Free Press Head Start for July 22, 2025
The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival continues in the Exchange District and at various locations throughout Winnipeg. For show reviews, click here.
(Winnipeg Free Press files) Today's must-read
A coalition is urging the Manitoba government to use some of its Big Tobacco settlement to set up a research and education foundation to prevent the next generation from being addicted to nicotine.
'We need to empower our kids and help them understand how dangerous nicotine is,' said epidemiologist Cynthia Carr, executive director of the Manitoba Tobacco Reduction Alliance.
Ahead of the start of the claims process, Manitoba should prepare to invest some of its estimated $1.1-billion settlement toward prevention efforts targeting youth, she said.
'Punitive approaches don't work,' said Carr, who's with the non-profit whose members include the Canadian Cancer Society, Manitoba Lung Association, University of Manitoba, Pharmacists Manitoba. Carol Sanders has the story.
(Jenny Kane / The Assciated Press files) On the bright side
The questions were absurd, random and insulting. But that's how clueless, comically corpulent and cringe-inducing television celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick rolls.
And for Winnipeg's mayor, who bore the unrelenting brunt of the bloated, fictitious character's improvised comedy chaos at Assiniboine Park Saturday evening, it was an over-too-soon dream come true.
'I've never been a part of anything like what I experienced Saturday night,' Scott Gillingham said Monday, still basking in the glow of the exquisite pain he endured sitting on stage opposite one of Canadian comic actor Martin Short's beloved over-the-top characters. Joyanne Pursaga has more here.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham is interviewed by Martin Short character Jiminy Glick at the Great Outdoor Comedy Festival at Assiniboine Park Saturday. (Mike Peters photo) On this date
On July 22, 1933: The Winnipeg Free Press reported Oklahoma pilot Wiley Post departed from Fairbanks, Alaska, flying to Edmonton, in continuation of his solo flight around the world; he had until the evening the following day to reach New York in time to beat the record of 172 hours and 31 minutes he and navigator Harold Gatty had set in 1931. The crash of prices in all stock and commodity markets continued as the most frenzied selling in four years hit Wall Street. Read the rest of this day's paper here. Search our archives for more here.
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Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown's eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion — so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. Article content tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'Washington Black' is the show that could, just like its main character Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content 'Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you're like 'Well maybe I should step away.' No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go,' he recalls. It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premieres Wednesday on Disney+ in Canada. Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. 'I think for me it's been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don't look like us so much,' he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was 'very exciting.' The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: 'They were telling him, 'Maybe you should dream smaller.' He just kept going up. It's beautiful.' Adapting the book The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content 'It's always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora,' Hinds says. The show follows 11-year-old George Washington 'Wash' Black, born into slavery in Barbados on a plantation owned by the Wilde family in the 1830s. His quick mind, inquisitiveness and knack for science get the attention of Christopher 'Titch' Wilde (Tom Ellis), an inventor, who enlists him as his assistant. A tragic turn of events forces them to run away together and takes them on adventures on the high seas, North America and ultimately the Arctic; the story stretches across almost a decade. Adapting it into eight episodes required changes to the book, but they kept to the emotional core of the journey. Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content 'It's big and expansive, not for its own sake, but because I think that thematically reflects the character's heart and the character's own ambitions,' says Hinds. The series, which filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada; Virginia, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Iceland took nine months to complete. Co-showrunner Kim Harrison is still incredulous at pulling off such a massive endeavour of juggling multiple locations, temperamental weather and stars' schedules. 'When you look back at the finished product, you're like, 'Wow, we did that,'' she says of the feat. Two stars are born, with a mentor to boot Among the many elements that had to work, the most crucial one, perhaps, was finding its young leads — one actor to play young Wash and another to play him as a young adult. Advertisement 6 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content After months and months of auditions and thousands of tapes, they both revealed themselves in an 'undeniable' way to the producers. 'They both carry the truth of the character in their eyes … like they've got the same emotional expression and intelligence and empathy in their in their eyes,' Hinds says. He's speaking of Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja, who was just 14 at the time. Kingsley got the older part three months out of acting school in London; he was bowled over when he had to do a chemistry read with Brown, who stars as Medwin Harris, a Black community leader and father figure in the Nova Scotia years. Brown found himself impressed by the newcomer immediately. 'This kid embodies the hopefulness, the sort of Black boy joy that is the engine that drives the show,' he recalls thinking during auditions. Advertisement 7 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Brown inadvertently became a mentor to the inexperienced actors on set because he wanted all of them to feel comfortable. He remembers how young actors feel unable to voice doubts or practical questions because everyone else seems to know what they're supposed to do. 'You just want to give them the space to share all of that so we can move through it together,' he says. He extended the same helping hand to Iola Evans, who plays older Wash's love interest, and Edward Bluemel, her suitor. Brown always made time in his busy schedule to visit the set to watch, listen and generally be a hype man. Don't call him a baddie Charles Dance, the inscrutable paterfamilias James Wilde, surprised everyone who'd seen him in 'Game of Thrones.' 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