E EQUITY QUARTERLY Q wInTER 2010 - EQUITYONLINE€¦ · E EQUITY QUARTERLY Q wInTER 2010 ......

EQE Q U I T Y Q U A R T E R L Y w I n T E R 2 0 1 0

Keeping the show going

CanCelled due to laCK of funds

why we love musiCals

Breaking into song

No other type of theatre brings on such complex emotions

some people give themselves over Completely to musiCals and get lost

in the musiC and danCing – while others just Can’t maKe the leap when

CharaCters breaK into song. the same goes for performers – some relish

the joy that Comes when the audienCe ConneCts with a song, while others

thinK the form has beCome too CommerCial.

one faCt remains: musiCals are some of the most wildly suCCessful

produCtions to hit Canadian stages – and their popularity Continues to grow.

it looKs liKe Canada’s love affair with the musiCal has only just begun.

w I n T E R 2 0 1 0 E Q U I T Y Q U A R T E R L Y 1

Hello again! My name is Allan Teichman, I work as a stage manager, and at the first meeting of the new Coun-cil I had the honour of being re-elected President. I feel privileged that I should continue to be entrusted with the task of assisting Council in its work. And of course, I don’t do it alone – Council will also count on Kerry Davidson (B.C./Yukon) as First VP and Advisory Liaison, Kerry-Ann Doherty (Ontario) as Second VP and Member Liaison, and Virginia Reh (Ontario) as Secretary-Treasurer.

As with last term, Council begins with an enormous agenda ahead of it, however much of that work is already well under way. Our first meeting consisted of three solid days of learning and review to bring us up to speed, so you now have a board of 22 dedicated and energized Councillors just itching to get to work.

We also hosted our annual honours event on the Monday evening, which was a nice break from the mountain of paper. Congratulations again to all the honourees (see EQ Moves), and many thanks to all those who came out to help make the evening so wonderful. It’s always inspiring to see members take such delight and pride in an oppor-tunity to recognize excellence in their colleagues.

The next set of honours will be presented in Calgary in late October 2010, and now is the time to get nominations in. Details on each of the awards, as well as the submission form, can be found on the Equity website under Committees; Honours. Remember, although these awards are presented by Council, they come from you and they all begin with your recommendation.

About a year ago, I resolved to start a President’s blog. It may be hard to believe, but despite all the material that gets sent out over my signature, I actually have more to say. Perhaps it’s a cathartic response to sitting in rehearsal hour after hour after hour, listening to other people speak. (Before you ask, no, of course I’m not talking about you personally. It’s just that, well, sometimes… umm… yeah.)

As with many things I resolve to do, I never quite got around to it. So, I’m sharing this com-mitment with 5,000 of my closest colleagues so that I can’t back out. It’s not going to be a

Facebook page; Facebook makes me break out in an uncomfortable rash. By the time you read this, I will have figured out how to make this happen, and we’ll post notice or fire up the Bat Signal, or something, so you know where to find it.

Why a blog? It’s because I’d like to start sharing more of the thinking behind the doings of Council, and do so on a flexible schedule. More importantly, I’d like to do it in a medium where the membership has the ability to answer back and ask questions. Last term we put a lot of time and energy into enhancing our reporting to members, and now I want to turn that one-way street into more of a two-way street.

Given the tendency for discussions on the Internet to get radically tangential, I embark on this experiment with some trepidation. However, I think the risks are worth the benefit of better communication, and we’ll give it a good go.

Speaking of communication, don’t be a stranger. If something gets under your skin, your Association stands no chance of doing anything about it if we don’t hear from you. If you need individual assistance with something, call staff at either office – it’s why we have them. If you think the matter is a bigger-picture topic that affects a whole range of members, get in touch with your Councillor. That’s the level that we work at. Contact information for all Councillors appears on the website, or is available by calling either office. And if you want to bat around some ideas or concerns at a more local level, don’t forget you also have access to your regional advisory. Their contact info is also posted online.

Finally, members are always welcome to contact Kerry-Ann Doherty, the Second VP and Member Liaison at [email protected], or by mail via the National Office. And of course, I continue to welcome your emails at [email protected]. Heck, you could even write to both of us.

All the best for a great holiday season and Happy New Year,

Allan TeichmanPresident

President’s

message

EQwInTER 2010 – Volume 3, number 4

ExEcUTIVE EdIToR lynn mcQueen

EdIToR barb farwell

dEsIgn & LAYoUT Chris simeon, september Creative

1 president’s message3 notes from arden ryshpan4 letters to the editor 5 eQ moves 8 eQ&a 9 eQ voiCes16 fondly remembered 18 eQ lives 19 baCKstage 20 eQ Classifieds21 eQ flashbaCK

6 B.C. cuts arts funding

10 Can’t stop the music

14 Swinging on to the scene

E Q U I T Y Q U A R T E R L Y w I n T E R 2 0 1 0

V o L U m E 3 n U m b E R 4

coVER And InsIdE FRonT coVER: The cast from Sunday in the Park with George, the shaw Festival’s 2009 season musical, breaks into song

AboVE (left to right): Josh Assor as baby John, matt Alfano as Action, Kyle golemba as A-Rab, brandon Espinoza as Riff and marc Kimelman as big deal in the stratford shakespeare Festival’s 2009 production of West Side Story

EQ

Equity members are encouraged to submit articles, submissions and accompanying photos, notices of births, marriages, memorial notices and letters to the editor via email ([email protected]) or on disk with accompanying hard copy. The copy deadline for submissions is monday, February 15, 2010. EQ reserves the right to edit for length, style and content.

EQ Equity Quarterly (Issn 1913-2190) is a forum to communicate to Equity members the activities of the Association and issues of concern to the Association. with the exception of the editorial staff, the views expressed in solicited or unsolicited articles are not necessarily the views of the Association.

Canadian actors’ equity association (equity) is the voice of professional artists working in live performance in English canada. we represent more than 5,500 performers, directors, choreographers, fight directors and stage managers working in theatre, opera and dance, and support their creative efforts by seeking to improve their working conditions and opportunities by negotiating and administering collective agreements, providing benefit plans, information and support and acting as an advocate.

coming issue: spRIng 2010

subscriptions are available at an annual rate of $35, including gsT.

publications mail Agreement no. 40038615 EQ is published four times a year by canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

national office44 Victoria street, 12th Floor, Toronto, on m5c 3c4Tel: 416-867-9165 | Fax: 416-867-9246 | Toll-free: 1-800-387-1856 (members only)[email protected] | www.caea.com

western office736 granville street, suite 510, Vancouver, bc V6Z 1g3Tel: 604-682-6173 | 604-682-6174 | Toll free: 1-877-682-6173 (members only) [email protected]


Notes from Arden Ryshpan

“What’s the matter? Don’t you like musical comedy?”– Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon in All That Jazz

I do. I admit that I absolutely adore musicals. It comes, I suspect, from the fact that the first time I ever went to a grown-up theatre (at the age of five or six) it was to see my father perform in a production of The Fantasticks.

Since it was staged at a well-known, fancy club called the El Morocco in Mon-treal, where children my age were most certainly not allowed, I slipped up the back stairs with my mother where we sat at a dark table in the balcony. The wait staff brought me a series of fancy non-alcoholic drinks with cherries spiked on stir sticks and little paper umbrellas peeking through billowing dry ice. And I was hooked – on the music – never could stand maraschino cherries.

I have owned the original soundtrack recording of that show ever since and it is on my iPod now (as is the original cast recording of Hair.) I have never tired of lis-tening to those simple, lovely melodies, played only by a piano and a harp. I can’t tell you how many times I have stayed up late to watch Kiss Me Kate (in which you can see a very young Bob Fosse dance) or West Side Story on television – the filmed version of stage musicals being the easiest way to feed my musical habit.

And yet, for some reason unfathomable to me, musicals are a much maligned form. People com-plain that they are maudlin, but I suspect that it is because they found themselves swept up in the emotion of the music. Folks scoff at the notion of characters suddenly breaking into song, rather than seeing the musical numbers as a way of telling us more about a character than dialogue ever could, or in some circumstances, actually advancing the plot. They complain that in fact musicals are lack-ing in plot and character development – but linear plots and complex character arcs aren’t essential to a great drama either. Just ask Samuel Beckett. But sit in the audience at a successful musical and I promise you – you could hardly hope to have more fun at the theatre.

There is a new generation discovering musical theatre, thanks to works like Rent and Spring Awakening (which I was fortunate enough to see during its New York run) and In the Heights. But the cost of developing a brand new musical work makes it probably the most risky of all theatrical forms and therefore only within the scope of a very few to encourage and present. I only wish there were more people prepared to make the investment.

Canada is fortunate to have some of the most extraordinarily talented musical performers you could ever hope to see (and hear) and a number of them appear in this issue. We hope that those of you who haven’t developed a fondness for musical theatre will take another look at it and that those of you who already love them will develop an even deeper appreciation for the art.

Arden R. RyshpanExecutive Director

4 E Q U I T Y Q U A R T E R L Y w I n T E R 2 0 1 0

LetteRS on subjects of concern to Equity members will be considered for publication. Letters must be signed, but names will be withheld on request for those letters that may affect members’ employment. Letters that include artistic criticism of Equity members or letters that are antagonistic or accusatory, either implied or expressed, may be withheld or edited at the discretion of the editor. Opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are not necessarily those of the Association.

PHOtO AND PRODUCtION CReDItSCover and inside front cover: Photo Michael Cooper. Sunday in the Park with George (2009) by James Lepine with music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim produced by the Shaw Festival. Directed by Alisa Palmer with choreography by Bill Coleman.Cast: Kawa Ada, Neil Barclay, Kyle Blair, Alix Boyd, Celeste Brillon, Saccha Dennis, Sharry Flett, Patty Jamieson, Melanie Janzen, Gabrielle Jones, Anthony Malarky, Julie Martell, Christine Passmore, Melanie Phillipson, Steven Sutcliffe, Jacqueline Thair, Jay Turvey, Mark Uhre, Robin Evan Willis and Kelly Wong. Stage managed by Meredith MacDonald assisted by Annie McWhinnie and Erin Finn (apprentice.)Page 2: Photo: David Hou. West Side Story (2009) by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim produced by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Directed by Gary Griffin with choreography by Sergio Trujillo based on a conception of Jerome Robbins. Cast: Matthew Alfano, Tessa Alves, Mary Antonini, Josh Assor, Carla Bennett, Andrew Cao, Dan Chameroy, Lindsay Croxall, Bruce Dow, Brandon Espinoza, Nicko Giannakos, Kyle Golemba, Graeme Goodhall, Jessica Keeling, Chilina Kennedy, Marc Kimelman, Krista Leis, Jacques Monfiston, Josie Marasco, Jennifer Mote, Mike Nadajewski, Paul Nolan, Joe Perez, Jennifer Rias, Eric S. Robertson, Stephen Russell, Marco Antonio Santiago, Genny Sermonia, Julius Sermonia and Kolton Stewart. Stage managed by Kim Lott assisted by Meghan Callan and A. Naomi Duncan.Page 5: Photo: Shannon Mendes. Bioboxes: Artifacting Human Experience (2007, 2008, 2009) by Donna Soares produced by Theatre Replacement. Conceived by Maiko Bae Yamamoto and James Long and directed by Maiko Bae Yamamoto. Page 9: Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann. Mimi (2009) by Allen Cole (music and lyrics) and Melody Johnson and Rick Roberts (book and lyrics) produced by Tarragon Theatre. Directed by Alisa Palmer with choreography by Matjash Mrozewski. Cast: Paul Braunstein, Tamara Bernier-Evans, Martin Julien, Trish Lindström, Ron Pederson and Victor A. Young. Stage managed by Kate Porter assisted by Shelby-Jai Donkers.Page 10: Photo: Joan Marcus. Mamma Mia! (2000-2005) by Catherine Johnson with music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson produced by Judy Craymer, Richard East & Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal and David & Ed Mirvish. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Resident Director Robert D. McQueen and Resident Choreographer Astrid Van Wieren with an Equity member performing ensemble. Stage managed by Tom Capps, Dean Greer and Carole Macomber assisted by Claire Adams.Page 11: Left-hand photo: Andrée Lanthier. Pal Joey (2004) with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart and book by John O’Hara produced by the Shaw Festival. Directed by Alisa Palmer with choreography by Amy Wright with an Equity member performing ensemble. Stage managed by Alison Peddie assisted by Christine Oakey and Barry Burns. Right-hand photo: David Cooper. The Drowsy Chaperone (2008) by Bob Martin & Don McKellar with music & lyrics by Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison produced by the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. Directed by Max Reimer with choreography by Dayna Tekatch with an Equity member performing ensemble. Stage managed by Jan Hodgson assisted by Peter Jotkus and Susan Miyagishima (apprentice).Page 13: Photo: Amanda Kind. Cats (2006) based on “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber produced by Drayton Entertainment. Directed by Dave Campbell with choreography by Gino Berti. Cast: Christy Adamson, Tessa Alves, Halley Brent, Jean-Luke Coté, Michelle DiGioacchino, Michael Donald, Michel Faigaux, Ashley Fenster, Mike Jackson, Sheila Kaminski, Neesa Kenemy, Michel LaFlèche, Fred Love, Lorena Mackenzie, Janet Martin, Todd Noel, Kelly Robertson and Natalie Sebastian. Stage managed by Alan Card assisted by Niki Poirier with an Equity member performing ensemble.Page 14: Photo: Joan Marcus. Jersey Boys (2009) by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe produced by Dancap Productions Inc. Directed by Des McAnuff with choreography by Sergio Trujillo and fight direction by Steve Rankin. Cast: Gabriel Antonacci, Matthew Brown, Matt Cassidy, Jennifer Copping, Jade Elliott, Élodie Gillett, Bryan Hindle, Victoria Lamond, Michael Lomenda, Aaron MacKenzie, Jeff Madden, Adrian Marchuk, W. J. Matheson, Alison Smyth, Grant Tilly, Timothy Sell, Daniel Robert Sullivan, Quinn VanAntwerp and Shawn Wright. Stage managed by Zeph Williams assisted by Melanie Klodt.Page 16: Photo: Michael Cooper courtesy of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Archives.Page 17: Photo of Neil Munro by David Cooper courtesy of the Shaw Festival. Photo of Sylvia Lennick and Johnny Wayne by Norman Chamberlin courtesy of CBC Still Photo Collection.Page 19: Photo: Cylla Van Tiedemann. Dirty Dancing (2008) by Eleanor Bergstein produced by David Mirvish. Directed by James Powell with original choreography by Kate Champion. Choreography by Sarah Bowden and fight direction by Joe Bostick. Resident Director was Timothy French with an Equity member performing ensemble. Production stage managed by John Gray and stage managed by Chris Porter and Liliane Stilwell assisted by Kathleen Harrison and Lisa Humber (apprentice.)Page 21: Photos: Jen Andrew.

Setting the direction for a national arts policyI read the autumn issue of EQ with great interest – particularly several articles on the need for a national arts policy which were thoughtful, well argued, and (in my view) wrong. These articles, including an extended interview with former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, called for a broad discussion of government arts pol-icy, arguing that such policy is necessary to sustain national culture. I disagree. I don’t believe Canadian culture in the 21st cen-tury will depend on initiatives proposed by worthy committees and enacted by politi-cians. Quite the contrary.

To begin with, I am bothered by the assumption that seems to underlie these EQ articles: that anyone – least of all gov-ernment – can usefully set directions for national culture. As I see it, the reverse is closer to the truth: when officials, however well-intentioned, start telling artists which way to go, the result is at best an expen-sive waste of time; at worst it is something much more insidious. Just ask artists living under dictatorial regimes.

But we live in a democracy. Government doesn’t tell Canadian artists what to do. Rather, it has them compete for grants and lets the winners do their thing. Under

Letters to the editorour federal system, various agencies with fluctuating budgets and evolving priorities decide which artists will get funding and which won’t. The decisions tend not to be systematic. On the contrary, they’re subjec-tive and, let’s face it, often arbitrary. There is no over-arching policy; nor should there be. Art isn’t about meeting predetermined criteria; it’s about exploring idiosyncratic paths that often lead nowhere but just as often open onto something memorable. It’s not a top-down process that lends itself to the application of a settled policy; it’s bottom-up, hit-and-miss, organic.

As I type these words, two Equity co-op productions of new Montreal plays, Haunted and Duplicity Girls, are hours away from opening on local stages. The same thing is happening in communities across Canada. This year, as every year, hundreds of poor but nimble companies will find ways to put up shows without a penny in grant money. They don’t need any government policies to set out the future of Canadian culture for them: They are the future of Canadian culture. I sub-mit respectfully that it is from them, more than from the musings of Adrienne Clark-son, that we have lessons to learn.

Arthur Holden, Equity member

Note from Arden Ryshpan, executive Director:Mr. Holden makes an important point and one worth underlining. He is abso-lutely right in insisting that decisions about the future of Canada’s arts and culture community not be at the sole discretion of a government – any govern-ment – regardless of where they are on the political spectrum. It is only with the thoughtful, articulate and passionate contribution of artists that a viable policy could emerge. But there is also no point in that policy being articulated without the active participation of government in the process. Simply asking doesn’t work. Working together does. The creation of a comprehensive cultural policy in Canada would also mean that every time we appear before government, we wouldn’t have to justify our existence yet again. And then we could all turn our attention to creating, enhancing and encouraging the arts in our country.


Toronto-based puppeteer and designer Ronnie Burkett has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre – the largest theatre award in the country – for his design work. Ronnie received a cheque for $75,000 and selected Clea Minaker as his protégé to receive $25,000.

Theatre director and actor Brendan Healy has been named Artistic Director of Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which is dedicated to the promotion of gay, lesbian and queer theatrical expression.

Mary Vingoe won the 2009 Portia White Prize at the fourth Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala held in October in Yarmouth County. Mary, an actor, director, playwright and founder of Eastern Front and Ship’s Company theatres in Dartmouth and Parrsboro, received $18,000 and named emerging playwright Natasha MacLellan of Margaree as the recipient of the $7,000 Protégé Prize.

Former Port Coquitlam musical director and dance teacher Dolores Kirkwood has been awarded the Order of British Columbia for her contributions as one of Western Canada’s foremost experts on ballet and musical theatre.

Performer and playwright Anusree Roy was awarded the 2009 RBC Emerging Artist Award by the Toronto Arts Foundation. The award and its $7,500 cash prize are presented to an emerging Toronto artist in celebration of current accomplishments and future potential.

In the early fall, Equity Business Representative Dennis Lepsi and Membership Coordinator Shanon Button left the Association to

Onward and upward with the arts

EQ Moves

move together to Montreal. We wish Dennis and Shanon success on their new joint adventure. Michel Roberts, our former receptionist in the National Office, has taken over the membership position.

Dwayne Stevenson, our new Business Representative in the National Office, joined Equity in December. Dwayne started his career in Saskatchewan as a firefighter before he came east to study in the theatre program at Ryerson. After graduation, he was an apprentice performer at the Stratford Festival before making a career shift to the labour and communications fields. In other staffing news, Business Representative Leigh Kerr has joined Equity on a permanent basis and will continue her great work in the western region.

equity gave out its annual recognition awards on November 30 in toronto. Director and performer Martha Henry and stage manager Nora Polley, both from Stratford, Ontario, were honoured with equity Life Memberships in recognition of their distinguished careers in the performing arts. Actor Barbara Gordon of toronto was the recipient of the Larry McCance Award for her outstanding contribution to the Association and its membership, and premiere theatre, opera and ballet designer Susan Benson of Stratford was the recipient of an Honorary Membership in equity. the 2009 Stage West – equity emerging theatre Artist Award winner was Donna Soares of Vancouver. this award has a $2,000 prize and recognizes an equity member of three years or less who has already made a significant contribution and impression as an artist. Visit EQUITYONLINE to see photos from the Honours Awards evening.

donna soares in BIOBOXES, a collection of one-person shows for one-person audiences that take place in an intimate theatre: a box worn on the actors’ shoulders. BIOBOXES was originally co-produced by theatre replacement and the high performance rodeo


due to lack of fundingCANCELLEDL o o m i n g B . C . a r t s f u n d i n g C u t s h u r t B o t h a r t i s t s a n d t h e p u B L i C

bY LYnn mcQUEEn, dIREcToR oF commUnIcATIons, cAnAdIAn AcToRs’ EQUITY AssocIATIon

with programming, but has had to put its 2010-2011 touring season on hiatus. 2010 was supposed to be the third year of a three-year funding grant they had received from the B.C Arts Council. They usually received the funding by late July – but by the fall it had still not been delivered. Then they received an email telling them their grant had been denied.

Under pressure from arts groups, the B.C. government finally announced it would uphold the multi-year grants, but if you were not on a multi-year grant you were out of luck. As of December, Carousel had still not seen the money. “And I don’t know what will happen next year,” says Higgins. “We run our budgets so tight to the wire. There is never any fat. Where do we cut?”

The Direct Access program, which was created to help not-for-profit charities and increase public access to the arts, was also suddenly cut late in the year. Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, says their resource centre is now in jeopardy and they are going to have to run a deficit. He has also heard of galleries shutting their doors and theatre companies cutting matinee school programs.

Alibhai says the government has not only devastated the arts community with these cuts, it has broken a moral and social con-tract. Direct Access was funded by revenue from the B.C. Gam-ing Commission, which the not-for-profit and arts communities were instrumental in helping to implement. But the government has steadily been devoting less and less of the gaming revenue for the arts.

On top of all this, The Globe and Mail revealed a “muzzle” clause (my words) in the contracts of artists appearing in the Cultural Olympiad. I have no idea if any of the Hive 3 companies would have even mentioned, let alone impugned, the Olympic

TRUTh bE ToLd, the “Spotlight” feature is my favou-rite section in EQ. At the magazine’s inception, I nicknamed it the “pretty pictures” pages – a dedicated space where Equity recognizes innovation and creativity within its membership and unique people and spaces across Canada. The content on these pages is always upbeat and we try to illustrate it with beautiful and artistic images.

Executive Director Arden R. Ryshpan and I were excited to hear that Hive 3 had been selected to be part of the 2010 Cul-tural Olympiad. I attended Hive 2 in Vancouver in 2008, and I thought it was a project with inventive content and great photos too, so you guessed it, the perfect Spotlight feature.

We drafted an article about the 12 Hive 3 companies working on their different (and I mean vastly different – if 2008 was any measure of what to expect) 10 to 15 minute performance pieces all to be presented simultaneously in a large warehouse. The article was intended to capture the creativity of the site-inspired, installation-based theatre that had so originally inspired me.

But things changed.Throughout the fall I watched in disbelief and increasing alarm

about the looming arts and culture funding cuts in British Colum-bia. Was a provincial government really going to cut 92% of its funding over two years?

Funding virtually wiped outBy late fall, the human cost of the cuts became impossible to

ignore. B.C. Equity members peppered every exchange with tales about cancelled projects, reduced seasons and jobs lost.

“Scary” is what Carole Higgins, Artistic & Managing Director of Carousel Theatre in Vancouver called the situation. Carousel, which produces theatre for young people, is still going ahead


Games or an Olympic sponsor – but this stipulation borders on censorship and represents an unacceptable artistic stranglehold.

Suddenly, our decision to publish an upbeat Spotlight piece in EQ felt wrong. This was not a time for pretty pictures, no mat-ter how innovative or inspiring. This time, Spotlight needed to shine a light (pardon the pun) on a different kind of story – the dire situation our B.C. members were dealing with in the face of drastic funding cuts.

The numbers get worse and worseAlthough B.C. has the highest per capita number of artists in

the country, it has always lagged behind in per capita expenditure on arts and culture – so what is happening now just makes a bad situation even worse. The September 2009 B.C. Gaming Commis-sion arts and culture funding cuts account for an 11% drop at best, and a 26% drop at worst, between 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 funding. But it gets worse. Projections are for an 85% cut in next year’s provincial budget and a 92% cut for the year after that.

These numbers come from the Alliance for Arts and Culture’s detailed report entitled “Creativity Counts – The Case for Restor-ing Arts Funding in British Columbia,” which does an excellent job of parsing out the cuts, both current and anticipated. The Alliance has also attempted to clarify the confusion surrounding government information released about funding, such as incon-sistent numbers, changing funding sources and budget reduc-tions. You can read the report at www.creativitycounts.ca.

Two facts seem undeniable in all of this. If the announced cuts are approved in early 2010 – the professional arts community in the not-for-profit sector will be devastated. And, given that B.C. arts funding represents only 1/20th of 1% of the province’s total

$40 billion budget, any potential savings will barely put a dent in the existing deficit.

So why make these cuts? No one has a good answer. Calls to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to rescind the cuts have so far proven unsuccessful. In the face of platitudes about “fiscal respon-sibility,” could it really be that the government is looking anywhere and everywhere to stem the ballooning Olympic deficit?

The planned cuts come in the face of a report issued in Novem-ber 2009 by the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Gov-ernment Services that included a recommendation to “Make funding of the arts a high priority in the 2010/2011 budget by returning to overall funding levels of 2008/2009.”

A surprising benefitIf anything good can be seen from the crisis unfolding in B.C.

it’s how people have come together to let the government know these funding cuts are not acceptable.

The Alliance for Arts and Culture has created a toolkit for the arts community to use to deliver a strong common message to the govern-ment. (Please see www.allianceforarts.com and click on Advocacy.)

“The arts community has become united in a way never seen before,” says Alibhai. “And we’ve learned that B.C. residents value arts and culture.”

Even though we were unable to feature Hive 3 on these pages, you can check out this amazing performance by 12 local Van-couver theatre companies at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, which starts on January 22 before the 2010 Winter Olympics get under way, and continues through to the last competition in the Para-lympic Games on March 21. Ticket information is available at www.buzzbuzzbuzz.ca.

due to lack of funding

L o o m i n g B . C . a r t s f u n d i n g C u t s h u r t B o t h a r t i s t s a n d t h e p u B L i C


John Gray is a renowned playwright and performer. I am Equity’s other John Gray (known as The John Gray.) I began as an apprentice assistant stage manager on Gyroscope at the Tarragon Theatre three decades ago and most recently was the production stage manager for The Sound of Music at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.

EQ&A The joys of stage management

An EQ&A with Stage Manager John Gray

eQ: How did you first get into stage

management?

JG: I wanted to be in lighting, was intrigued

by what light can do on a stage. To learn

more I went to the National Theatre School

and like all good theatre schools we had to

try all aspects of production. At one point I

was assigned to be an assistant stage man-

ager (to Stage Manager Louise Guinand

who has gone on to be a first-rate lighting

designer) and I was immediately captivated

by what was happening in the rehearsal

hall. Lighting designers don’t spend a lot

of time in rehearsal halls so I changed my

focus (so to speak).

eQ: You work almost exclusively on large

scale long-run musicals. What is different

about this work than drama or short-run

theatre?

JG: One of the glories of theatre is that it is

fundamentally similar over a vast array of cir-

cumstances. The differences with large scale,

long-runs include the scope of resources –

you need an awareness of a much broader

range of potential problems (mostly technical

and scheduling) and how to prioritize them.

For instance, in dramatic theatre there is usu-

is going on which can then be communi-cated to the PSM.

eQ: How has your job changed over the years, especially with evolving theatre technology?

JG: The biggest change is the speed at which things happen. In rehearsals for big shows I often rename the SM team as the “rapid response team” because when directors/choreographers come up with ideas the consequences can entail major reconfigurations of the space and the schedule. For this reason planning has become more crucial in keeping the scrambles manageable.

eQ: What is your favourite/least favourite part of the job?

JG: I love solving problems with others, but some solutions depend on the flexibil-ity and goodwill of people and the lack of that can be wearying.

eQ: Any advice for stage managers just starting out?

JG: Say “yes.” There are so many events going on all the time, many small, short (or very short) duration, seemingly obscure, not always in a theatre. But you never know whom you will meet and what you will learn. Participating is a big part of being a stage manager.

ally one rehearsal space, in big musicals there

are usually three in use at a time. The other

big difference is that on short-runs small

problems remain small so part of the skill is

assessing which can be pushed away, but

on long-runs problems grow until they are

addressed and none can be pushed away.

eQ: How do you keep your interest and

enthusiasm up over a long-running show?

JG: For stage managers on big shows

there is a surprising variety in our day’s

work. On an ideal day I will come to the

theatre, chat to some people, watch them

exercise their craft and then leave. No

day is like that and each day is different.

When my spirits flag (and everyone’s do

at some point) I depend on others. When

I lose the joy it is only for a day or two –

someone does something astonishing and

I am back.

eQ: What do you see as the difference

between a production stage manager

(PSM) and a stage manager (SM)?

JG: For me the key skills of a PSM are

working in multiple time frames antici-

pating events; accurately assessing the

nature and scope of challenges/problems;

and having a dexterity in enlisting people

for solutions. The SM focus is precision

of execution and an awareness of what

“ One of the glories of theatre is that it is fundamentally similar

over a vast array of circumstances.”


Mimi, a musical I co-created with Allen Cole and Melody Johnson, opened at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto this September; the culmination of I don’t know how many years of work. I really don’t know. I’ve lost count. So have Melody and Allen. We had been writing sporadically, over many years and many drafts, finding impossible time between work and kids. Those rare moments when we were all unemployed in the same city at the same time.

We spent many hours freezing (and laughing) in the office that adjoins the Far Space rehearsal hall at the Tarragon Theatre, where some electrical anomaly forces you to choose between plugging in the space heater and plugging in the laptop. Over time we asked ourselves, and to some degree answered: What kind of play has people express themselves in songs? What songs do they sing? How do these people speak when they’re not singing? What is the leaping off point, when they stop speaking and start singing? How many people are singing in any given song? Etc.

Melody and I were in charge of the book. Allen was in charge of the music. We all pitched in on the lyrics. Often though, Melody and I turned to Allen for guidance in shaping the story. Allen Cole is a very experienced creator of musi-cal theatre.

EQ Voices There we were in the audience...

bY RIcK RobERTs

I think the tone and shape of our piece, a barely contained chaos, has a lot to do with the fact that Melody and I were learning on the fly. She and I running off in all directions; Allen pulling us back on course. But not all the way on course.

A musical is more than just a play with songs. Some people will come to see a musical even when they won’t see a play. It can be pleasurable to see a person slipping or breaking naturally into song. But sometimes a song bursts clumsily onto the scene. Even people who like musicals don’t like it when this happens. To avoid this requires hours, days, and often years of work. It involves a lot of lying on the couch, and staring at the ceiling. It involves a lot of pacing around, and muttering to yourself. This makes it embar-rassing when people ask, “What did you do today?”

You want a song: one that flows inevitably, seamlessly out of a scene; the natural culmination of an emotion, that moves the story forward, that rhymes, is structured, whose stressed words and syllables fall on the appropriate beats, whose mood supports the lyric and vice versa; one that is appropriate to a character, (played by an actor of a certain disposition, age, gender and vocal range), follows the rules of grammar and, above all (and harder than you think to accomplish) makes sense.

Sometimes you are so relieved to find an inventive rhyme after days of pacing the floor and lying on the couch, staring at things, etc. that you try not to care that what you’ve written is a kind of

rhyming rhythmic gibberish. In a musical comedy, the song

should also be funny.There is not an inch of the Tar-

ragon Theatre that we did not use over the years. We wrote in that little office. We sat around all the pianos. We workshopped and rehearsed in all available spaces. Notes in Richard Rose’s office, conversations in all the green rooms. Many songs that never made the show still echo through her hallowed halls.

And finally in September there we were in the audience.

Rick Roberts lives in Toronto. He can currently be seen in Crash and Burn on Showcase. He’ll always be trying to write something.

trish lindström and ron pederson in Mimi at the tarragon theatre in toronto


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the musical that changed everything. it ran in toronto for five years, it’s estimated that over 40 million people have seen it, and it has grossed over $2 billion. (left to right) mary ellen mahoney, louise pitre and gabrielle jones are dancing Queens in the toronto production of Mamma Mia!

CAN’t StOP tHe MUSIC

It’s a funny actor’s anecdote, but it’s also a telling one, reflect-ing the complex combination of emotions actors, directors and others involved in the theatre have towards musical theatre. People love the form (when it’s done well), but dislike many of the commercial aspects that go with it (while fully understanding that many of those are inevitable). They appreciate the producers’ investment in costly, risky musical theatre ventures (while wish-ing they’d diversify a bit more), and love that audiences rush to musicals (though they also wish audiences would become a bit more refined and broaden their tastes).

bY mATThEw hAYs

AdAm bRAZIER still remembers the phone call from his agent. The actor had been sent the script for Mamma Mia!, then a new musical, and he’d read it. His agent told him Brazier had been offered a decent role in the show.

“No way,” Brazier said. And then he followed up with his assessment of the long-term prognosis for a romantic comedy of errors wrapped around a bunch of hit ABBA songs: “This show is going to close at intermission.”

His agent immediately quoted what they were offering Brazier in pay to take the role. “I’ll do it,” he responded, without pause.


E V o L U T I o n A n d F U T U R E I n c A n A d A

Sound intricate? It is. Musical theatre evokes some of the most contradictory responses of any kind of live performance. People tend to denigrate it, while audiences flock to it. Theatre types often look down on it, but theatre companies do put on musicals, knowing full well that they are the cash cows.

Casting a spell on the audienceHowever complex the responses to musicals are, there is one constant among the performers and directors interviewed: their overwhelming passion for the form. “When words aren’t enough,

above: adam brazier and laurie paton belt out a tune from the shaw festival’s 2004 production of Pal Joey with music by richard rodgers and lyrics by lorenz hart

right: a Canadian musical hits the stage. thom allison and gabrielle jones in the vancouver playhouse theatre Company’s 2008 production of The Drowsy Chaperone, directed by max reimer

CAN’t StOP tHe MUSIC


there’s music,” says Thom Allison, one of the busiest stage-musical actors in the country, now appearing in the touring production of The Drowsy Chaperone. “I love non-musical plays too, of course, but for me, musicals are more satisfying. There’s that joy that comes from the music as well as the story. It’s like a spell – you can see the audience getting filled up with something different.”

Louise Pitre, Tony-nominated star of such musicals as Mamma Mia!, Annie Get Your Gun, Blood Brothers and most recently The Toxic Avenger, echoes this sentiment: “Musicals are a lot of hard work – you’re using your voice and performing. In Toxic Avenger I have two different roles, am singing rock and roll and there’s lots of confrontation. But the rewards are incredible – I love the sense of taking that bow before an audience who has really appreciated what you’ve done. I like to work really hard and then feel that reward during curtain call.”

Max Reimer, veteran director of musicals who is now artis-tic managing director of the Vancouver Playhouse, says musical theatre holds the possibility of creating a unique frisson, due to the connection between actor, musician, producer, director and audience. “When a number or show is great, you feel you’re connecting with the audience. They are audibly gasping or clap-ping. You can hear them, they can hear you. It becomes a social experience, as well as a cultural one.”

For all the excitement musicals can generate, those behind the musical theatre productions concede there are real roadblocks in putting them on. Number one problem – the money factor. “The costs are prohibitive,” says Pitre. “They are really expensive, and it requires that theatres must take a chance on a new work. Every-body’s a bit gun shy, especially now with the recession.”

“Increasingly, people expect more special effects on stage,” adds Valerie Easton, a performer and director who is choreogra-pher for Vancouver’s Arts Club. “It’s distressing, because special effects are getting more and more expensive, and yet they don’t necessarily make for a good musical.”

The anti-musical sentimentAnd musicals also face a far-reaching, pervasive attitude problem. For all their appeal, musicals are often looked down upon, seen as fluffy ways for producers to rake in some cash.

When Brazier first found himself getting cast in more and more musicals, he recalls that “I fought it. My anti-musical sentiment dates back to performing arts high school in Stratford, where musical theatre falls somewhere between mime and juggling. There’s a terribly condescending attitude towards musicals. Yes, they make money, but they are also begrudged for that. When Stratford began doing musicals on their main stage, some were

up in arms about it. And I’ll never forget one theatre critic at a national newspaper – who shall remain nameless – who began her review of a musical by stating that she hated musicals.”

Canadian theatre companies are in a quandary, Allison points out. On the one hand, you need money to make great big musi-cals – and that’s something the vast majority of Canadian theatre companies don’t have. “It’s still something that happens mainly in the U.S. and U.K., where they’ve perfected it. But I’ve no doubt it’s a high art form. If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d love the musical, and I bet he’d be writing them.”

Allison and Brazier also point to the fact that in a country where virtually all forms of culture receive some form of government subsidy, there are no specific government grants set aside for developing musicals. “It’s just another indication of the attitude towards musicals,” notes Brazier.

Ted Dykstra, who has directed a number of pantos – musical comedies usually presented during the holiday season – likens attitudes towards musicals on stage to the attitudes towards comedy in film. “When does a comic actor win an Oscar? People like to see effort, they like to see that something’s hard. Comic performances, if they’re good, look effortless. It’s a compliment to the cast, but good comedies and musicals require an incredible amount of work.”

The Mamma Mia! phenomenonIn the 1980s and most of the ’90s, musicals were performed spo-radically in Canada, with the occasional success story emerging, like Billy Bishop Goes to War. But all that changed with a phe-nomenon that began in Britain and found its way to Toronto. In ’99, Judy Craymer would produce Mamma Mia!, the romantic comedy musical inspired by the pop songs of Swedish pop group ABBA. An instant hit in London’s West End, the show spawned subsequent productions in Toronto, Sydney, New York and on tour. It is now estimated that more than 40 million people have seen Mamma Mia! and it has grossed over $2 billion.

The results were great for Craymer (the show’s story is set in Greece, and she was ultimately able to buy a Greek island of her own with part of her earnings.) But the epic success of Mamma Mia! led to the meteoric rise of the so-called jukebox musical, in which the works of groups and artists like Queen (We Will Rock You), John Lennon (Lennon) and The Beach Boys (Good Vibra-tions), were transformed into big-budget musicals.

And that has led to what Brazier sees as a bandwagon effect – something he argues has been detrimental to Canadian musical theatre. “The jukebox musicals are a double-edged sword. They make lots of money and perhaps they bring people into the the-

m U s I c A L T h E A T R E A R T I s T s R E F L E c T o n T h E g E n R E ’ s


atres who wouldn’t otherwise come. My parents, for example – they first went to the theatre to see great big musicals, and then that led them to see other kinds of shows. But the produc-ers tend to just want to play it safe, so they’re only investing in either jukebox musicals or musicals based on popular movies, like Hairspray.

“I think artists need to take the initiative. I think we need to start demanding better work from our producers. We need to see some musicals done that are not based on popular movies or the music of Rush.”

Reimer says he sees something of a good side to the jukebox musicals. “It used to be that musicals were only done in a couple of places in Canada, like the Charlottetown Festival, back in the ’80s. Now musicals are done in far more places, and that has created more opportunities for performers. Cycles come and go. After Cats became so big in the ’80s in Toronto, I had many more people coming to auditions as a result of that.”

Evolution of the musicalReimer says the current trend in cities outside of Toronto (like Vancouver), is for revival musicals like Oklahoma or The Sound of Music. He is happy he took on the grass-roots Canadian the-atre success story The Drowsy Chaperone, which went from Toronto Fringe Festival hit to Mirvish stage to Broadway, where it won five Tony Awards.

E V o L U T I o n A n d F U T U R E I n c A n A d A

“Even though it has less name recognition than something like The Sound of Music, I wanted to put it on here. We had amazing success with it. It was so great to put on a Canadian show that the audiences took to so strongly. I really hope that there are more musicals like it.”

With that, Reimer notes that the Playhouse and Theatre Calgary will be co-producing a production of Beyond Eden, an entirely new musical based on an aboriginal storyline. “I feel really good about the musical. There are constant shifts and trends in what people want to see and what’s out there. What’s outside the box this year will be inside the box the next.”

For his part, Brazier is banding together with a number of other performers, including Pitre and Brent Carver, who are going to start working on creating alliances with producers, directors and other performers who wish to push the form of musical theatre forward. “The musical theatre is too important to be allowed to be so constrained formally,” he says.

Brazier makes the statement with such strength, force, passion and conviction, I can feel a song coming on.

Matthew Hays is a Montreal-based writer whose work has appeared in The Montreal Mirror, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Canadian Theatre Review and The Advocate. He teaches courses in film studies and journalism at Concordia University.

Cats purred its way into the theatre scene in the 1980s. the ensemble of Cats performs the skimbleshanks the railway Cat scene from the 2007 production by drayton entertainment


T h E m U L T I - R o L E U n d E R s T U d I E s w h o E n s U R E T h E

SCeNe bY bARb FARwELL

somETImEs YoU sEE them, some-times you don’t. You might not even know they are there. But if it weren’t for “swings” – many musicals would not be able to go on night after night.

Swings are performers contracted to understudy more than one role and step in at a moment’s notice to cover a sick or vacation-ing performer. They come to the theatre every day not knowing if they will be on stage, and what role or roles (multiple roles played by one performer are usually referred to as a “track”) or part of a role they will be performing.

“It’s like you are constantly studying for the same test,” says Stephen Cota, who was responsible for eight roles last summer in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s production of West Side Story. “To prepare, you always need to stay up to date with your notes.”

Cota, who played four Sharks and four Jets in the production, can’t remember how many times he had to go on stage during the five-month run, “but it was a lot. I think the longest time I went without being on stage was two weeks.”

He even had to go on one night in two different roles. He started off filling in for one of the Sharks and then another got hurt during the prologue. “So for the rest of the show I flipped back and forth between roles.”

Taking great notesTo rehearse all his roles, Cota says he concentrated on the chore-ography first, then the dialogue, then the specific blocking. “So

pretty much straight memorization – and I took great notes. I made separate binders for each track I covered.”

Marcia Tratt still has the binders she used to painstakingly map out the eight tracks she covered for two years as a swing in the 1995 Walt Disney Theatrical production of Beauty and the Beast in Toronto. “It really was a huge job – sorting out the comings and goings and positions of who was where and when,” says Tratt.

Beauty and the Beast had six swings. All the swings danced and sang, but two male and two female swings covered the big dance numbers and one male and one female swing covered the bigger singing roles. Rehearsals were held in New York City, and as the female singing swing, Tratt brought a hand-held tape recorder to the rehearsals so she could tape and learn all the different indi-vidual vocal parts for her eight tracks. Happily, Tratt found out she only had one vocal chorus part to learn no matter what track she was covering – plus any specific solo lines.

While Tratt said she largely learned her multiple roles through “osmosis” by watching rehearsals, the swings all got the chance to run through the material when the understudies were being rehearsed. They also filled in at rehearsals when performers had to be away for costume and wig fittings.

At the beginning of the run no one was getting sick and Tratt didn’t have to perform much. But as the months flew by it was natural that more people needed a sick day or took time off and Tratt ended up on stage at least half of the time during her two years on Beauty. “You get used to it,” she says. “It’s your job to be ready. And if someone says they are starting to feel sick you prepare for that role.”

SWINGING ON tO tHe


When the swings weren’t performing in Beauty and the Beast they stayed backstage in a sound-proof booth and sang along with the chorus. While that might not be the norm, swings usually do stay for the entire performance in case something happens to a cast member during the show.

Ready to go onMatt Cassidy stays at the theatre every night as a swing for five tracks (including one lead role) in Toronto’s current Dancap Pro-duction of Jersey Boys. Unless there is a scheduled day off for one of his tracks he doesn’t know if he will be needed on stage – but not knowing whether he will go on or not doesn’t make him anxious. “My job is to be ready to go and maybe not go on. That’s what I signed up for,” he says.

To mentally prepare, Cassidy makes extensive notes. “I have a full set of notes that details each piece of direction and stage move-ment that each role is responsible for, as well as character details. I

though, and is thrilled when he hears about friends just happen-ing to be in the audience when he plays his lead role.

A chain reactionAlthough Cassidy is covering a lead, swings are often part of a chain reaction that happens when a lead performer is away. The understudy for the lead leaves his or her other role to fill in for the lead, and the swing (or other understudy) fills in that track. For example, Cota was an understudy for a lead while playing many smaller roles as part of the chorus for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum last summer at Stratford. If he had to step in to play the lead character of Miles Gloriosus, a swing would cover his track. Depending on the complexity of the casting, one cast change can domino through three or four other performers.

Tratt was the understudy for Fantine in the 1989 production of Les Misérables in Toronto and says it was very different from being a swing. The benefit is that you are part of the show every night

m U s I c A L g o E s o n

“ It’s like you are constantly studying for the same test. To prepare, you always need to stay up to date with your notes.”

previous page: the show must go on. big musicals like the toronto dancap production of Jersey Boys use swings to cover when performers like (l to r) Quinn vanantwerp as bob gaudio, jeff madden as frankie valli, daniel robert sullivan as tommy devito and michael lomenda as nick massi are away

this page: marcia tratt wore her flower vase costume no matter which Beauty and the Beast track she covered. it was hard enough learning how to walk in this form-fitting dress without having to switch to the unwieldy sugar bowl outfit

have reduced these notes to ‘running notes’ on cue cards that I carry with me during the show in case I need to remind myself of where I need to be next.”

The swing is not supposed to mimic how the other cast member does the role, but he’s not supposed to put his own spin on it either, says Cassidy. “It’s my job to perform the role the way that it was directed. Each actor puts their own stamp on the perfor-mance by simply being an individual and being in the moment. It’s the goal of every actor to convince the audience that they are really living the role.”

Being a swing keeps him on his toes – especially by playing parts that he would normally never be cast in. “It stretches you as an actor and you have to find a way to make the role work for you.”

Cassidy also says it’s fun to see the looks he gets from fellow actors when he is per-forming a track and they see him on stage for the first time in that performance. He would love to be on stage every night

in the chorus, but the pressure can be more intense, she says.

Tratt even spent her own money on a vocal coach to work on the role of Fantine. “When you understudy a big lead you want to be ready to go on and do as well – or better,” she laughs.

Even though Tratt never took on the posi-tion of swing again after Beauty, she remem-bers how hard she worked and how it made a huge difference to the show by having per-formers ready to step in and cover positions when people were away.

Anyone who has ever been a swing can probably agree that it’s not for everybody, however. Besides being able to sing, dance and act, you need to be thick-skinned, confi-dent and organized, says Cassidy. “A swing is the back-up goalie of musical theatre, people don’t always recognize the work that we do in order to be prepared to step into the show at any given moment.”

“You have to think fast on your feet,” adds Tratt. “But that is part of the excitement of live theatre.”


Fondly Remembereddouglas Campbell 1922 - 2009bY R.h. Thomson

imagined; challenging me; encouraging me; provoking me but always summoning me.

Tissue and blood, bone and brain, soul and spirit, Douglas was a theatre actor. The pores of his skin spoke theatre. His mentors from the 19th century prepared him, he acted his theatre in the 20th century and I hope he influences our theatre in the 21st century. Cameras be damned – the art of the theatre is too good, too exciting, too visceral, too vital to ever, ever be abandoned.

Brought to Canada by Tyrone Guthrie for the wildly imagined Stratford experiment, Douglas transplanted deep theatrical roots. His theatre was anchored in language. His head was present but his heart prevailed. He was forever a people’s actor wanting to cre-ate theatre for all – a beer at the Legion Hall was more comfortable than a martini at the King Edward. The winter tour of The Cana-dian Players was his testament to the country and the people he wanted to be adopted by. On both theatrical and political stages he championed the common man, everyday Canadians. The burr under his skin was often uncomfortable for those in authority, but the burr was the irritation of an unrelenting conscience.

Douglas championed young actors and young companies. He knew they were his beloved theatre’s future. How many of us fell under his lion’s eye as we ventured out with wobbly legs on stage with him for the first time? No doubt he saw through me, overacting my young lungs out, yet he was forever gracious in his “suggestions.” If only I had heeded what I thought were dusty lessons about “the voice” I might be better placed to ride the challenges of oak-ribbed texts. Regretfully my fixation with being a modern actor, a style skinned with a sheen of realism, kept me from accepting the wisdoms that lay within the lion’s voice... until now.

Two years ago I watched him with an acting class at Ryerson. His presence alone willed them to taste the blood of theatre. I wanted him to frighten them alive. I wanted them to experience the roar that can exist even at the end of an actor’s time, a roar daring them to commit deeply, commit for life.

His voice rumbled in the forest to the end. It did not falter nor its fire subside. Comfortable and quiet were not for him. I pray they will not be for me.

I hear him still.

When one of the “greats” dies, I feel that one of the tall trees has fallen. I feel there is less holding up the sky as I stumble on my way below. The forest seems thinner and my responsibility even greater. I do feel lonelier without Douglas Campbell on the planet, but his death was different. He was not the towering fir or ancient oak. Douglas was the lion in the forest. I think I still hear his growl, his roar. It’s hard to imagine the deep woods without him. Throughout my career his voice was present, either real or

douglas Campbell as falstaff in the stratford shakespeare festival’s 2001 production of Henry IV, Part II


neil munro 1947 - 2009bY chRIsTophER nEwTon

Like the Highland landscape of his native Scotland, Neil Munro’s theatrical l ife seemed to range from astonishing peaks to gloomy valleys. The conventional, the comfortable, the ordi-nary were always rejected in favour of their opposites. It’s what I looked forward to, sometimes a little ner-vously, in his work both as an actor and a director.

Thank goodness he made some films. Students of our period of theatrical history will be able to guess at his qualities as an actor but even though Beethoven Lives Upstairs won awards, our future students will never experience the shock of Neil’s Billy the Kid in John Wood’s magical production or his disconcerting Ham-let. Neil did one year at Stratford and then was dropped. I was in the company at the time. I couldn’t believe it. He was obviously so good. Lucky for me because I could ask him to join our little company when I founded Theatre Calgary. He had real talent. He could talk to you on stage. He was truthful. He explored. He listened. He could take an audience with him on a journey.

I asked him to join us as resident director at The Shaw because I wanted him to challenge and question what we were doing. He did. And he gave us the Granville Barker series including Waste, the production that encapsulated everything I wished for the Festi-val: a great play that no one had ever seen, a superb cast, beautiful design. Something remarkable happened every night because of Neil’s vision. And that was not the only great production. Counsel-lor-at-Law, All My Sons, The Circle – all created magic.

Neil Munro was an irascible, loving, loyal human being and – make no mistake about it – a great artist.

He found this quote from J.B. Priestley when he was doing You Can’t Take It With You. I stole the piece of paper from the call board. I think it’s appropriate.

“It’s hard to avoid melancholy cadences in any account of work in the theatre. We forget not only the failures but also the suc-cesses, and many of the plays themselves have vanished. It’s all going, going, gone: a lift of a voice, a gesture, a look, that were things of beauty in their time. So I cling to my belief that some-where down the fourth dimension, everything still exists: that lift of voice, that gesture, that look, they are still there.”

sylvia lennick 1915 – 2009bY pEggY mAhon

Sylvia Lennick was more than a very funny lady. For many years she was the leading lady on the Wayne and Shuster television series, and in May 1958 gained international fame by deliver-ing the line “I told him, ‘Julie don’t go!’” in a Wayne and Shus-ter sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was then that I, along with most Canadians, saw her for the first time, and that phrase instantly became part of my vocabulary.

But Sylvia was so much more than a “one-line sensation.” Her many television credits include The Adventures of Tugboat Annie, Cannonball, and The Trouble with Tracey. But her real love was the theatre. She and husband Ben were part of the left-wing troupe, The Theatre of Action, in the late 1930s. In the mid 1940s they began The Belmont Theatre Company, and in the late 40s they became regulars on the Wayne and Shuster radio show and continued on when the show made the transition to television. They resurrected The Belmont Theatre Company in the 1960s because they were determined to help build the Canadian entertainment industry.

Sylvia worked in theatres across Canada and the U.S. well into her 80s in leading roles that would defeat actors who were decades younger. She never revealed her real age, and why should she – she never looked it!

Sylvia and Ben were among the founders of ACTRA and were awarded the Bunny Cowan Award for their volunteer work. Sylvia balanced serving on numerous committees with professional perfor-mance commitments and with raising a family of three children.

Sylvia never ceased to be a fierce supporter of the arts and proud mother of her children. She was writing her memoirs when I last saw her, about one month before she died. She was a pioneer and major participant for 70 years in the development of our industry in Canada. She was an inspiration for me, and I miss her.

sylvia lennick with johnny wayne in the wayne and shuster comedy troupe sketch entitled Rinse the Blood off My Toga


EQ Lives Celebrating our off-stage moments

bIRThs

Paul Rivers and Gillian Stovel Rivers are very pleased to announce the birth of their second son, Benjamin Gray Cal-lum Rivers, who arrived on the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009. Big brother Samuel and cats Franklin and Charley are also delighted to welcome Benjamin to the family.

EngAgEmEnTs

On May 23, 2009, on the shores of Indian Lake near Chaffey’s Lock, Ontario, Equity member David Frisch asked Kim Narraway to marry him, and she said “Yes.” Well, actually, having kept the proposal a complete surprise, Kim said, “What?!” (She said it four times before saying “Yes!”) The couple met in May 2006. Nuptials, and prob-ably a wedding too, are expected in August 2010.

wEddIngs

Alberta-based stage manager Shannon Macelli is excited to announce her marriage to long-time partner Allen Fos-sheim. The couple wed on December 2, 2009, at Tulum in the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. They will be hosting a reception in Allen’s hometown of Edson, Alberta, in the spring of 2010.

Equity members Kristie Marsden and Jeffrey Victor tied the knot in Vancouver on August 18, 2009. Sur-rounded by friends and family, they wed and celebrated at the Brock House on Jericho Beach, exactly four years to the date they met!


they make it look so effortless and easy, but today’s musical perform-ers are actually dodging a minefield of dangers on the stage, so it’s critical for them to learn how to protect their body.

“I have seen a lot of injuries that could have been prevented,” says Ginette Hamel, a physiotherapist at the Artists’ Health Centre in Toronto who has worked with performers in big stage productions such as Dirty Dancing, A Chorus Line and Jersey Boys, as well as dancers from the National Ballet of Canada. “My job as a physiotherapist is to help performers do their job as safely as possible.”

Performers can hurt themselves everywhere from head to toe – with achilles tendon damage and bunions as common complaints in musicals where dancers need to jump and turn around wearing shoes with heels as high as three-inches. “These shoes are not necessarily what’s best for their feet, but are needed for the look of the character,” says Hamel. “So the dancers need to stretch their calves and remember not to wear high heels when they go home.”

Costumes can also be a big factor in injuries. Physiotherapists have worked with costume designers to adjust pieces of clothing like large wigs and heavy hats that could hurt performers’ necks.

If she has the chance, Hamel likes to watch the show so she can help the performers avoid problems before they turn into injuries. “I help them come up with strategies to keep themselves healthy. We can’t change the choreography – so we need to work around it.”

For example, men might not have to deal with three-inch heels, but they may have to lift their danc-ing partner up into the air. “I help them strengthen their upper body and their knees. If there is a lot of jumping involved in their role they could get tendonitis,” says Hamel.

In long runs where performers can overwork their bodies it’s especially important for them to have a support system of professionals they can see on a regular basis – such as massage therapists, physio-therapists and chiropractors, says Hamel. Performers also need to learn to listen to their bodies.

“Listen to your aches and pains. Pain is telling you something is wrong. If it goes away you are okay, but if it stays a few days that means there is something going on.”

Hamel, who worked in sports physiotherapy with elite athletes before focusing on performers, says she is always thinking of the worse-case scenario when she works with an injured performer. “If they go on will they damage something? Nothing is worth a tear in a muscle – it could be career ending.”

As for the old saying “the show must go on” – “Actors know how to be careful. Most of the time they’ll listen. Stage managers are good too. If I tell them someone can’t go on, they’ll find a replace-ment. Most big shows have swings they can use to fill in.”

Ginette’s top tips to protect your body:1. Warm-up – It’s critical to get your body warmed up before you go on stage.2. Deep core work – Don’t forget to work your “trunk” – your abdominal and back muscles. 3. Stretch after the show – Most performers just want to take their make-up off and go home, but

your muscles are warm so it’s a good time to stretch.

Ginette Hamel has worked as a physiotherapist for almost 25 years and has spent the last 10 treating dancers, actors and musicians of all types in the clinic setting, backstage and on movie sets. To learn more about her approach for injury prevention visit www.stabilitywithmobility.com

EQ Backstage Musicals have a minefield of dangers – so protect your body

jake simons as johnny and julie hay as penny in the toronto production of Dirty Dancing. lots of lifting and dancing in high heels could mean trouble for performers if they don’t strengthen and warm up their muscles


EQ Classifieds

ATLANTICBill WoodJeffrey Bate BoeropVanessa Walton-Bone

B.C. / YUKONKevin KrausslerMatt FentimanAlmeera JiwaMelissa OeiGaelan BeattyAslam HusainMike AntonakosTracy McMahonChris KalhoonKevan OhtsjiJeff KaiserYvette Dudley-NeumanCheryl SwanTetsuro Shigematsu

Raelynne Gagnon

E. ONTARIO/OUTAOUAIS Joyce El-KhouryLuke Letourneau

EASTERN OPERA Adrian KramerDavid BonnevilleSybille Wilson

MANITOBA & NUNAVUT Michael NathansonAlexandra FrohlingerSimon Miron

ALBERTA N. & N.W.T. Jamie TissingtonTess DegensteinAshley McMurdoChloe SzakacsCole Humeny

Melissa McNeilAnna WalisserChristopher DeHaanStephen CassellTim HamaguchiAnna Davidson

ONTARIO Andrew LambJessica HolmesMichael SpasevskiJacqueline ThairCraig LauzonAmber MillsLisa LiElizabeth McCallumShannon CurrieJames CadeEva AvilaEli Goree

Cynthia SmithersAlistair NewtonKris SiddiqiLinda GallantTess BengerJamie SpilchukRyan BondyLaura McCarthyDaniel AbadieBilly ArthurPaloma NunezAngel WongCameron BaldassarraLesley BowenEvan Alexander SmithTim MacLeanBriony GlasscoChris LangShawn Ahmed

Kat SandlerIllya KonstantinDerra St. DenisDavid HeinIrene Carl-SankoffDavid LightCarly HeffernanDorothy A AtabongRachel EugsterSaad SiddiquiCarolyn MykytyshynLiz CampbellFrancis J. MartinsCarl AlacchiDenise DePassAmelia SargissonChristina BroccoliniBrian WehrleAshley Dunn

SASKATCHEWAN Johanna BundonKristina HughesDuncan Andy FisherKaitlyn Semple

SOUTHERN ALBERTA Natasha Nikk BarranCameron Gerlitz

WESTERN DANCE Christopher RuddJeronimo Forteza

WESTERN OPERA Vivien ShotwellSharleen JoyntBrent Calis

WeLCOMe NeW MeMBeRS

AUDITION? Insightful, Helpful, Creative COACHING for your Stage or On-Camera Audition. Monologue or Scene, preparation or polish. 30 years experience as an Actor on Stage and Screen, Director, Teacher and Coach. Stewart Arnott 416-466-6231

FRIENDLy COACHING WITH BARBARA GORDON will help you choose a monologue or gear up for an audition. With 30 years of experience in theatres across Canada, film and television. Barbara can lend an impartial eye and ear to help you clarify your thinking and boost your confidence. 416-535-0058

T.O.TIX – TORONTO’S ONE-STOP TICKET SHOP ARTISTS! Buy your discount tickets to theatre, dance, opera, theatre & dining packages, com-edy, music events and more in person at Yonge-Dundas Square Tuesday - Saturday, 12 noon to 6:30 p.m. or online at totix.ca anytime.

STUDy DIRECTING FOR THE THEATRE IN THE HEART OF THE NATION’S CAPITAL The University of Ottawa’s Department of Theatre offers two Graduate degrees: MFA in Directing for the Theatre and MA in Theatre Theory and Dramaturgy Information: 613-562-5761 www.theatre.uOttawa.ca

CARTE-BLANCHE PHOTO – HEADSHOTS In need of a new headshot? Professional headshots in Toronto • In studio or on location. • Professional make-up artist. • Final images prepared for both traditional

and electronic submission packages. Contact: [email protected]. 647-284-9925 www.carte-blanchephoto.com

14tH tORONtO CONFeReNCe February 25 - March 6, 2010Created & Directed by Winston Morgan

Co-Directed by Janelle Rainville

Equity is a key S.M.Arts sponsor as part of the Association’s professional

development mandate.

Hosted by Ryerson Theatre School 44 Gerrard Street East

• 25 courses led by theatre professionals

• Masterclass in opera stage management

• A broad range of topics & genres

• An opportunity to network with participants and instructors

This conference is for the student stage manager who wants to know more about their career choice; the apprentice stage manager who wants to hone their skills;

and the experienced stage manager who is looking for diversification within their field.

Registration InfoSingle course fee: $35/course

10 or more courses: $30/courseFull conference pass: $500

To have a brochure mailed or emailed to you please contact

[email protected].

Check out the website www.stagemanagingthearts.ca

PIRATE VOICE You’ve played a mad king, but have you played an angry tomato? Commercial voice-over work is a lot harder than it sounds. Why not get the professional instruction and one-on-one vocal training you need to turn auditions into gigs. Sign up for a pirate voice class or private coaching with top voice actor and Equity member Tracey Hoyt. Go to www.piratevoice.com or call 416-594-4357 today.

Be part of the cultural policy debate in Canada

Become a member of the Canadian Conference of the Arts and strengthen our collective voice in defending arts,

culture and heritage.

Members of Equity receive 50% off a regular individual membership fee.

Please visit us at www.ccarts.ca to read more about our work and the

benefits of membership.


EQ FlashbackOn September 20, 2009, at The Court House in Toronto, 240 people attended a special party held exactly 20 years to the night that the original Canadian production of The Phantom of the Opera opened.

Organized by Rebecca Caine (who was the original Christine Daae) and Gretchen Helbig (also in the original cast) with help from Barry Burns (a member of the stage management team) and Peter Lamb of Dancap Productions – the event raised nearly $2,000 for the Actors’ Fund of Canada.

“We wanted to celebrate everyone who put their hearts and souls into the Toronto production and the tours for 10 long years, not just those who appeared onstage – but crew, wigs, prop makers, costume shop, front of house, dressers, musicians, Livent staff, everyone who had contributed and been a part of the Phantom experience,” said Caine.

Phantom opened on September 20, 1989, and ended up running for 10 years, one month and 11 days. It had the largest advance sale in theatre history at $24 million, and the longest run ever in Toronto (excluding The Mousetrap).

Phantom celebrates its 20th anniversary

above: 240 Phantom of the Opera alumni gather around the original

Christine daae (rebecca Caine), producer (garth drabinsky) and the

first phantom (Colm wilkinson)

right: all the performers who played Christine daae over the

years ham it up for a glamour shot


Publications Mail Agreement #40038615Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:EQCanadian Actors’ Equity Association 44 Victoria Street, 12th FloorToronto, ON M5C [email protected]

E Q U I T Y Q U A R T E R L Y

EQ is shipped in a recyclable polybag

EQIt is not too late for an Equity member

to make an RRSP contribution for deductions from their 2009 income tax.

Voluntary RRSP contributions must be postmarked on or before

March 1, 2010.

Cheques must be payable to London Life Insurance Company and mailed to:

Group Retirement Services 330 University Avenue Toronto, ON M5G 1R8

Please ensure that your name and certificate number are clearly marked on

the front of the cheque.

Questions regarding voluntary RRSP contributions may be directed to

Colleen Didur, RRSP Administrator, by email to [email protected] or by phone

at 1-800-387-1856 (416-867-9165 in Toronto).

VOLUNtARy RRSP CONtRIBUtION

DeADLINe

RRSP FUNDS ON HOLD LISt FINAL NOtICe ARe yOU ON tHIS LISt?Please take a minute to review the names on the list below. Are you on the list or do you know someone on it? The following members have not opened an RRSP and risk losing their money. In accordance with bylaw 66(c), failing to have a valid RRSP account will result in the assignment of the money to the Actors’ Fund of Canada. Members must act quickly to avoid losing unallocated RRSP funds collected in 2008. To open an account contact Colleen Didur, RRSP Administrator, by email to [email protected] or by phone at 1-800-387-1856 (416-867-9165 in Toronto) before February 8, 2010.

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AndyFisseha RebeccaForman NaomiForsell SandraFox TomFrank KristiFrary ChristopherGagnon PierreGanesh RachelleGarvanliev VasilGasparik JordanGatehouse KyleGauthier-Frankel

HollyGemael ElieGillard-Rowlings

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Guidotti SoniaHaber AlexandriaHamel ValerieHancey JordanHarr RandallHarrison KathleenHarwood-Jones

RachaelHastelow AaronHavey JesseeHawkins GordonHenderson SandraHollingsworth

BenjaminHolmes JonathanHumphreys ChrisJacokes PeterJames EleanorJoffe Stephen

DavidJohnson DerekJones AngieJones Michael

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Catherine

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Russell DavidRussell HughRutka HanaSchorpion FrankSenior MarcShafajinskaia AnnaSharpe RobbySimmons DeAndreSixto RichardSkinner PhilipSlade RobynSloan

Whitney-LeighSmith AnitaSmith DanielSmith DylanSmith JoelSmith KerriSpangenthal DavidSparrow QuelemiaSt. Pierre VickiSteenstra BryantStephenson VeraStevan RobynStewart Ken JamesStewart RileyStruthmann

AmandaSykes ScottTaylor ShayneThibault AnikThomas ToddTissington JamieTomlinson DavidTookey KevinTroxell RichardTurner AshleyUlc AnthonyVaculik JanVanstone-Jerome

KelsieVickruck SaraVincent EstherWarburton David

MosesWard LeyWard MattWarshawski KassiaWasserman JerryWatson ToddWensel JudyWest RonWiebe JuliaWilliams AnnaWueschner

VictoriaYemen JillianYoung KyleZimbel MattZukerman Arianna

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