conversations and really making sure that we take action on them.”
Garcia, who lived in Manila until he was 17, studied in New York before coming to Vancouver three decades ago to pursue his Master’s of Fine Arts at UBC. He is artistic director of the Philippines-based Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group, one of Asia’s most prolific theatre companies, splitting his time between that region and Canada’s West Coast for more than 20 years. As the world was about to go into lockdown last spring, Garcia was in the Philippines, where the company was about to mount the international premiere of The Band’s Visit, a musical. Garcia managed to get one of the last flights out to head back to B.C., where his family has lived since 1990.
He says he’s excited to be bringing his experiences working in Asia for the last two decades to the Vancouver production, which marks his first return to live theatre since the pandemic began. (The situation in the Philippines isn’t as favourable, with a slower vaccine rollout.)
“It’s lucky for me that the community is embracing as it is,” Garcia says of Vancouver’s theatre scene. “The only way to be honest and truthful is to bring your own life experiences, your understanding of the world, into the rehearsal room.
“The great thing about rehearsals is that the minute you enter a rehearsal, you could be anywhere in the world. The minute the door closes, you could be anywhere. It’s like a Starbucks,” he says with a laugh. “That’s the magic in the rehearsal room.”
Among the members of the production’s creative team are Dawn Pemberton, as vocal coach, and guitar coach Steven Charles. Garcia credits Sparks for his skill in being able to play so many different characters, from Ruddick himself to the miner’s coworkers. Sparks got his own musical start in Nova Scotia, where he was a choir director and church organist for more than 20 years. The actor, singer, and composer has appeared in The Lion King, The Satchmo Suit, Stratford’s Odyssey, and the Shaw Festival, among many other productions and events.
Being able to introduce, or re-introduce, people to Ruddick is what keeps Garcia so impassioned about theatre.
“The storytelling aspect is so important,” Garcia says. “Storytelling is so primal and so necessary. It’s how we create legacies and it’s how history is preserved. We all want to hear stories. Being able to tell stories is a privilege. That’s what’s so fantastic about theatre—theatre thrives on that.”
For more information, see Arts Club Theatre Company.
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