Don Hayard's memories of his early life in High Falls Ontario on the Spanish river framed as a fictional return to the disappeared town sometime in the early 2000s. The span of memory is from about 1948 to 1961.
In the engaging stage play, Ipperwash, Falen Johnson and Jessica Carmichael lead us to consider place, loss of home and dislocation from our roots. They presented the story as an explanation of the native peoples' connection to the land. I left the Blythe Theater with a mixture of excitement and sadness in my heart.
Our industrial culture over the past 200 years has led to dislocation for most of us, as economics has forced people to move or has obliterated our places of youth, and in my case, both happened with High Falls. It had disappeared by 1980.