Regina Do It With Class alumnus Griffin Hewitt to perform on international stage
Regina Do It With Class alumnus Griffin Hewitt to perform on international stage
Another alumnus of Do It With Class (DIWC) Young People’s Theatre is taking his career to the big stage and joining the likes of Tatiana Maslany, Paul Nolan and Zach Smadu.
Regina-born actor Griffin Hewitt plays the character Anthony in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street—a production put on by the Ontario-based company Talk is Free Theatre.
The group performed the musical in Toronto last summer and is now set to take the stage in Argentina next month.
“I’ve never been outside North America in my life, for travel, for pleasure or for business, so it’s really, really incredible to get to go,” Hewitt said.
“It’s a different culture, and a different side of the world, and there’s not a lot of musical theatre in the country.”
Hewitt called the production immersive and interactive. Instead of performing on a single stage, the cast performed inside a church for its Toronto showings and moved from room to room depending on the scene.
“The audience moved with us and followed characters from different vantage points,” Hewitt said.
“It’s very interesting and it’s very exciting to get to be a part of something like that, but also I think it’s exciting for audiences to get to travel along with the story.”
The new experience is far different than his first performance in Regina Lyric Musical Theatre.
Hewitt said he was around 12 years old when he auditioned for the role.
“I was really into jazz singing when I was young,” Hewitt said.
“We were just doing a lot of jazz review stuff. It was the first time I was ever really on a stage, it was the first time that I ever had an inkling of the bug that I ever wanted to be a performer.”
Rob Ursan, DIWC artistic director, remembers Hewitt auditioning for the role and the young actor’s “beautiful, brilliant voice.”
Hewitt went on to perform in a number of DIWC shows including Shakespeare and Peter Pan.
Ursan said he always knew Hewitt was destined for a bigger stage, like so many of his former students.
Tatiana Maslany, current star of She Hulk on Disney Plus, played Alice in DIWC’s first rendition of Alice in Wonderland.
Tatiana Maslany (Left) and her brother Daniel (Right) in DIWC's first rendition of Alice in Wonderland. (Submitted: Virginia Wilkinson)
Zach Smadu is a former DIWC performer who now plays Daniel Svennson on the television series Family Law.
Mayson Sonntag performed in Cocomelon’s national tour in the United States last year.
Other former DIWC members include actors Amy Matysio, Jeff Irving, Tess Degenstein and Kyle Golemba.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary to know that they’ve taken what they’ve learned here in Regina and they went off learned so much more elsewhere and have created such beautiful and brilliant careers,” Ursan said.
“We have a lot to be proud of here in Regina.”
DIWC will celebrate its 30th season this year. During those years, hundreds of kids have gone through their doors.
Ursan said it is the performers’ kindness and generosity that sets Saskatchewan talent apart from others in the industry.
“These people are so kind and so involved in everybody else’s lives around them,” Ursan said.
“They’re just such wonderful people. The company has always had this ability to get people together who want to become a family and they take that characteristic off with them and it makes them some of the greatest people to work with.”
Eight people were seriously injured after a Laval city bus crashed into a daycare Wednesday morning, according to first responders. The driver of the bus has been arrested, according to Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says that if he becomes prime minister he would uphold the 10-year deals Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is looking to ink with provinces and territories that would inject $46.2 billion in new funding into Canada's strained health-care systems.
With the hope of finding survivors fading, stretched rescue teams in Turkiye and Syria searched Wednesday for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings toppled by a catastrophic earthquake. The confirmed death toll from the world's deadliest quake in more than a decade passed 11,000.
An 'awkward' attempt at a handshake between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the prime minister Tuesday is another example of leaders from the western province hesitating before shaking Justin Trudeau's hand, say political experts.
An associate of Ontario’s self-described “crypto king” was operating his own fraud scam parallel to the multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, court documents allege.
Justin Trudeau has thrown in the towel in the fight to maintain the federal role as gatekeeper of a public, universal, accessible and fair health-care system in Canada, writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca. 'That could have tragic consequences for folks on the lower rungs of the social and economic ladder.'
Many Canadians are experiencing strains caused by the increased cost of living and inflation. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, contributor Christopher Liew shares some of the top credits and deductions that you may be able to claim on your income tax return to help you save money.
Robyn Silvernagle will be making her third appearance at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts next week in Kamloops, BC, just weeks after her team was put together.
Team Lawes vice Selena Njegovan will be able to serve in a support role at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts after all despite initially being told she'd have limited access on site while on pregnancy leave.
The Calgary Police Service asked residents of a northwest neighbourhood to shelter in their homes as officers responded to a situation Wednesday morning involving a firearm.
The 2022 Status of Emergency Preparedness in Calgary report highlights civil disobedience as a potential future disaster in the city and says the risk is considered high.
An 'awkward' attempt at a handshake between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the prime minister Tuesday is another example of leaders from the western province hesitating before shaking Justin Trudeau's hand, say political experts.
An 'awkward' attempt at a handshake between Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the prime minister Tuesday is another example of leaders from the western province hesitating before shaking Justin Trudeau's hand, say political experts.
A Toronto father was working Saturday afternoon when he got a notification from an app connected to his home security system. And what he saw on his phone was every parent's worst nightmare.
An associate of Ontario’s self-described “crypto king” was operating his own fraud scam parallel to the multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme, court documents allege.
Eight people were seriously injured after a Laval city bus crashed into a daycare Wednesday morning, according to first responders. The driver of the bus has been arrested, according to Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel.
A range of pressures on British Columbia forests are reverberating this spring through Houston and other rural and northern communities, where sawmill, pellet and pulp closuresare affecting hundreds of workers.
A walk past a cemetery can conjure many emotions – sadness, fear and finality. But rarely does it conjure the idea of actually seeing a deceased loved one again. On British Columbia's Gabriola Island, however, coastal erosion is unearthing more than just memories.
Eight people were seriously injured after a Laval city bus crashed into a daycare Wednesday morning, according to first responders. The driver of the bus has been arrested, according to Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel.
Police are investigating after a bar in Montreal North appears to have been the scene of an arson early Wednesday morning. There were no reported injuries, but the flames seriously damaged the building and forced residents upstairs to evacuate temporarily.
The number of organ donors in Quebec has increase threefold in the past five years, according to Transplant Quebec, which also reported a “steep” rise in donations coming from patients opting for medical assistance in dying (MAID). Canada’s MAID process allows patients with certain irremediable conditions to end their own life with the help of a physician or nurse. Since the law was passed in 2016, over 30,000 people have sought the process as of 2022, when the last federal report was published.
A walk past a cemetery can conjure many emotions – sadness, fear and finality. But rarely does it conjure the idea of actually seeing a deceased loved one again. On British Columbia's Gabriola Island, however, coastal erosion is unearthing more than just memories.
A Victoria man says a series of devastating earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria have left him feeling nearly paralyzed, as the death toll from the quakes rises above 6,200 people.
Retirement is bittersweet for a Nova Scotia doctor who says she feels like she has abandoned the 2,000 patients she has been caring for because she was not able to find a doctor to replace her.
Thousands are dead and tens of thousands injured following the earthquake that has devastated Syria and Turkey. Maritimers with connections to the region are doing what they can to help during this time of need.
With more than 58,000 people requiring help, the Canadian Red Cross says its relief efforts after post-tropical storm Fiona last September were its largest ever in the country.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
A memorial has been set up in the area where 30-year-old Karen Cunningham’s body was found, as police in Woodstock continue to investigate her death as “suspicious” in nature.
Eight people were seriously injured after a Laval city bus crashed into a daycare Wednesday morning, according to first responders. The driver of the bus has been arrested, according to Quebec Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel.
Tatiana Maslany (Left) and her brother Daniel (Right) in DIWC's first rendition of Alice in Wonderland. (Submitted: Virginia Wilkinson)
