Breaking Into Song No Other Type of Theatre Brings on Such Complex Emotions

EQUITY QUARTERLY winter 2010

Keeping the show going Cancelled due to lack of funds EQ 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. President’s message

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 opportunity 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 Teichman President

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 1 EQUITY QUARTERLY Winter 2010 EQ volume 3 number 4

1 President’s message 6 B.C. cuts arts 3 notes FROM ARDEN RYSHPAN funding 4 letterS to the editor 5 eq moves 8 eQ&A 10 Can’t stop the 9 eQ voices music 16 fondly remembered 18 eQ Lives 14 Swinging on to 19 backstage 20 eq classifieds the scene 21 eq flashback

Equity members are encouraged to submit articles, submissions and accompanying photos, notices of Coming issue: spring 2010 births, marriages, memorial notices and letters to the editor via email ([email protected]) or on disk with Subscriptions are available at an annual rate of $35, including GST. EQ accompanying hard copy. The copy deadline for submissions is Monday, February 15, 2010. EQ reserves the right to edit for length, style and content. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40038615 Winter 2010 – Volume 3, Number 4 EQ is published four times a year by Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. EQ Equity Quarterly (ISSN 1913-2190) is a forum to communicate to Equity members the activities of Executive editor Lynn McQueen the Association and issues of concern to the Association. With the exception of the editorial staff, the National Office views expressed in solicited or unsolicited articles are not necessarily the views of the Association. 44 Victoria Street, 12th Floor, Toronto, ON M5C 3C4 editor Barb Farwell Tel: 416-867-9165 | Fax: 416-867-9246 | Toll-free: 1-800-387-1856 (members only) DEsign & Layout Chris Simeon, Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) is the voice of professional artists working in live [email protected] | www.caea.com September Creative performance in English Canada. We represent more than 5,500 performers, directors, choreographers, Western Office fight directors and stage managers working in theatre, opera and dance, and support their creative efforts 736 Granville Street, Suite 510, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1G3 by seeking to improve their working conditions and opportunities by negotiating and administering Tel: 604-682-6173 | 604-682-6174 | Toll free: 1-877-682-6173 (members only) collective agreements, providing benefit plans, information and support and acting as an advocate. [email protected]

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 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 listening 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 complain 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. Ryshpan Executive Director

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 3 Letters to the editor

Setting the direction our federal system, various agencies with Letters on subjects of concern to Equity members will be considered for publication. Letters must for a national arts policy fluctuating budgets and evolving priorities be signed, but names will be withheld on request for those letters that may affect members’ employment. I read the autumn issue of EQ with great decide which artists will get funding and Letters that include artistic criticism of Equity members or letters that are antagonistic or accusatory, either implied interest – particularly several articles on which won’t. The decisions tend not to be or expressed, may be withheld or edited at the discretion of the editor. Opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor the need for a national arts policy which systematic. On the contrary, they’re subjec- are not necessarily those of the Association. were thoughtful, well argued, and (in my tive and, let’s face it, often arbitrary. There PHOTO AND PRODUCTION CREDITS Cover and inside front cover: Photo Michael Cooper. Sunday in the view) wrong. These articles, including an is no over-arching policy; nor should there Park with George (2009) by James Lepine with music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim produced by the Shaw Festival. Directed by Alisa extended interview with former Governor be. Art isn’t about meeting predetermined Palmer with choreography by Bill Coleman.Cast: Kawa Ada, Neil Barclay, Kyle Blair, Alix Boyd, Celeste Brillon, Saccha Dennis, Sharry General Adrienne Clarkson, called for a criteria; it’s about exploring idiosyncratic 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 broad discussion of government arts pol- paths that often lead nowhere but just as and Kelly Wong. Stage managed by Meredith MacDonald assisted by Annie McWhinnie and Erin Finn (apprentice.) icy, arguing that such policy is necessary to often open onto something memorable. Page 2: Photo: David Hou. West Side Story (2009) by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim sustain national culture. I disagree. I don’t It’s not a top-down process that lends itself produced by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Directed by Gary Griffin with choreography by Sergio Trujillo based on a conception of believe Canadian culture in the 21st cen- to the application of a settled policy; it’s Jerome Robbins. Cast: Matthew Alfano, Tessa Alves, Mary Antonini, Josh Assor, Carla Bennett, Andrew Cao, Dan Chameroy, Lindsay tury will depend on initiatives proposed by bottom-up, hit-and-miss, organic. Croxall, Bruce Dow, Brandon Espinoza, Nicko Giannakos, Kyle Golemba, Graeme Goodhall, Jessica Keeling, Chilina Kennedy, Marc worthy committees and enacted by politi- As I type these words, two Equity Kimelman, Krista Leis, Jacques Monfiston, Josie Marasco, Jennifer Mote, Mike Nadajewski, Paul Nolan, Joe Perez, Jennifer Rias, Eric S. cians. Quite the contrary. co-op productions of new Montreal plays, Robertson, Stephen Russell, Marco Antonio Santiago, Genny Sermonia, Julius Sermonia and Kolton Stewart. Stage managed by Kim Lott To begin with, I am bothered by the Haunted and Duplicity Girls, are hours assisted by Meghan Callan and A. Naomi Duncan. Page 5: Photo: Shannon Mendes. Bioboxes: Artifacting Human assumption that seems to underlie these away from opening on local stages. The Experience (2007, 2008, 2009) by Donna Soares produced by Theatre Replacement. Conceived by Maiko Bae Yamamoto and EQ articles: that anyone – least of all gov- same thing is happening in communities 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 ernment – can usefully set directions for across Canada. This year, as every year, lyrics) produced by Tarragon Theatre. Directed by Alisa Palmer with choreography by Matjash Mrozewski. Cast: Paul Braunstein, Tamara national culture. As I see it, the reverse is hundreds of poor but nimble companies Bernier-Evans, Martin Julien, Trish Lindström, Ron Pederson and Victor A. Young. Stage managed by Kate Porter assisted by Shelby-Jai Donkers. closer to the truth: when officials, however will find ways to put up shows without a Page 10: Photo: Joan Marcus. Mamma Mia! (2000-2005) by Catherine Johnson with music by Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson produced well-intentioned, start telling artists which penny in grant money. They don’t need by Judy Craymer, Richard East & Bjorn Ulvaeus for Littlestar in association with Universal and David & Ed Mirvish. Directed by Phyllida way to go, the result is at best an expen- any government policies to set out the Lloyd with choreography by Anthony Van Laast. Resident Director Robert D. McQueen and Resident Choreographer Astrid Van Wieren sive waste of time; at worst it is something future of Canadian culture for them: They with an Equity member performing ensemble. Stage managed by Tom Capps, Dean Greer and Carole Macomber assisted by Claire Adams. much more insidious. Just ask artists living are the future of Canadian culture. I sub- 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 under dictatorial regimes. mit respectfully that it is from them, more by the Shaw Festival. Directed by Alisa Palmer with choreography by Amy Wright with an Equity member performing ensemble. Stage managed by But we live in a democracy. Government than from the musings of Adrienne Clark- 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 doesn’t tell Canadian artists what to do. son, that we have lessons to learn. produced by the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. Directed by Max Reimer with choreography by Dayna Tekatch with an Equity member Rather, it has them compete for grants Arthur Holden, performing ensemble. Stage managed by Jan Hodgson assisted by Peter Jotkus and Susan Miyagishima (apprentice). and lets the winners do their thing. Under Equity member 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, Note from Arden Ryshpan, Executive Director: Michel LaFlèche, Fred Love, Lorena Mackenzie, Janet Martin, Todd Noel, Kelly Robertson and Natalie Sebastian. Stage managed by Alan Card Mr. Holden makes an important point and one worth underlining. He is abso- assisted by Niki Poirier with an Equity member performing ensemble. Page 14: Photo: Joan Marcus. Jersey Boys (2009) by Marshall Brickman & lutely right in insisting that decisions about the future of Canada’s arts and Rick Elice with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe produced by Dancap Productions Inc. Directed by Des McAnuff with choreography by culture community not be at the sole discretion of a government – any govern- Sergio Trujillo and fight direction by Steve Rankin. Cast: Gabriel Antonacci, Matthew Brown, Matt Cassidy, Jennifer Copping, Jade Elliott, Élodie Gillett, ment – regardless of where they are on the political spectrum. It is only with the Bryan Hindle, Victoria Lamond, Michael Lomenda, Aaron MacKenzie, Jeff Madden, Adrian Marchuk, W. J. Matheson, Alison Smyth, Grant thoughtful, articulate and passionate contribution of artists that a viable policy Tilly, Timothy Sell, Daniel Robert Sullivan, Quinn VanAntwerp and Shawn Wright. Stage managed by Zeph Williams assisted by Melanie Klodt. could emerge. But there is also no point in that policy being articulated without Page 16: Photo: Michael Cooper courtesy of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Archives. the active participation of government in the process. Simply asking doesn’t Page 17: Photo of Neil Munro by David Cooper courtesy of the Shaw Festival. Photo of Sylvia Lennick and Johnny Wayne by Norman work. Working together does. The creation of a comprehensive cultural policy 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 in Canada would also mean that every time we appear before government, we original choreography by Kate Champion. Choreography by Sarah Bowden and fight direction by Joe Bostick. Resident Director was Timothy wouldn’t have to justify our existence yet again. And then we could all turn our French with an Equity member performing ensemble. Production stage managed by John Gray and stage managed by Chris Porter and Liliane attention to creating, enhancing and encouraging the arts in our country. Stilwell assisted by Kathleen Harrison and Lisa Humber (apprentice.) Page 21: Photos: Jen Andrew.

4 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 EQ Moves Onward and upward with the arts

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

Toronto-based puppeteer and designer Ronnie Burkett has been move together to Montreal. We wish Dennis and Shanon success on selected as the recipient of the 2009 Elinore & Lou Siminovitch their new joint adventure. Michel Roberts, our former receptionist in Prize in Theatre – the largest theatre award in the country – for his the National Office, has taken over the membership position. design work. Ronnie received a cheque for $75,000 and selected Dwayne Stevenson, our new Business Representative in the National Clea Minaker as his protégé to receive $25,000. Office, joined Equity in December. Dwayne started his career in Theatre director and actor Brendan Healy has been named Artistic Saskatchewan as a firefighter before he came east to study in the Director of Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which is theatre program at Ryerson. After graduation, he was an apprentice dedicated to the promotion of gay, lesbian and queer theatrical performer at the Stratford Festival before making a career shift to the expression. labour and communications fields. In other staffing news, Business Mary Vingoe won the 2009 Portia White Prize at the fourth Creative Representative Leigh Kerr has joined Equity on a permanent basis Nova Scotia Awards Gala held in October in Yarmouth County. and will continue her great work in the western region. Mary, an actor, director, playwright and founder of Eastern Front Equity gave out its annual recognition awards on November and Ship’s Company theatres in Dartmouth and Parrsboro, received 30 in Toronto. Director and performer Martha Henry and $18,000 and named emerging playwright Natasha MacLellan of stage manager Nora Polley, both from Stratford, Ontario, Margaree as the recipient of the $7,000 Protégé Prize. were honoured with Equity Life Memberships in recognition Former Port Coquitlam musical director and dance teacher Dolores of their distinguished careers in the performing arts. Actor Kirkwood has been awarded the Order of British Columbia for her Barbara Gordon of Toronto was the recipient of the Larry contributions as one of Western Canada’s foremost experts on McCance Award for her outstanding contribution to the ballet and musical theatre. Association and its membership, and premiere theatre, opera and ballet designer Susan Benson of Stratford was Performer and playwright Anusree Roy was awarded the 2009 the recipient of an Honorary Membership in Equity. The RBC Emerging Artist Award by the Toronto Arts Foundation. The 2009 Stage West – Equity Emerging Theatre Artist Award award and its $7,500 cash prize are presented to an emerging winner was Donna Soares of Vancouver. This award Toronto artist in celebration of current accomplishments and has a $2,000 prize and recognizes an Equity member of future potential. three years or less who has already made a significant In the early fall, Equity Business Representative Dennis Lepsi and contribution and impression as an artist. Visit EQUITYONLINE Membership Coordinator Shanon Button left the Association to to see photos from the Honours Awards evening. winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 5 CANCELLED due to lack of funding

Looming B.C. arts funding cuts hurt both artists and the public

By Lynn McQueen, Director of Communications, Canadian Actors’ Equity Association

Truth be told, the “Spotlight” feature is my favou- with programming, but has had to put its 2010-2011 touring rite section in EQ. At the magazine’s inception, I nicknamed it the season on hiatus. 2010 was supposed to be the third year of a “pretty pictures” pages – a dedicated space where Equity recognizes three-year funding grant they had received from the B.C Arts innovation and creativity within its membership and unique people Council. They usually received the funding by late July – but by and spaces across Canada. The content on these pages is always the fall it had still not been delivered. Then they received an email upbeat and we try to illustrate it with beautiful and artistic images. telling them their grant had been denied. Executive Director Arden R. Ryshpan and I were excited to Under pressure from arts groups, the B.C. government finally hear that Hive 3 had been selected to be part of the 2010 Cul- announced it would uphold the multi-year grants, but if you were tural Olympiad. I attended Hive 2 in Vancouver in 2008, and I not on a multi-year grant you were out of luck. As of December, thought it was a project with inventive content and great photos Carousel had still not seen the money. “And I don’t know what too, so you guessed it, the perfect Spotlight feature. will happen next year,” says Higgins. “We run our budgets so We drafted an article about the 12 Hive 3 companies working tight to the wire. There is never any fat. Where do we cut?” on their different (and I mean vastly different – if 2008 was any The Direct Access program, which was created to help not- measure of what to expect) 10 to 15 minute performance pieces for-profit charities and increase public access to the arts, was also all to be presented simultaneously in a large warehouse. The suddenly cut late in the year. Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director article was intended to capture the creativity of the site-inspired, of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, says their resource centre installation-based theatre that had so originally inspired me. is now in jeopardy and they are going to have to run a deficit. But things changed. He has also heard of galleries shutting their doors and theatre Throughout the fall I watched in disbelief and increasing alarm companies cutting matinee school programs. about the looming arts and culture funding cuts in British Colum- Alibhai says the government has not only devastated the arts bia. Was a provincial government really going to cut 92% of its community with these cuts, it has broken a moral and social con- funding over two years? tract. Direct Access was funded by revenue from the B.C. Gam- ing Commission, which the not-for-profit and arts communities Funding virtually wiped out were instrumental in helping to implement. But the government By late fall, the human cost of the cuts became impossible to has steadily been devoting less and less of the gaming revenue ignore. B.C. Equity members peppered every exchange with tales for the arts. about cancelled projects, reduced seasons and jobs lost. On top of all this, The Globe and Mail revealed a “muzzle” “Scary” is what Carole Higgins, Artistic & Managing Director clause (my words) in the contracts of artists appearing in the of Carousel Theatre in Vancouver called the situation. Carousel, Cultural Olympiad. I have no idea if any of the Hive 3 companies which produces theatre for young people, is still going ahead would have even mentioned, let alone impugned, the Olympic

6 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 due to lack of funding

Looming B.C. arts funding cuts hurt both artists and the public

Games or an Olympic sponsor – but this stipulation borders on $40 billion budget, any potential savings will barely put a dent censorship and represents an unacceptable artistic stranglehold. in the existing deficit. Suddenly, our decision to publish an upbeat Spotlight piece in So why make these cuts? No one has a good answer. Calls to EQ felt wrong. This was not a time for pretty pictures, no mat- B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to rescind the cuts have so far ter how innovative or inspiring. This time, Spotlight needed to proven unsuccessful. In the face of platitudes about “fiscal respon- shine a light (pardon the pun) on a different kind of story – the sibility,” could it really be that the government is looking anywhere dire situation our B.C. members were dealing with in the face of and everywhere to stem the ballooning Olympic deficit? drastic funding cuts. The planned cuts come in the face of a report issued in Novem- ber 2009 by the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Gov- The numbers get worse and worse ernment Services that included a recommendation to “Make Although B.C. has the highest per capita number of artists in funding of the arts a high priority in the 2010/2011 budget by the country, it has always lagged behind in per capita expenditure returning to overall funding levels of 2008/2009.” on arts and culture – so what is happening now just makes a bad situation even worse. The September 2009 B.C. Gaming Commis- A surprising benefit sion arts and culture funding cuts account for an 11% drop at best, If anything good can be seen from the crisis unfolding in B.C. and a 26% drop at worst, between 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 it’s how people have come together to let the government know funding. But it gets worse. Projections are for an 85% cut in next these funding cuts are not acceptable. year’s provincial budget and a 92% cut for the year after that. The Alliance for Arts and Culture has created a toolkit for the arts These numbers come from the Alliance for Arts and Culture’s community to use to deliver a strong common message to the govern- detailed report entitled “Creativity Counts – The Case for Restor- ment. (Please see www.allianceforarts.com and click on Advocacy.) ing Arts Funding in British Columbia,” which does an excellent “The arts community has become united in a way never seen job of parsing out the cuts, both current and anticipated. The before,” says Alibhai. “And we’ve learned that B.C. residents Alliance has also attempted to clarify the confusion surrounding value arts and culture.” government information released about funding, such as incon- Even though we were unable to feature Hive 3 on these pages, sistent numbers, changing funding sources and budget reduc- you can check out this amazing performance by 12 local Van- tions. You can read the report at www.creativitycounts.ca. couver theatre companies at the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, which Two facts seem undeniable in all of this. If the announced cuts starts on January 22 before the 2010 Winter Olympics get under are approved in early 2010 – the professional arts community in way, and continues through to the last competition in the Para- the not-for-profit sector will be devastated. And, given that B.C. lympic Games on March 21. Ticket information is available at arts funding represents only 1/20th of 1% of the province’s total www.buzzbuzzbuzz.ca.

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 7 EQ&A The joys of stage management An EQ&A with Stage Manager John Gray

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.

One of the glories of theatre is that “ it is fundamentally similar over a vast array of circumstances. ally one rehearsal space, in big musicals there is going on which can then be” communi- are usually three in use at a time. The other cated to the PSM. big difference is that on short-runs small EQ: How has your job changed over the problems remain small so part of the skill is EQ: How did you first get into stage years, especially with evolving theatre assessing which can be pushed away, but management? technology? on long-runs problems grow until they are JG: I wanted to be in lighting, was intrigued addressed and none can be pushed away. JG: The biggest change is the speed at by what light can do on a stage. To learn which things happen. In rehearsals for EQ: How do you keep your interest and more I went to the National Theatre School big shows I often rename the SM team enthusiasm up over a long-running show? and like all good theatre schools we had to as the “rapid response team” because try all aspects of production. At one point I JG: For stage managers on big shows when directors/choreographers come up was assigned to be an assistant stage man- there is a surprising variety in our day’s with ideas the consequences can entail major reconfigurations of the space and ager (to Stage Manager Louise Guinand work. On an ideal day I will come to the the schedule. For this reason planning who has gone on to be a first-rate lighting theatre, chat to some people, watch them has become more crucial in keeping the designer) and I was immediately captivated exercise their craft and then leave. No scrambles manageable. by what was happening in the rehearsal day is like that and each day is different. hall. Lighting designers don’t spend a lot When my spirits flag (and everyone’s do EQ: What is your favourite/least favourite of time in rehearsal halls so I changed my at some point) I depend on others. When part of the job? I lose the joy it is only for a day or two – focus (so to speak). JG: I love solving problems with others, someone does something astonishing and EQ: You work almost exclusively on large but some solutions depend on the flexibil- I am back. scale long-run musicals. What is different ity and goodwill of people and the lack of about this work than drama or short-run EQ: What do you see as the difference that can be wearying. theatre? between a production stage manager EQ: Any advice for stage managers just (PSM) and a stage manager (SM)? JG: One of the glories of theatre is that it is starting out? fundamentally similar over a vast array of cir- JG: For me the key skills of a PSM are JG: Say “yes.” There are so many events cumstances. The differences with large scale, working in multiple time frames antici- going on all the time, many small, short (or long-runs include the scope of resources – pating events; accurately assessing the very short) duration, seemingly obscure, you need an awareness of a much broader nature and scope of challenges/problems; not always in a theatre. But you never range of potential problems (mostly technical and having a dexterity in enlisting people know whom you will meet and what you and scheduling) and how to prioritize them. for solutions. The SM focus is precision will learn. Participating is a big part of For instance, in dramatic theatre there is usu- of execution and an awareness of what being a stage manager.

8 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 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 Mimi, a musical I co-created with Allen Cole and Melody story forward, that rhymes, is structured, whose stressed words Johnson, opened at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto this September; and syllables fall on the appropriate beats, whose mood supports the culmination of I don’t know how many years of work. I really the lyric and vice versa; one that is appropriate to a character, don’t know. I’ve lost count. So have Melody and Allen. We had (played by an actor of a certain disposition, age, gender and vocal been writing sporadically, over many years and many drafts, finding range), follows the rules of grammar and, above all (and harder impossible time between work and kids. Those rare moments when than you think to accomplish) makes sense. we were all unemployed in the same city at the same time. Sometimes you are so relieved to find an inventive rhyme after days of pacing the floor and lying on the couch, staring at things, We spent many hours freezing (and laughing) in the office that etc. that you try not to care that what you’ve written is a kind of adjoins the Far Space rehearsal hall at the Tarragon Theatre, where rhyming rhythmic gibberish. some electrical anomaly forces you In a musical comedy, the song to choose between plugging in Trish Lindström and Ron Pederson in should also be funny. the space heater and plugging in Mimi at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto There is not an inch of the Tar- the laptop. Over time we asked ragon Theatre that we did not ourselves, and to some degree use over the years. We wrote in answered: What kind of play has that little office. We sat around all people express themselves in songs? the pianos. We workshopped and What songs do they sing? How do rehearsed in all available spaces. these people speak when they’re Notes in Richard Rose’s office, not singing? What is the leaping off conversations in all the green point, when they stop speaking and rooms. Many songs that never start singing? How many people are made the show still echo through singing in any given song? Etc. her hallowed halls. Melody and I were in charge of And finally in September there the book. Allen was in charge of we were in the audience. the music. We all pitched in on the lyrics. Often though, Melody and Rick Roberts lives in Toronto. He I turned to Allen for guidance in can currently be seen in Crash and shaping the story. Allen Cole is a Burn on Showcase. He’ll always very experienced creator of musi- be trying to write something. cal theatre. winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 9 Musical theatre artists reflect on the genre’s Can’t stop the music

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!

By Matthew Hays

Adam Brazier still remembers It’s a funny actor’s anecdote, but it’s also a telling one, reflect- the phone call from his agent. The actor had been sent the script ing the complex combination of emotions actors, directors and for Mamma Mia!, then a new musical, and he’d read it. His agent others involved in the theatre have towards musical theatre. told him Brazier had been offered a decent role in the show. People love the form (when it’s done well), but dislike many of “No way,” Brazier said. And then he followed up with his the commercial aspects that go with it (while fully understanding assessment of the long-term prognosis for a romantic comedy of that many of those are inevitable). They appreciate the producers’ errors wrapped around a bunch of hit ABBA songs: “This show is investment in costly, risky musical theatre ventures (while wish- going to close at intermission.” ing they’d diversify a bit more), and love that audiences rush to His agent immediately quoted what they were offering Brazier musicals (though they also wish audiences would become a bit in pay to take the role. “I’ll do it,” he responded, without pause. more refined and broaden their tastes).

10 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 evolution and future in Canada Can’t stop the music

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

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 audience However 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,

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 11 Musical theatre artists reflect on the genre’s

there’s music,” says Thom Allison, one of the busiest stage-musical up in arms about it. And I’ll never forget one theatre critic at a actors in the country, now appearing in the touring production of national newspaper – who shall remain nameless – who began her The Drowsy Chaperone. “I love non-musical plays too, of course, review of a musical by stating that she hated musicals.” but for me, musicals are more satisfying. There’s that joy that Canadian theatre companies are in a quandary, Allison points comes from the music as well as the story. It’s like a spell – you out. On the one hand, you need money to make great big musi- can see the audience getting filled up with something different.” cals – and that’s something the vast majority of Canadian theatre Louise Pitre, Tony-nominated star of such musicals as Mamma companies don’t have. “It’s still something that happens mainly in Mia!, Annie Get Your Gun, Blood Brothers and most recently The the U.S. and U.K., where they’ve perfected it. But I’ve no doubt Toxic Avenger, echoes this sentiment: “Musicals are a lot of hard it’s a high art form. If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d love the work – you’re using your voice and performing. In Toxic Avenger musical, and I bet he’d be writing them.” I have two different roles, am singing rock and roll and there’s lots Allison and Brazier also point to the fact that in a country where of confrontation. But the rewards are incredible – I love the sense virtually all forms of culture receive some form of government of taking that bow before an audience who has really appreciated subsidy, there are no specific government grants set aside for what you’ve done. I like to work really hard and then feel that developing musicals. “It’s just another indication of the attitude reward during curtain call.” towards musicals,” notes Brazier. Max Reimer, veteran director of musicals who is now artis- Ted Dykstra, who has directed a number of pantos – musical tic managing director of the Vancouver Playhouse, says musical comedies usually presented during the holiday season – likens theatre holds the possibility of creating a unique frisson, due to attitudes towards musicals on stage to the attitudes towards the connection between actor, musician, producer, director and comedy in film. “When does a comic actor win an Oscar? People audience. “When a number or show is great, you feel you’re like to see effort, they like to see that something’s hard. Comic connecting with the audience. They are audibly gasping or clap- performances, if they’re good, look effortless. It’s a compliment ping. You can hear them, they can hear you. It becomes a social to the cast, but good comedies and musicals require an incredible experience, as well as a cultural one.” amount of work.” For all the excitement musicals can generate, those behind the musical theatre productions concede there are real roadblocks in The Mamma Mia! phenomenon putting them on. Number one problem – the money factor. “The In the 1980s and most of the ’90s, musicals were performed spo- costs are prohibitive,” says Pitre. “They are really expensive, and radically in Canada, with the occasional success story emerging, it requires that theatres must take a chance on a new work. Every- like Billy Bishop Goes to War. But all that changed with a phe- body’s a bit gun shy, especially now with the recession.” nomenon that began in Britain and found its way to Toronto. In “Increasingly, people expect more special effects on stage,” ’99, Judy Craymer would produce Mamma Mia!, the romantic adds Valerie Easton, a performer and director who is choreogra- comedy musical inspired by the pop songs of Swedish pop group pher for Vancouver’s Arts Club. “It’s distressing, because special ABBA. An instant hit in London’s West End, the show spawned effects are getting more and more expensive, and yet they don’t subsequent productions in Toronto, Sydney, New York and on necessarily make for a good musical.” tour. It is now estimated that more than 40 million people have seen Mamma Mia! and it has grossed over $2 billion. The anti-musical sentiment The results were great for Craymer (the show’s story is set in And musicals also face a far-reaching, pervasive attitude problem. Greece, and she was ultimately able to buy a Greek island of her For all their appeal, musicals are often looked down upon, seen as own with part of her earnings.) But the epic success of Mamma fluffy ways for producers to rake in some cash. Mia! led to the meteoric rise of the so-called jukebox musical, in When Brazier first found himself getting cast in more and more which the works of groups and artists like Queen (We Will Rock musicals, he recalls that “I fought it. My anti-musical sentiment You), John Lennon (Lennon) and The Beach Boys (Good Vibra- dates back to performing arts high school in Stratford, where tions), were transformed into big-budget musicals. musical theatre falls somewhere between mime and juggling. And that has led to what Brazier sees as a bandwagon effect – There’s a terribly condescending attitude towards musicals. Yes, something he argues has been detrimental to Canadian musical they make money, but they are also begrudged for that. When theatre. “The jukebox musicals are a double-edged sword. They Stratford began doing musicals on their main stage, some were make lots of money and perhaps they bring people into the the-

12 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 evolution and future in Canada

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

atres who wouldn’t otherwise come. My parents, for example “Even though it has less name recognition than something like – they first went to the theatre to see great big musicals, and The Sound of Music, I wanted to put it on here. We had amazing then that led them to see other kinds of shows. But the produc- success with it. It was so great to put on a Canadian show that ers tend to just want to play it safe, so they’re only investing in the audiences took to so strongly. I really hope that there are either jukebox musicals or musicals based on popular movies, more musicals like it.” like Hairspray. With that, Reimer notes that the Playhouse and Theatre Calgary “I think artists need to take the initiative. I think we need to will be co-producing a production of Beyond Eden, an entirely start demanding better work from our producers. We need to see new musical based on an aboriginal storyline. “I feel really good some musicals done that are not based on popular movies or the about the musical. There are constant shifts and trends in what music of Rush.” people want to see and what’s out there. What’s outside the box Reimer says he sees something of a good side to the jukebox this year will be inside the box the next.” musicals. “It used to be that musicals were only done in a couple For his part, Brazier is banding together with a number of other of places in Canada, like the Charlottetown Festival, back in the performers, including Pitre and Brent Carver, who are going to ’80s. Now musicals are done in far more places, and that has start working on creating alliances with producers, directors and created more opportunities for performers. Cycles come and go. other performers who wish to push the form of musical theatre After Cats became so big in the ’80s in Toronto, I had many more forward. “The musical theatre is too important to be allowed to people coming to auditions as a result of that.” be so constrained formally,” he says. Brazier makes the statement with such strength, force, passion Evolution of the musical and conviction, I can feel a song coming on. Reimer says the current trend in cities outside of Toronto (like Vancouver), is for revival musicals like Oklahoma or The Sound Matthew Hays is a Montreal-based writer whose work has of Music. He is happy he took on the grass-roots Canadian the- appeared in The Montreal Mirror, The Globe and Mail, The New atre success story The Drowsy Chaperone, which went from York Times, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, The Canadian Theatre Toronto Fringe Festival hit to Mirvish stage to Broadway, where Review and The Advocate. He teaches courses in film studies and it won five Tony Awards. journalism at Concordia University.

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 13 The multi-role understudies who ensure the Swinging on to the

scene By Barb Farwell

Sometimes you see them, some- pretty much straight memorization – and I took great notes. I times you don’t. You might not even know they are there. But if made separate binders for each track I covered.” it weren’t for “swings” – many musicals would not be able to go Marcia Tratt still has the binders she used to painstakingly map on night after night. out the eight tracks she covered for two years as a swing in the Swings are performers contracted to understudy more than one 1995 Walt Disney Theatrical production of Beauty and the Beast role and step in at a moment’s notice to cover a sick or vacation- in Toronto. “It really was a huge job – sorting out the comings and ing performer. They come to the theatre every day not knowing if goings and positions of who was where and when,” says Tratt. they will be on stage, and what role or roles (multiple roles played Beauty and the Beast had six swings. All the swings danced and by one performer are usually referred to as a “track”) or part of sang, but two male and two female swings covered the big dance a role they will be performing. numbers and one male and one female swing covered the bigger “It’s like you are constantly studying for the same test,” says singing roles. Rehearsals were held in New York City, and as the Stephen Cota, who was responsible for eight roles last summer female singing swing, Tratt brought a hand-held tape recorder to in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s production of West Side the rehearsals so she could tape and learn all the different indi- Story. “To prepare, you always need to stay up to date with vidual vocal parts for her eight tracks. Happily, Tratt found out your notes.” she only had one vocal chorus part to learn no matter what track Cota, who played four Sharks and four Jets in the production, she was covering – plus any specific solo lines. can’t remember how many times he had to go on stage during While Tratt said she largely learned her multiple roles through the five-month run, “but it was a lot. I think the longest time I “osmosis” by watching rehearsals, the swings all got the chance went without being on stage was two weeks.” to run through the material when the understudies were being He even had to go on one night in two different roles. He rehearsed. They also filled in at rehearsals when performers had started off filling in for one of the Sharks and then another got to be away for costume and wig fittings. hurt during the prologue. “So for the rest of the show I flipped At the beginning of the run no one was getting sick and Tratt didn’t back and forth between roles.” 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 Taking great notes stage at least half of the time during her two years on Beauty. “You To rehearse all his roles, Cota says he concentrated on the chore- get used to it,” she says. “It’s your job to be ready. And if someone ography first, then the dialogue, then the specific blocking. “So says they are starting to feel sick you prepare for that role.”

14 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 musical goes on

When the swings weren’t performing in Beauty and the Beast though, and is thrilled when he hears about friends just happen- they stayed backstage in a sound-proof booth and sang along ing to be in the audience when he plays his lead role. with the chorus. While that might not be the norm, swings usually do stay for the entire performance in case something happens to A chain reaction a cast member during the show. Although Cassidy is covering a lead, swings are often part of a chain reaction that happens when a lead performer is away. The Ready to go on understudy for the lead leaves his or her other role to fill in for the Matt Cassidy stays at the theatre every night as a swing for five lead, and the swing (or other understudy) fills in that track. For tracks (including one lead role) in Toronto’s current Dancap Pro- example, Cota was an understudy for a lead while playing many duction of Jersey Boys. Unless there is a scheduled day off for smaller roles as part of the chorus for A Funny Thing Happened on one of his tracks he doesn’t know if he will be needed on stage the Way to the Forum last summer at Stratford. If he had to step – but not knowing whether he will go on or not doesn’t make in to play the lead character of Miles Gloriosus, a swing would him anxious. “My job is to be ready to go and maybe not go on. cover his track. Depending on the complexity of the casting, one That’s what I signed up for,” he says. cast change can domino through three or four other performers. To mentally prepare, Cassidy makes extensive notes. “I have a Tratt was the understudy for Fantine in the 1989 production of full set of notes that details each piece of direction and stage move- Les Misérables in Toronto and says it was very different from being ment that each role is responsible for, as well as character details. I a swing. The benefit is that you are part of the show every night It’s like you are constantly studying for the same test. To prepare,“ you always need to stay up to date with your notes. have reduced these notes to ‘running notes’ in the chorus, but the pressure can be” more on cue cards that I carry with me during the intense, she says. show in case I need to remind myself of Tratt even spent her own money on a vocal where I need to be next.” coach to work on the role of Fantine. “When you The swing is not supposed to mimic how understudy a big lead you want to be ready to the other cast member does the role, but go on and do as well – or better,” she laughs. he’s not supposed to put his own spin on it Even though Tratt never took on the posi- either, says Cassidy. “It’s my job to perform tion of swing again after Beauty, she remem- the role the way that it was directed. Each bers how hard she worked and how it made actor puts their own stamp on the perfor- a huge difference to the show by having per- mance by simply being an individual and formers ready to step in and cover positions being in the moment. It’s the goal of every when people were away. actor to convince the audience that they Anyone who has ever been a swing can are really living the role.” probably agree that it’s not for everybody, Being a swing keeps him on his toes – however. Besides being able to sing, dance especially by playing parts that he would and act, you need to be thick-skinned, confi- normally never be cast in. “It stretches you dent and organized, says Cassidy. “A swing is as an actor and you have to find a way to the back-up goalie of musical theatre, people make the role work for you.” don’t always recognize the work that we do Cassidy also says it’s fun to see the looks in order to be prepared to step into the show he gets from fellow actors when he is per- at any given moment.” forming a track and they see him on stage “You have to think fast on your feet,” adds for the first time in that performance. He Tratt. “But that is part of the excitement of would love to be on stage every night live theatre.”

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

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 15 Fondly Remembered

Douglas Campbell 1922 - 2009

By 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, Douglas Campbell as Falstaff in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s kept me from accepting the wisdoms that lay within the lion’s 2001 production of Henry IV, Part II voice... until now. Two years ago I watched him with an acting class at Ryerson. When one of the “greats” dies, I feel that one of the tall trees His presence alone willed them to taste the blood of theatre. I has fallen. I feel there is less holding up the sky as I stumble on wanted him to frighten them alive. I wanted them to experience my way below. The forest seems thinner and my responsibility the roar that can exist even at the end of an actor’s time, a roar even greater. I do feel lonelier without Douglas Campbell on the daring them to commit deeply, commit for life. planet, but his death was different. He was not the towering fir or His voice rumbled in the forest to the end. It did not falter nor ancient oak. Douglas was the lion in the forest. I think I still hear its fire subside. Comfortable and quiet were not for him. I pray his growl, his roar. It’s hard to imagine the deep woods without they will not be for me. him. Throughout my career his voice was present, either real or I hear him still.

16 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 Neil Munro Sylvia Lennick 1947 - 2009 1915 – 2009

By Christopher Newton By Peggy Mahon

Like the Highland landscape Sylvia Lennick was more than a very funny lady. For many years of his native Scotland, Neil she was the leading lady on the Wayne and Shuster television Munro’s theatrical life series, and in May 1958 gained international fame by deliver- seemed to range from ing the line “I told him, ‘Julie don’t go!’” in a Wayne and Shus- astonishing peaks to gloomy ter sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was then that I, along valleys. The conventional, with most Canadians, saw her for the first time, and that phrase the comfortable, the ordi- instantly became part of my vocabulary. nary were always rejected But Sylvia was so much more than a “one-line sensation.” in favour of their opposites. Her many television credits include The Adventures of Tugboat It’s what I looked forward Annie, Cannonball, and The Trouble with Tracey. But her real to, sometimes a little ner- love was the theatre. She and husband Ben were part of the left- vously, in his work both as wing troupe, The Theatre of Action, in the late 1930s. In the mid an actor and a director. 1940s they began The Belmont Theatre Company, and in the Thank goodness he made some films. Students of our period late 40s they became regulars on the Wayne and Shuster radio of theatrical history will be able to guess at his qualities as an show and continued on when the show made the transition to actor but even though Beethoven Lives Upstairs won awards, our television. They resurrected The Belmont Theatre Company in the future students will never experience the shock of Neil’s Billy the 1960s because they were determined to help build the Canadian Kid in John Wood’s magical production or his disconcerting Ham- entertainment industry. let. Neil did one year at Stratford and then was dropped. I was in Sylvia worked in theatres across Canada and the U.S. well the company at the time. I couldn’t believe it. He was obviously into her 80s in leading roles that would defeat actors who were so good. Lucky for me because I could ask him to join our little decades younger. She never revealed her real age, and why company when I founded Theatre Calgary. He had real talent. should she – she never looked it! He could talk to you on stage. He was truthful. He explored. He Sylvia and Ben were among the founders of ACTRA and were listened. He could take an audience with him on a journey. awarded the Bunny Cowan Award for their volunteer work. Sylvia I asked him to join us as resident director at The Shaw because balanced serving on numerous committees with professional perfor- I wanted him to challenge and question what we were doing. He mance commitments and with raising a family of three children. did. And he gave us the Granville Barker series including Waste, Sylvia never ceased to be a fierce supporter of the arts and proud the production that encapsulated everything I wished for the Festi- mother of her children. She was writing her memoirs when I last val: a great play that no one had ever seen, a superb cast, beautiful saw her, about one month before she died. She was a pioneer and design. Something remarkable happened every night because of major participant for 70 years in the development of our industry Neil’s vision. And that was not the only great production. Counsel- in Canada. She was an inspiration for me, and I miss her. 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 somewhere down the fourth dimension, everything still exists: that lift Sylvia Lennick with Johnny Wayne in the Wayne and Shuster comedy of voice, that gesture, that look, they are still there.” troupe sketch entitled Rinse the Blood off My Toga winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 17 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 probably a wedding too, are expected in August 2010.

Weddings

Alberta-based stage manager Shannon Macelli is excited Equity members Kristie Marsden and Jeffrey Victor to announce her marriage to long-time partner Allen Fos- tied the knot in Vancouver on August 18, 2009. Sur- sheim. The couple wed on December 2, 2009, at Tulum in the rounded by friends and family, they wed and celebrated Mayan Riviera in Mexico. They will be hosting a reception in at the Brock House on Jericho Beach, exactly four years to Allen’s hometown of Edson, Alberta, in the spring of 2010. the date they met!

18 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 Musicals have a minefield EQ Backstage of dangers – so protect your body

They make it look so effortless and easy, but today’s musical performers 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.” Jake Simons as Johnny and For example, men might not have to deal with three-inch heels, but they may have to lift their danc- Julie Hay as Penny in the ing partner up into the air. “I help them strengthen their upper body and their knees. If there is a lot Toronto production of Dirty of jumping involved in their role they could get tendonitis,” says Hamel. Dancing. Lots of lifting and In long runs where performers can overwork their bodies it’s especially important for them to have dancing in high heels could mean trouble for performers if they a support system of professionals they can see on a regular basis – such as massage therapists, physio- don’t strengthen and warm up therapists and chiropractors, says Hamel. Performers also need to learn to listen to their bodies. their muscles “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 replacement. 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

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 19 EQ Classifieds

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welcome NEW MEMBERS

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20 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 Phantom celebrates EQ Flashback its 20th anniversary

On 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).

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

winter 2010 Equity Quarterly 21 EQUITY QUARTERLY

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.

Abbott Renee Collins Tricia Guidotti Sonia McLaughlin Russell David Acheson George Cooper Michael Haber Alexandria Kealan Russell Hugh Allin Jason Corbeil-Coleman Hamel Valerie McLeod Michael Rutka Hana Anderson Gil Charlotte Hancey Jordan McMurdo Ashley Schorpion Frank Andrushuk Alyx Crews Tyrell Harr Randall McNeil Melissa Senior Marc Armstrong Cullen Jennifer Harrison Kathleen McQuaid Kent Shafajinskaia Anna Michael Cunningham Harwood-Jones Melendez Daria Sharpe Robby EVQoluntary Arsenault Irene Amber Rachael Memisevic Zinaid Simmons DeAndre Arslanian Araxi Cuthbertson Hastelow Aaron Mercier Jules Sixto Richard Augustine Scott Graham Havey Jessee Meuser Ben Skinner Philip Aureus Leon Dalingwater Bailey Hawkins Gordon Misura Nick Slade Robyn RRSP Contribution Baldwin James Danyluk Victoria Henderson Sandra Molnar Emily Sloan Ballantine Kathryn d’Aragon Hollingsworth Morris Elizabeth Whitney-Leigh Bartley Alex Marc-Antoine Benjamin Mutya Frank Smith Anita Deadline Baruchel Taylor Dawn Lindsey Holmes Jonathan Nakamura Smith Daniel Bascetta Joseph Dennis Angela Humphreys Chris Stephanie Smith Dylan Bateman David DeSousa Anselmo Jacokes Peter Needles Reed Smith Joel Battaglini Sandra Dickey Michaela James Eleanor Nelson Lisa Smith Kerri Beaudry Anne Dorn Noa May Joffe Stephen Nichols Rose-Ellen Spangenthal David It is not too late for an Equity member Bell Isaiah Doudelet Ashton David Norbury Eliza Sparrow Quelemia Bell Mike Downer Shomari Johnson Derek Oberhofer Andrew St. Pierre Vicki to make an RRSP contribution for Bengochea Drummond Aidan Jones Angie O’Brien Holly Steenstra Bryant Christopher du Toit Andre Jones Michael O’Brien Natasha Stephenson Vera deductions from their 2009 income tax. Bentham Kim Dudycha Danielle Douglas Officer Charles Stevan Robyn Berteotti Naythan Duguay Bernard Joseph Ingrid Olszewski Nicole Stewart Ken James Betts Jamie Duthie Rick Joy Theresa Ono Jay Stewart Riley Voluntary RRSP contributions must be Bilash Kharytia Eady Rebecca Karemanis Aris Panther Champion Struthmann Bosse Eric Ebrahimi Pasha Kashetsky Max Paquette Louis Amanda postmarked on or before Botnarenko Julian Eichelberger Kirk Kelly Mark Parent Rebecca Sykes Scott Bowerman Joe Eisner Michael Kennedy Jeremiah Park Stephen Taylor Shayne March 1, 2010. Bowie Sean Ellett Charlotte Keobke Michelle Parlee Ron Thibault Anik Bowles Cory Elsadig Mazin King John Parsons Ian Thomas Todd Boyajian Garen Elzinga Dean Kingsley Bruce Paterson Dan Tissington Jamie Cheques must be payable to London Boyce Conrad Embree Marc Kook-Chun Paterson Michael Tomlinson David Braaten Heather English Sarah Shannon Patterson Richard Tookey Kevin Life Insurance Company and mailed to: Bradford Chris Falls Robert Koupantsis Payton Kofi Troxell Richard Brager Emma Finn Sarah Nickolas Pellerin Krystin Turner Ashley Breen Tania Fisher Adam La Hay David Perreault Guy Ulc Anthony Group Retirement Services Brodland Ian Fisher Duncan Lake Rebecca Peyton Annie Vaculik Jan Brooks Jo-Ann Andy Lannan Marcy Pino-Hellman Vanstone-Jerome 330 University Avenue Brown Nils Fisseha Rebecca Lavigne Natalie Rodrigo Kelsie Brown Ruth Forman Naomi Lee Hsi Richard Podlozniuk Tanya Vickruck Sara Toronto, ON M5G 1R8 Burbine Jason Forsell Sandra Levesque Sonia Poundmaker Vincent Esther Caines Liam Fox Tom Li Lisa Mitchell Warburton David Douglas Frank Kristi Logan Clarence Preston Jim Moses Please ensure that your name and Camroux Ken Frary Christopher Lomness-Seely Prudat Paula-Jean Ward Ley Carcueva Aura Gagnon Pierre Chantelle Rack Thomas Ward Matt certificate number are clearly marked on Carlsen Sarah Ganesh Rachelle Luck Tracie Rader Frank Warshawski Kassia Carnegie Richard Garvanliev Vasil MacInnis Matthew Rainville Simon Wasserman Jerry the front of the cheque. Carrick Charlie Gasparik Jordan MacLeod Kevin Rankin Tracy Watson Todd Carty Michael Gatehouse Kyle MacPherson Kevin Rasor Jennifer Wensel Judy Casey Julian Gauthier-Frankel Maes Gabrielle Reale David West Ron Questions regarding voluntary Cassini John Holly Maffin Neil Regan Margo Wiebe Julia Catucci John Gemael Elie Makarov Vitali Reynolds Robert Williams Anna RRSP contributions may be directed to Cee Queen Gillard-Rowlings Malloch Katie Rhindress Charlie Wueschner Charles Gregory Deidre Markinson Brian Ribeiro Paulo Victoria Colleen Didur, RRSP Administrator, Cheek John Girard Nico Marshall Raymond Riendeau Kris Yemen Jillian Chirillo Louis Glasgow Ryan Martin Yvette Rigler Mike Young Kyle by email to [email protected] or by phone Clark Holly Gledhill Tyler McCallum Aaron Roach Bud Zimbel Matt Clark James Glen Leah McCollum Robert Robertson Struan Zukerman Arianna at 1-800-387-1856 Clark Susan Goldberg Marcy McCracken Devin Rose Louise Clarke Cherise Gordon Emmelia McKinnon Rudd Rachel (416-867-9165 in Toronto). Cohen Miles Guarino Robin Catherine Rusque Tamara

Publications Mail Agreement #40038615 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: EQ Canadian Actors’ Equity Association 44 Victoria Street, 12th Floor Toronto, ON M5C 3C4 [email protected]

22 Equity Quarterly Winter 2010 EQ is shipped in a recyclable polybag