"Shotgun Wedding" cast members Belinda Corpuz and Jeff Yung
Since ‘Shotgun Wedding’ takes place in the world of suburban Catholic High schools of the early 90s, I thought it might be a good idea to make special invitations to the alumni of some old-school high schools that made up our universe back then:
Wed. July 6 – Opening Night
Thurs. July 7 – St. Jean de Brebeuf / Philip Pocock
Fri. July 8 – Cardinal Carter / Cardinal Newman / Cardinal Leger
Sat. July 9 – Pope John Paul / Father Michael Goetz
Sun. July 10 – Loyola / Mother Teresa
Mon. July 11 – NO SHOW.
Tues. July 12 – Neil McNeil / St. Martin’s
Wed. July 13 – Jean Vanier / St Thomas Aquinas
Thurs. July 14 – Ladies Night! Notre Dame / Holy Name of Mary / St Joe’s Wellesley
Fri. July 15 – Francis Libermann / St. Francis Xavier
Sat. July 16 – Notre Dame / Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Sun. July 17 – Closing Night
How did I come up with this list? It’s pretty random actually. These are the schools where:
a) I went to
b) some of my friends went to
c) I liked a girl at
d) I got in a fight with some punk that went to that school at Wonderland
e) I “knew of” someone at that school but I didn’t “know them”
You may be wondering, why is MY school not on that list? I mean, I lived in Markham or Oakville and there were 3 Filipinos at my school including the caf lady. Well, sorry. Back in the 90s, it was pretty much either Mississauga or Scarborough. You Brampton/Richmond Hill/Markham/Vaughan kids were just driving in. Or being drove in.
Remember how much fare was back in 1993?
If you were from somewhere else, you just weren’t on the map and you ended up in either a Sauga or Scarbz house party anyway. In any case, for those of you who don’t see your schools on the list — I welcome you to pick a night and converge on the play with your alma mater crew.
It’s called “CRASHING THE PARTY” and I KNOW you Filipinos especially know how to do that. Pretend it’s an actual debut. Say you’re with the DJ. Carry some crates or something. Just don’t start a fight. OK?
Take a Risk! Be Committed!
As for me, I’ll be representing Father Michael Goetz (on July 9, also with you east side kidds from Pope). Yup, I’m a Goetz Gator. I remember getting in a fight at the Philip Pocock school dance, feuding with Mount Carmel kids and I was one of those guys who sat parked in front of Holy Name of Mary during my back to back spares waiting for a girl. Friends I’ve met later on in life described almost exactly the same experience but it was the “east side version” in Scarborough. I remember thinking that Mississauga and Scarborough were sort of like parallel universes (with the more handsome guys in Sauga of course. BOO YAH. I had to.)
route 28 Confederation bus to Goetz from Burger King
All kidding aside… these special “Alumni Nights” are nights we’ve set aside for all you West Side and East Side grownups to plan around. Maybe you haven’t seen each other in a while. Maybe you don’t get to go out much now that you’ve got the kids. Maybe you just haven’t had a chance to reminisce in a really long time.
So I invite you to call someone you haven’t seen in a while. Message them on Facebook. Get a bunch of old friends together and watch this play together. I guarantee you’ll have a good time – but you’ll have a GREAT time watching it together.
Sauga and Scarbz Alumni — these nights are especially for you. I’m looking forward to seeing you… see each other again.
Who knows? You may even see yourselves in the play.
Shotgun Wedding: The Musical 