Townsman, 1991-02, Page 13people who believe but there are a
lot of power people who have
absolutely no faith in our own
culture. They think culture is some-
thing that sits in the back of the
fridge."
He takes over a theatre that has
just undergone a huge physical
expansion in the last two years, with
new rehearsal facilities, new shops
for carpentry, costuming and paint-
ing, a much larger backstage area
and facilities for the audience, not
to mention a large capital debt. He
also takes on a theatre that has
established a reputation over 16
years as a developer of new
Canadian plays that go on across
the country and around the world to
other theatres large and small.
There won't be huge changes at
Blyth during the Smith years, but
he expects to subtly change the
theatre and expand what he wants
to do. "I personally see this place as
a new play centre. We develop
writers and we develop plays and
it's not always the same thing. You
can develop a playwright here who
you believe has a strong voice inside
him and incredible potential as a
writer but the play that he has given
you, the play he has worked on isn't
his best effort. So what you do is
maybe produce a play that's very
good (but not his best work)
because you know he'll be a better
writer down the road and if he
doesn't get an opportunity now he
may not write anymore. I think
that's our responsibility as a new
play centre."
He also feels the Festival should
give second productions to good
scripts that have, for whatever
reason, never been given a second
chance.
His most ambitious dream in-
volves workshopping plays year
round. As well as the summer
season, the Festival has developed
a "winter retreat" in December
each year when actors and writers
are brought together to develop
scripts, many of which will appear
on the Blyth stage the next summer.
Smith wants to take the process
further, to put together a company
of six actors and an associate
director who will work all winter
long.
He looks at the pile of 125 scripts
sitting in the corner of his office
waiting to be read. The writers
deserve more than a "two-hour
read" he says. They deserve to
have an associate director to take the
time to look at the scripts with more
scripts getting even one -day work-
shops.
His first attempt to promote new
play development across the coun-
try is "The Canadian Voice" a
new -play newsletter that will go out
to theatres across the country listing
what plays are being produced or
workshopped as well as a
"dialogue" section in which direc-
tors talk about new play develop-
ment. "It's to get us communicat-
ing," he says. "I don't know if
there's a writer in Saskatoon or in
Windsor we should be talking to."
The newsletter will hopefully
bring new play development centres
together so they can lobby together
to get help to get more support for
play development, he says.
Longer term he dreams of the
possibility of opening a 150 -seat
second stage in the Festival's
"garage" workshop and rehearsal
Smith dreams
of 150 seat
second stage
space on Dinsley Street. This thea-
tre holds the possibility of doing
more intimate theatre, doing
writers who might not have a large
enough audience for the main
stage.
As he talks about his ideas you
begin to see what the search
committee, choosing a new artistic
director for the Festival, must have
seen in his interviews. Normally
animated, he exudes an even larger
sense of excitement. And he shows
his love for the Festival and the
community that also must have
made him attractive. "I love it here.
My life is in blood here. I've had
two kids here. I've performed on
this stage. I've directed on this
stage. I've worked with the young
company. I know the concession
roads. I just love what the place is
doing: the Canadian story. It's very
nice to be given the opportunity to
make this step."
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TOWNSMAN/FEBRUARY-MARCH 1991 11