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Entertainer Jonah Anderson is as ambitious for Eastern PEI as he is for himself. A student in an acting/singing/dancing “triple threat” theatre training program at St. Lawrence College in Brockville, twenty-year-old Jonah is not waiting to put his training and his passions in action and on stage at the St. Peter's Courthouse Theatre.
With his new production company, Just a Guy from PEI Productions, he hopes to develop his own and others' scripts and build the reputation for entertainment in Eastern PEI. “I want tourists to leave PEI and to say, ‘We were in Eastern PEI, and they have such a good theatre scene,'” Jonah says. A long-term dream would be to open his own theatre for plays, performances, and local films. “I've always made opportunities for myself,” he says, “but I've always found it makes opportunities for others.”
A recent diagnosis of bipolar disorder and time out for treatment led Jonah to realize that his main aspirations are to write and direct. “That's what I can't do without in my life,” he says. He's in the process of writing a musical about his family. “I've always been told that you always write what you know, whether you know it or not.” He credits influential teachers who “let me put my work on the stage and gave me the little push I needed.”
As for directing, he says, “When I see a script, I see what it would look like on stage.” This summer, he's directing The Fiddle Case, by Michael Pendergast, at the Courthouse Theatre, with a cast that includes his own mother. “She's very caring—forever a mother! Off-stage, she still sees a little boy, but on-stage, she knows I'm a twenty-year-old person with the experience to direct her.”
While writing and directing are his future focus, Jonah sees that work evolving alongside his skills as an entertainer. “I really want to get into the musical theatre scene,” he says. “I've found a lot of love there.” Much of that love has been at St. Lawrence College, about which he can't say enough good. “It's just like I left my family of five and joined a family of 45…. I like to say it's where ‘all the good drama happens.' And I'm always in the in the middle of the drama.”
While missing the singing and dancing he does at school, Jonah is developing his acting this summer in The Butterfly Kiss, a hit from the Toronto Fringe Festival directed by Debbie Barton-Moore.
Jonah doesn't see his youth as a barrier to his ambitions. “I believe I've had more experiences to this age than many people who are ten years older,” he says. Family experiences, losses, and health problems have all given him more to work with in theatre—though the hectic pace of dramatic production is ever-challenging. Jonah says, “I'm focussing most on keeping myself healthy. I find if you leave a character on the stage—knowing the character lives in this theatre but is not living at home with me—that's important. I always get eight to ten hours of sleep. I also try to meditate and keep my mind healthy. It's very important to keep interests well-balanced.”
According to Jonah, the same balance is needed for a healthy relationship of arts and people in communities. As he gestures around the St. Peter's Courthouse Theatre, he says, “We need carpenters and plumbers to keep the building up, but I also believe we need actors and performers to bring joy. And the actors need the carpenters and plumbers to fill theatre seats, so it comes full circle. If the circle breaks, you lose the balance and the health.”
It's balance and health he wants to bring home to Eastern PEI. “I went to school in St. Peter's and Morell, but I come from Five Houses,” Jonah Anderson says, “I have to always know that where I came from was a community of just five heritage houses.” It's a good starting point.