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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-06-14, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1989. PAGE 5. Memories Festival’s 15th anniversary brings back memories When they cast their minds back to the early years of the Blyth Festival many long-time supporters remember the heat of the early pre-airconditioned days. Helen Gowing was a member of the first board of directors and recalls that first opening night on July 9, 1975 when 400 people packed into the steam bath that was called Memorial Hall and people began sticking to the old varnish on the seats that became tacky in the heat. Melda McElroy remembers the heat of that first season from the performer’s side. She was one of a number of local people who joined the small core of professionals in the initial Festival company to perform “The Mouse Trap”. Back stage the actors had to stand in the A little help from a friend Playwright Dan Needlesand his collaborator “Andy" thedog sit through in rehearsalsof “Perils of Persephone’’. The show previews Wednesday night then opens the Blyth Festival’s 15th anniversary season Friday night. —Photo by Colleen Maguire. dark in the tiny space behind the set with hardly a breath of air in the heat and not even a chair to sit on while they waited for the opening curtain. It was like getting out of jail to make your entrance onto the stage she recalls. Luckily, the character she played died at the end of act one and she got to go home early. For Sheila Richards, the Brussels resident who has served two terms as president of the Festival, it was the heat that got her involved in the Festival. She and her husband Wendell had just moved to Brus­ sels about the time the Festival started and they had attended a few plays. She recalls especially a production of The Blood is Strong when it was about 110 degrees in the shade and remembers watchin attendance at the Festival drop as the heat rose. When a friend, Lynda Lentz who was on the Festival board, said the board was considering the major step of installing air conditioning, Sheila decided she wanted to be a part of raising the money for the job. The pair have, over the years, been the backbone of the Festival’s fund- raising efforts. Fundraising is among another of Miss McElroy’s early memories of the Festival. She recalls helping Anne Roy, the unpaid Festival administrator (and wife of Festival founding artistic director James Roy) go from door to door to try to scrape up enough donations to get the Festival off the ground. One man, she recalls, wouldn’t have anything to do with givin mone to the fledgling theatre but today has become one of its strongest supporters. Doug Whitmore, one of the original board members, says his most vivid memory of that first season also includes money. When a budget of $9,000 to mount the first season was proposed by James Roy he thought they were crazy, Mr. Whitmore recalls. He felt they’d never do it. With the help of the local fundraising, a $2,000 grant from the Ontario Arts Council and the surprising success of “Mostly in Clover’’ the first-ever Festival hit, the Festival actually showed a $1,000 profit the first season. Part of the reason the Festival could turn a profit that first season was because it did without so much and because many volunteers gave up so much of their time. Betty Battye was one of those volunteers. Her son Mark was in “Mostly in Clover” and she was there to help change sets and usher and do anything that would help (she supervised the concessions for the first five years). Her most vivid memory is Ron Ferguson, technical director, lighting technician, stage manager and just about every­ thing, controlling the lights through a series of dimmer switch­ es screw-nailed to a piece of plywood. Mrs. Battye was one of those who opened her heart and her home to the theatre people. Miss McElroy recalls that because the only house available for the actors to stay in didn’t have running water, many people loaned their homes to actors to shower and shampoo. She recalls with amuse­ ment loaning her livingroom to one cast member who used it for meditation for long periods each day. Mrs. Battye befriended actors who felt they were on centre stage not just when they were in the theatre but when they were on the streets. One of the big changes today, she says, is that the com­ munity seems more accepting of theatre people, not so resentful and distrustful although there is still some resentment, she said. Still, she said, there was never any doubt in her mind after that first opening night that the Festival would be a success. The reaction of the crowd that night made her certain things would only improve, she said. Today the Festival is a success not only in Blyth but with a reputation across Canada. The growth of that reputation is one of the highlights for Mrs. Richards. Memories that stand out for her along the way were the first day she and Lynda Lentz signed up 10 patrons in one day, a step on the way to the kind of acceptance that today sees hundreds of thousands raised to support the Festival each year. She also recalls the big step the board took to take on the first addition at the north side of Memorial Hall at a cost of $318,000. That addition is also one of the “scary” times Mrs. Gowing re­ calls. As for today, “the budget’s really impressed me,” she says with a laugh. She is the only remaining board member who has sat through all 15 seasons and seen the budget grow from $9,000 to more than $1 million. She’s also impressed by the way there are always new goals for the Festival to shoot for. “1 keep thinking, well, we’ve done everything,” she says, but new ideas keep emerging. The improved technical stand­ ards of Festival productions im­ press Doug Whitmore. Where the entire crew that first season was one harried stage-manager-techni- cian-carpenter-electrician, today some of the best designers and technicians in Canada are brought in and given set and costume budgets larger than the entire budget for the first season. Letter from the editor Days of dreams BY KEITH ROULSTON Reporters and editors are sup­ posed to keep themselves out of the news but at times you just find yourself tied up right at the heart ot things. Such is the case this week as the Blyth Festival begins its 15th season and people are remember­ ing back to the days at the beginning. For those of us who were there in the beginning the thought that comes to mind is: “Can it really be 15 summers ago?’’ Like so many things, it seems only yesterday and yet it seems like forever. I suppose most vivid memory of that opening back on July 9, 1975 was of sitting on the front steps with James Roy, the guy who’s creativity, energy and determina­ tion made the whole thing happen. The first people hadn’t started to arrive yet but we were sitting there talking about what we were going to do in the years to come. We were 1 suppose, too naive to know just how great the odds against success were. Compared to the years of strug­ gle to get Memorial Hall in a condition where it could host the Festival, the growth of the theatre itself seemed simple. There’d been the initial enthusiasm in 1972 as a group of volunteers including Hel­ en Gowing (who as president of the Blyth Board of Trade spearheaded the movement), Keith and Evalena Webster, Melda McElroy, Phyllis street and Lloyd Tasker (among others) descended on Memorial Hall with brooms and buckets and paint brushes and rollers to spruce up the old queen that hid under layers of dust that had settled through the years when the theatre was seldom used. Then the hills and valleys began with the word that before the hall could be regularly used a new fire escape had to be installed. The volunteers could raise the money for the paint for the hall but getting the money for a fire escape would be more serious. The village coun­ cil had to be persuaded to kick in. They were, but then there was the suggestion the wiring was unsafe. Eventually the wiring passed mus­ ter (if not exactly with flying colours) but councillors then notic­ ed a sag in the Hall roof and decided before more money was spent, the safety of the roof should be examined. An engineer was brought in and he said the roof should be replaced before the public was allowed into the theatre part of the building again. That began more than a year of debate over whether the cost of replacing the roof was justified by the small use the building got. Wouldn’t it make more sense, some pointed out, to just put up supporting beams through the middle of the auditorium to support the roof. In the end it was the fact that the Hall was a memorial to the soldiers of two wars that made the council decide to replace the roof at a cost of about $50,000. It may have been the wisest money a council has ever spent in terms of its economic impact on the commun­ ity. By that first opening night as we sat on the steps, James was quietly confident. The first show “Mostly in Clover’’, adapted from the works of native son Harry J. Boyle, had been given a test run before the senior citizens so he had had some chance to judge the audience reaction. I was initially more nervous because early reports out of that meeting were that the actors just yelled a lot. By opening night, however, I’d already seen the show in rehearsals and knew there wasn’t anything in it that should Continued on page 7 Statistics tell tale of then and now The statistics tell the tale of the growth of the Blyth Festival as it begins its 15th season. Back in 1975 the first Festival season didn’t begin until July 9. This year the first preview performance began June 15, nearly a month earlier. There were 16 performances that first season (plus a benefit performance of The Farm Show). 1989 will see 101 performances in Blyth before the show (Mail Order Bride) goes on the road for a further 31 performances from Manotick to Sault Ste. Marie. Of course ticket prices have increased over the years too. That first season you could take in one of the shows for $2.50 and both for $4.50. This year buying a voucher pack will cost you $9.00 for each play. A ticket for a Saturday night performance costs $14. Total staff at the Festival this year totals 79. In 1975 there were two technicians and four paid actors and one writer-director-dramaturge. That figure didn’t include James Roy, the artistic director and Anne Roy who looked after all the administration and box office work. Neither of them drew a salary and neither received much salary during the five years they spent at the helm of the Festival. Actors that first year rehearsed one of the two plays (Mostly In Clover) during the day and the second play, The Mousetrap, at night when the local amateur actors who filled out the large cast, could come to rehearsal from their dayjobs. The workload for actors reached its climax in 1977 when some actors were in every one of the four plays and were nearly worn out by the end of the season. Most actors today are in two of the five productions at the Festival. One thing about that 1975 season that remains unique at the Blyth Festival, it was the only time a non-Canadian play (The Mousetrap) was ever produced by the Festival.