Free play to provide comical glimpse at Wellingtons incorporation

WELLINGTON - To mark the 50th anniversary of its incorporation, the Community of Wellington is presenting a play - a comedy - re-enacting this memorable event.
The hour-long show, mostly in English, will hit the stage of the Wellington Royal Canadian Legion's upstairs hall on Thursday at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Playwright and director Raymond J. Arsenault, who has lived in Wellington for about 25 years, was asked to write and direct the play.
"'By The Old Mill Stream', the book that provides the history of Wellington, only contains two paragraphs about the incorporation of the village, so I got permission from the village council to use my imagination to invent an hour's worth of material for a play," he explains.
After chatting with a few locals about the people and the time of incorporation, Arsenault came up with a comedy that he entitled "Not Just a Drop in the Bucket: A made-up story about the incorporation of Wellington".
The first act depicts the meeting of three Wellington men with government officials in Charlottetown to convince the province to hold a second plebiscite in the village to ask citizens' opinions on incorporation. The second act recounts what could have happened during the first public meeting of the village following incorporation on June 11, 1959.
Many of the real people involved in that first public meeting will be mentioned or depicted in the show. The presentation also pokes fun at other well known locals, such as former Lt.-Gov. LÉonce Bernard and Roger "Co-op" Arsenault.
Fact and fiction are, however, considerably intertwined.
The show's narrator will be Marcia Enman, the member of the current Wellington Council who chairs the 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee.
Back a half-century ago, all community functions were held in English only, even though a large proportion of the local population was French-Acadian. So, to represent the era correctly, the play will be in English. The narrator will, however, provide a few comments in French before each act.
"We invite everyone from Wellington and surrounding communities to come out and enjoy this hilarious play, which the village is offering free of charge," said Marcia Enman. "Snacks will be available for sale and we will be selling tickets on a draw for a beautiful photograph of the Old Mills Park in Wellington."
The Village of Wellington received funding from the P.E.I. Community Cultural Partnership Program to help organize events for its 50th anniversary celebrations, including the play.