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News & Cast Updates(News section last update February 9, 2012)Soap Life: The Docu-filmThere has been a lot of buzz about the demise of soap operas, but a new documentary just might bring the sad reality into the same world as Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and other big time Hollywood names! Called Soap Life, the docu-film is about the changes taking place in the world of daytime television, and with over 70 interviews featuring fans, stars, producers, directors, writers, bloggers and fan club leaders, it could show the world what's really happening in daytime."The wife of our executive producer, John Grossman, who owns the production company NYPS, is a big fan of GENERAL HOSPITAL, and her whole thing was, 'You have the ability, so let's do something to save the soaps,'" explains producer Matthew D'Amato of how it all began. "We started doing research, and we sat down with a few actors, producers and directors, and said, 'Is this is a good idea? Could this work? Should we pursue it?' And we looked it up online and didn't see anything like this, so we thought it would be important to get started." And the main goal of the film, D'Amato explains, is to generate enough buzz about the possible end of soaps to possibly prevent it from happening. "Hopefully this will get enough attention to help the genre, because we don't want to see it fade away," he says, adding that it's tentatively scheduled for a June 2012 release date at film festivals and possibly on networks such as Showtime. "We do want to see it at festivals, and we do want to see it on networks [so] people who aren't soap fans can watch the film and kind of relate to it, hear the stories and maybe want to pick them up or maybe do something about the genre. We have contacts we can send it to in order to get it out there, so hopefully it will get bigger and bigger!" For more information on the project, visit www.facebook.com/soaplifedoc. To see a video about the project, visit www.youtube.com/user/SoapLifeDoc. WGA East honors LabineThe Writers Guild of America East has tapped Judd Apatow to receive the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.The WGA East has also selected daytime TV writer Claire Labine as winner of the Ian McLellan Hunter Award. Apatow and Labine will be feted Feb. 19 at the WGA's East Coast awards ceremony at the B.B. King Blues Club in Manhattan. Kristen Wiig will make the presentation to Apatow. WGA East president Michael Winship said: "With this year's Sargent and Hunter Awards, we honor one of the most important aspects of membership in the guild: collegiality. Both Judd Apatow and Claire Labine not only have created notable and entertaining bodies of work; they have gone out of their way to encourage and mentor new young writers, offering constant and solid support to those just starting out in the business." The late Sargent wrote for "Saturday Night Live" for more than 20 years and served as president of the WGA East for 14 years. Apatow's writing credits include "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up" and "Pineapple Express." He's produced "Step Brothers," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Bridesmaids." Labine created and wrote "Ryan's Hope" from 1975-89. She wrote for "General Hospital" from 1993-96 and was head writer for "One Life to Live" from 1996-98 and "Guiding Light" from 2000-01. The WGA East also announced that Terence Winter, the team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini and Nancy Giles will present at the ceremony. Soap Star Sues Chiropractor -- She Won't Crack My Back 'Cause I'm a Scientology Reject"Young and the Restless" star Michael Fairman (Murphy, Y&R/ex-Harry, GH/ex-Rich, RH/ex-Nick, RH) has filed a lawsuit against a Scientologist chiropractor -- claiming she refused to see him and his family after he was excommunicated from the Church.Fairman claims he was a prominent member of the Church, but became disenchanted with the way Church was running things. Fairman claims Church leaders got fed up with him earlier this year, branded him and his wife "suppressive persons" and blacklisted the family from all things Scientology. After Fairman was ousted, the actor claims he received a letter from the family chiropractor -- an active Scientologist -- informing him she would no longer treat the Fairman family. Fairman also claims she refused to hand over a copy of the family's medical records. In the lawsuit, Fairman claims he MUST have been discriminated against because he's no longer with the Church -- noting that he's been a good, paying customer since 2003. Veteran actor gives up scripts for scripturesHe's acted on Broadway, had a reoccurring role on the hit television soap opera, Ryan's Hope, hosted his own television show on CBC's Ed Evanko Show and recorded albums for Capitol, RCA and Destiny Records.However, Father Edward Danylo Evanko's biggest role yet, he said, is as a priest at Richmond's Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church of The Holy Dormition of the Mother of God. How does a seasoned actor of four decades go from the bright lights of New York City to heading a small church in Richmond? The News sat down with the charismatic and young looking 73-year-old Evanko to hear his story. "I never thought to myself, 'I want to be a priest' ... it really is a calling," said Evanko. His path to religious life began in 1997. Every Sunday, Evanko attended mass at downtown Vancouver's Holy Rosary Cathedral. "Over a few months, I kept sitting closer and closer to the front pews," he said. "One Sunday I was sitting right behind Gary Lauk, a lawyer and former NDP MLA (Vancouver Centre). "He turned to me one day and said 'Should I know you? ... You can really sing'." Evanko went on to say Lauk then asked him to take his spot as a lector, to read the scriptures during Sunday mass. "For two and a half years I did this and then one day I'm at Gary's for Easter brunch," Evanko said. "I was chatting with the associate pastor of Holy Rosary and Archbishop Adam Exner. They asked me about my life story." Then out of the blue they asked the lifelong bachelor if he had ever considered the priesthood. "They told me you need only say the word and you could be in Rome by this fall," he said. "I couldn't believe it and I started to cry ... the weight of it hit me. "Yet, at that moment I knew and I had no control ... you are called to be a priest." That fall, Evanko left for Italy. He completed his four-year academic and spiritual formation -- which is theology studies at a seminary where men go to train to become priests -- at the Pontificio Collegio Beda in Rome. He went on to further his divinity studies at universities in both the United States and Canada. He received his master of theology degree in 2005 at age 66. Evanko was ordained a Catholic priest that same year. He served at the Archeparchy of Winnipeg for two and a half years before returning to B.C. in 2008 to head his Richmond congregation. "To go through formation is emotionally and intellectually strenuous, but incredibly rewarding and rich," he said. When asked what his struggles are, if any, Evanko paused and said: "As a priest, there are many challenges but many, many more rewards. It's hard to say any one thing that is difficult, but there are enormous rewards, such as being entrusted with people's lives. "You learn from them as much as you learn from almost any theology book or textbook." His duties are many, including daily liturgies, giving sacraments for the ill and dying, administering reconciliation (confession), and marrying couples and baptizing children. There was nothing in his childhood to point to his path into the priesthood, he said, other than being brought up Catholic. "I sometimes didn't agree with the church's teachings but I never lost my faith in God," Evanko said. Born in Winnipeg to Ukrainian immigrants, Evanko grew up attending a Ukrainian Orthodox Catholic church with his parents and two sisters. "I was raised Catholic, but not strict Catholic," he said. "I was an altar boy and sang on the choir but I wouldn't say I was overly religious." His mother died when he was 11 and four years later his father remarried a devout Catholic. Evanko's first inkling that the stage was beckoning him was in junior high. "I was a one-armed toy soldier and I sang and acted ... I guess I had a natural talent for it," said Evanko. At 17, he went to the University of Alberta, where he received his bachelor of arts. "Winnipeg was a great town to get into the arts, because in those days you could live in a small town and do a show that aired across the country ... you can't do that anymore," he said. "After university, I appeared on stage for the summer Rainbow Stage Theatre and on CBC television." Soon, the aspiring actor headed for London. "England was the Mecca for theatre and so, at 21, I went over, ready for an adventure," he said. Evanko was accepted at the prestigious Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. (Alumni include Hollywood stars Jeremy Irons, Naomie Harris and the late Pete Postlethwaite). Evanko spent four years in England, honing his acting skills and appearing with the Stratford Festival, the English Opera, the Welsh National Opera and the BBC Singers. Then came time for a bite out of the Big Apple. His Broadway debut garnered him a Theatre World Award, and later, a New Jersey Drama Critics Award and a Los Angeles Ovation Award nomination. He spent 22 years in New York, as well as eight years in Hollywood, before returning to Canada. Evanko performed at major festivals across the country as well as in the United States, before entering religious life. Yet, this man of the cloth has managed to marry both his loves. "Now, I get the best possible scripts to perform, the scriptures," he said. "They have to be interpreted of course, but the wisdom in the words ... they are the best I could ever get my hands on." Over the years, he has given dramatic performances of the life of Father Damien, the selfless missionary to the lepers and of the horrific sufferings of Genocide survivors of the Ukraine (1932-1933). Evanko will hit the stage in a new production, Blessed Nykyta, Bishop and Martyr, which will run in Edmonton on Nov. 4 and in Toronto on Nov. 16. Evanko heads a congregation of 45 at the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church of The Holy Dormition of the Mother of God on Railway Avenue. The quaint church has become famous locally in part thanks to its weekly sales of homemade perogies, cabbage rolls and borscht soup (Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parish centre behind the church.) For more information about his upcoming performances, visit www.fatheredward.com. New Video SectionCheck out the new video section for vintage videos, classic clips and interviews.
Looking For A Love Story? Look No Further!Louise Shaffer has appeared on more soaps than are still on the air, so she knows a thing or 200 about what fans want: romance! "The medium is its most successful when it deals with relationships," says the ALL MY CHILDREN veteran (she played Erica Kane's wicked stepmother, Goldie). "I mean, I really don't hear too many soap fans talking about that fabulous serial-killer story their favorite show once ran, but everyone has their root-for couple -- all the way back to GENERAL HOSPITAL's Luke and Laura."From The Heart: So the actress kept that in mind as she wrote her latest novel. "Looking For A Love Story," she explains, "is about... well, looking for a love story! As in, romance. "Grant you," she adds with a laugh, "it's my take on romance, which doesn't include rose petals being strewn over satin sheets. I've never gotten the appeal of ripping up a perfectly good flower, and I don't mean to overshare, but in my experience, satin sheets are awfully slippery." Food For Thought: Given that Shaffer's suds characters were rarely lucky in love -- and the one that won her the Emmy, RYAN'S HOPE piranha Rae Woodard, was often accused of not having a heart at all -- what is her idea of a great love story? "One where the love kinda creeps up on the couple when they're focused on other things," she says. "Let's face it -- how often does that love-at-first-sight thing really work out? Isn't it more about having each other's backs and hanging in when your partner is freaking out over something which would not be a problem for anyone sane? "Those," she continues, "are the kinds of questions I explore in Looking For A Love Story. And I'm always game to discuss them with soap fans or cyberspace or on the phone with their book club. "Oh," she concludes. "And this book has a terrific dog. Can't beat that." Check out Looking For A Love Story at your local book retailer, or visit amazon.com. Ron Hale Has Retired!Wondering when GENERAL HOSPITAL's Mike will return from gambling rehab? Apparently, not anytime soon! Ron Hale, who's played Sonny's pop since 1995, tells Soaps In Depth exclusively that he decided several weeks ago to retire, and has actually already made his last GH appearance. And why not, given his alter ego's diminished presence over the past few years? While he takes a pragmatic view of the situation ("It wouldn't do me any good to vent about things," he suggests), Hale also acknowledges that when it comes to Mike, he often felt as if the show failed to take advantage of his unique position in Sonny's life. "Who has the ability to push Sonny's buttons like Mike?" the actor asks. "Nobody. Nobody else can say those things to Sonny and live!"For more on Hale's decision, see the issue of Soaps In Depth on sale Monday, February 7. And join the daytime vet in looking back on his illustrious career -- the guy was RYAN'S HOPE's Roger, for heaven's sake! -- in the issue on sale Monday, February 21! In Stores NowIn Stores Now: The Ladies of Garrison Gardens : A Novel -- by LOUISE SHAFFER (ex-Rae, Ryan's Hope)
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