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MIDLAND PROFESSIONALS CREATE & PERFORM HEAL

A ROCK OPERA FOR OUR TIMES

Sept. 21 & 22 at the Dow Library Auditorium

By Robert E. Martin

In his hit song Atlantis back in 1969, the pop-balladeer Donovan

sang about a carpenter, a physician, a poet and a baker that all went off

to look for Utopia.  Now, in the year 2001, Midland's Tim Boychuck is

literally putting this gestalt into practice.

Boychuck, who owns Boychuck State Farm Insurance on Eastman Road and also

moonlights as lead singer & guitarist for the band Shoobooty, has written a

16-song 'score' entitled Heal.

Moreover, he has teamed up with noted physician Ben Mayne and other Midland

professionals to bring his original 'rock opera' to life in a series of

live performances scheduled for the Grace A. Dow Library Auditorium on

Friday & Saturday, September 21 & 22 at 8 PM.  Tickets for the production

are only $15.00 and proceeds will benefit the Midland Shelter House.

According to Boychuck, Heal is "a cross between the Broadway play Cats and

Pink Floyd's 'The Wall."

Back in 1992 Boychuck and a friend wanted to write an album and started

discussing a concept.  "I wanted to write a story about a dog and

eventually it evolved into a situation where I took parallels between a dog

and the human condition and tried to intertwine the two," he explains.

"Eventually, it turned into something serious. I worked on the project for

a long time and then it got shelved. But this past winter I had some

friends over at my house and they saw it laying around and started reading

it. I played a couple of the songs and they all wanted to help bring it to

life."

It wasn't long before Boychuck enlisted the aid of former band mate Dan

Deitsch and other 'professional amateurs' such as James Young, Tezra

McPhilliips, Nick Veremis, and Mayne. "Over quite a few years we managed to

fall together, and have been playing at private parties," notes Boychuck.

"These people helped me bring the production to life. Without them it would

still be sitting on the shelf."

"Originally, it was supposed to be funny," remarks Boychuck, "but it turned

into something serious and metaphorical. The songs have double & triple

meanings and really the work is more of a conceptual song cycle about

things I've either experienced or witnessed."

Boychuck explains that the title Heal is metaphorical in that when you tell

a dog to heal, he follows a command that can be either loving or

mean-spirited. "Plus it plays on the word in the sense of the world

healing, how maybe we can change the word with our role in everyday

situations."

Similarly, songs like Rabid convey the disease and drug addled components

of society, while titles like Welcome to the Shelter refer to euthanasia

and abuse of the aged; Stray references the homeless; Off the Leash deals

with irresponsible freedom, and Running With the Pack covers the onus of

peer pressure.

The Heal production includes 16 songs and runs about 2-hours. Apart from

the musicians, it also enlists the services of Midland artist Jodi

Patterson, who designed stage assemblages, costumes and backdrops.

Another novel component of Heal is how actions and feeling flow from the

characterizations of the various musicians.

"One main character evolves throughout the cycle, and the rest of us assume

different elements of society, so the audience detects a subtle change in

the mood of the characters."

"We have a stage constructed with different levels, a light show that is

specific to this performance, costumes for the various characters, and

we're doing it as elaborate as possible," adds Boychuck.

"The key is to draw the audience into this performance so they walk away

and feel what we're trying to say and realize that they can make a

difference, too."

The group has been rehearsing Heal since March of this year and sacrificed

a good portion of their summer concentrating on polishing the production.

"The most challenging thing has been getting everybody together on the same

days for rehearsal, because we all have fulltime jobs and families, but it

does show this is a work of love, pure enjoyment, and complete heart  &

soul."

And what does Tim feel is the 'crux' of his message in Heal? "Regardless of

what you go through in life, there is always a light out there you can see

and still go for. No matter how many times you fall down, you can still

shake yourself off. It's all a matter of choice and desire."

In deciding to orient the performances as a benefit for Shelter House of

Midland, which provides a haven for battered women & children, Tim says

that many groups were considered and interviewed. "We wanted to do a local

charity and something that would directly benefit people," he explains. "We

narrowed it down to four organizations and feel that Shelter House was most

receptive to what we were doing. Plus, it really fit well into the whole

concept."

Although no other performances of the work are scheduled, Boychuck says,

"if somebody wants us, we'll do it. We'll also be recording both nights of

the performance."

Tickets for the performances are available at Boychuck State Farm

Insurance, 967 S. Saginaw Rd. in Eastlawn Plaza (989-839-2896); 101 Main

Street, (989-832-2665); and New World Coffee Co., 147 E. Main St.,

(989-633-9795.

Tickets are $15.00 and checks should be made out to: Midland Shelter House.

The group also has a Heal Website that you can check out at

http://junglejim16.tripod.com/heal/index.html

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