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PAGE 14 â€" WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1993 Deborah Crandall Canadian Playwright Raymond Storey has never subâ€" scribed to the Americanized portrayal of racism. Through his personal experiences, Storey has seen that racism is not always about men in white hoods or guys named Bubba. And that‘s why he wrote The Glorâ€" ous 12th, a play which uses the Orangemen of 1920s Ontamo â€" and their proudly antiâ€"Catholic attitudes â€" to examine the paranoia of bigotry. .. s "Whenever | see racism dealt with on television or any popular media, we‘re largely inundated with Amer+ can images of racism. And racists are often depicted as slathering, beerâ€"swilling, good ol‘ boys with gun racks on the backs of their trucks," Storey says in a teleâ€" phone interview from his Edmonton home. "I grew up in Southern Ontamo, and | know that that‘s not true. *I grew up in an Orange family. My grandfather was an Orangeman, my father was an Orangeman. | didn‘t grow up in an environment of hate because the enemy wasn‘t on our doorstep â€" we lived in a Presbyterian community, and everybody else was the same. The objects of our fear and loathing were sort of theoretâ€" cal." While Storey was growing up, the ethnic mix across the country was changing rapidly. When he was old enough to, Storey left his rural home is Orillia and headed to Montreal to study acting. That city, and all its ethnic diversity, became Story‘s life, and there he could live comfortably with his lifeâ€"long belief that i/ â€" with 96.7 CHYM FM‘s new morning show, featuring }ly @Zk@ @Z;@g George Michaels and Valerie Cole, Monday to Friday from 5:30 to 9 a.m. Tuesday and Thursda)gé mornings at 8:22, Waterloo Chronicle reporter Deborah Crandall joins Geprge and Val for a look at local entertainment. i 5 "s aP h e . j 33 i33 K $ Siliauee GBF > 2 w ie pouiit se gone roommnnennnmommnmimnne § seomessemmensmmnmemmemmmec g wp o catoclclll lt n c 0 P20 Somi BnAL 2e ds dsc® *decent people are decent people" no matter what "In later years, when | first started going home, ! would let [racist comments) slide," Storey says. "Cerâ€" tain comments would come up, and I‘d say ‘that‘s not true‘ or ‘that‘s inappropriate‘ because they weren‘t maliâ€" cious. They were just things that people‘s families say â€" commonly held beliefs that aren‘t challenged and are never reâ€"examined." Since he believes theatre reâ€"examines values, Storey decided to reâ€"examine bigotry with The Glonious 12th. "One of the things | wanted to do with The Glorious 12th was get people to reâ€"examine commonlyâ€"held beliefs," Storey says. "In Canada, to be a member of a Conservative party, up until the Second World War cerâ€" tainly, was to be an Orangeman. The foundation of this country, and the cornerstones on many of our governâ€" ment institutions, are based in a noble belief that white, middleâ€"class, British men knew what was best for us. Those systems are now in place, and often we don‘t see them. And when people begin to buck those sysâ€" tems, there‘s a riatural resistance. "What | wanted to do was write a play that didn‘t preach, that didn‘t hit people over the head, and that showed the gentile, socially acceptable intolerance that was taught to us by our grandmothers. And then, | wanted to find a way through all that. Toward the end of the play, the character Prue struggles with the thing that | was struggling most vitally with. And that‘s how you continue to love somebody when you hate everyâ€" thing they stand for." Guil is oi sepvmaie t The Glorious 12th, which the Blyth Festival brings to Waterloo next month, is set in Ontario‘s Chinguacousy Township (near Brampton) in 1927. The House of Commons has just been made officially bilingual, while tensions are running high in the small town as its Loyal Orange Lodge prepares for the annual King Billy parade, held every 12th of July to celebrate the historic victory of King William of Orange bver the Roman Catholics. a Storey focuses on the troubled lives of the MacKkay family, whose private conflicts come to a head when Gerald MacKay invites two members of the American Ku Klux Klan to speak at the celebration. . As Storey explains, during the tumultuous time in Canada‘s history in which the play is set, the KKK had sent envoys into Canada to expand its membership, and saw the Loyal Orange Order as a logical entry point. "In The Glorious 12th, | took a period in history where there was a resurgence of Kian activity in IMlinois and Indiana. And the Klan people would cross our border in regular numbers trying to recruit from the ranks of good Orangemen," Storey says. "So when the Klanspeoâ€" ple appear in the play, the audience has a vivid image of what these people represent. And I hope that most of the audience feels that they are reprehensible." .. The Blyth Festival brings The Glorious 12th to Humanâ€" ities Theatre Oct. 7. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for students and seniors and are available at the Waterloo Showtime box office (886â€"2375). ..___ "Continuous Favourites of the 10‘s)80‘s and Today"