![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Mark-Hellman-as-Pete-Seeger.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cMark has a similar enough look and sound, but more his personality, and when you\u2019re dealing with a guy like Pete Seeger you\u2019re dealing with a banjo and guitar player with certain skills, and Mark seemed to be a guy who had the closest skill set to play him,\u201d says Desprez.<\/p>\n
When Desprez came across Seeger\u2019s nearly 600-page book The Incompleat Folksinger<\/i>, featuring letters written by the singer, he decided to use select correspondences in the production.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was quite eloquent and well-spoken in these letters, and the more we read them we realized that everything we wanted to say was already there in his own words, and it told the bulk of the story we needed to tell,\u201d says Desprez. \u201cSo the whole play is verbatim out of his book.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeger made a name for himself as a protest singer in the \u201960s, using his modest approach to win over audiences during appearances at concert halls and union meetings alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big part of what he carried through his whole career; it wasn\u2019t about going to listen to Pete Seeger sing, and he didn\u2019t think it was about going to hear him,\u201d explains Desprez. \u201cIt was about sharing the music and getting the audience to participate and open some lines of communication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Desprez, it turns out, is no stranger to writing plays about folk singers. The longtime folk music fan became interested in the genre as a child, and he fondly remembers singing around campfires and in choirs at school. He carried that love for folk music through to adulthood and has mounted a similar production in the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, I wrote a one-man musical about [American protest singer] Phil Ochs, so I\u2019ve kind of been down this road before,\u201d explains Desprez. \u201cI felt pretty confident going into this new production that I knew the theatrical territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Desprez\u2019s version of The Incompleat Folksinger<\/i> hasn\u2019t been performed in front of an audience yet, he\u2019s eagerly anticipating the communal spirit of Seeger\u2019s music translating into a live setting, and he encourages audience members to sing along at the performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite parts are going to be when the audience feels compelled to join in,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s when we\u2019ll really feel like this thing is working and doing what it\u2019s supposed to do. That\u2019s a big part of why I think this show is important; to keep that sense of communal singing alive and keep people communicating.\u201d<\/p>\n