Profiles & Interviews

It has been a busy few weeks speaking with a number of artists who have show openings in the next several weeks. I’m rigorously trying to get caught up and post their articles but will always remain grateful and thankful for every opportunity to speak with them.

Recently, I received a press release detailing background information about Pamela Mala Sinha and her play ‘NEW’ which is now playing at Canadian Stage’s Berkeley Street Theatre.

She is an award-winning Canadian actress and writer working internationally in theatre, television, and film. She was Necessary Angel’s inaugural Playwright in Residence. Pamela was the recipient of Dora Awards for Outstanding New Play (playwright) and Outstanding Lead Actress for her solo debut play, CRASH. Her second play, Happy Place, premiered in Toronto in 2015 at Soulpepper. CRASH’s US debut was at New York’s Signature Theatre in 2017. The film version of CRASH is currently in development with Necessary Angel and Riddle Films.

She completed her training at Montréal’s National Theatre School in the 1990s. Does she miss the city:

“I love Montréal. If I could have made a living as an English-speaking actor in the city I would have stayed. I have close friends who live in the city, so when I can I’m on a train.”

Pamela slightly paused and then sighed when I asked her how she was feeling even though we are still in Covid’s throes.

She felt it was ‘touch and go’ there as ‘NEW’ was supposed to premiere at Winnipeg’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2020. There was hope the production would open in 2021, but alas we know what occurred. 2022 was two years waiting for the premiere and it was a huge relief and privilege when the production was finally mounted at RMTC. Winnipeg is Pamela’s original hometown and ‘NEW’ is set here, so this is another inspiration of sentimental reason to premiere the play here.

Now that Toronto is her home, the opening of ‘NEW’ is equally as significant as the Western premiere. For Sinha, this week’s Toronto opening still feels like the premiere of the play yet again. Sinha is ecstatic to be back in the theatre again telling stories that all theatre artists have been longing to do. It is their centre, purpose, and desire in their actor’s training to do so.

On its website, Necessary Angel describes the plot: “The year is 1970 and the arrival of a Bengali bride to a small university town shakes up a tight-knit group of Indian immigrants, including the husband she’s never met. Tradition and counterculture collide for three women and their husbands as their perceptions of identity, sexuality, and the meaning of freedom are challenged by the spirit – and actions – of this fearless young woman.”

With this plot focus, Sinha tries to capture the things that were important in the story and that needed to be told in a deep and complex way.

Pamela was one of the few artists selected nationally to receive a prestigious Project Imagination commission from Soulpepper Theatre Company to write a play of any choice. Thus, the genesis and germination of ‘NEW’ began.

What she wanted to do was tell the story of her parent’s generation as young people. There is a whole world of her parents and their chosen extended family as young people, and a huge gap in the popular culture in terms of South Asian immigrants and their stories:

“I remember looking at photographs in preparation for a funeral of a very close member of my family and seeing all these people young, vibrant, and sexy as hell, without children and figuring it all out and looking like a million bucks while they’re doing it.”

Sinha wanted to know the truth of the situation, so she returned to Winnipeg to research and speak to extended members of her family. She asked a lot of questions. In all her research, she wanted to get to the truth about these individuals who were part of her years growing up. She established such trust and respect with these extended family members and the stories just came forward.

As an actor, Sinha sometimes gets frustrated about the roles she is often offered. These roles are sometimes of those who are intimidated, vulnerable and afraid, and not the bold, brave, and adventurous people whom she saw in the photographs at the funeral. This drives Pamela bananas and why she often doesn’t work.

Why not write what Pamela knows to be true as opposed to waiting for someone else to write it and being frustrated by it? She wanted to just tell the story not necessarily about the joys and triumphs. What were some of the struggles these extended family members felt? Did they feel lost? alone? Did they fight as a married couple? How were these conflicts resolved?

These ‘new’ individuals to Canada/Winnipeg were young here. They came of age here. Pamela and her extended chosen family of aunts, uncles and cousins were all beneficiaries of the gifts of love and knowledge from those who came to Canada to build a life. This understanding makes the messages of ‘NEW’ so universal.

Pamela also adds the play is based on fictional characters. No one from her extended family would recognize themselves on stage.

How does she feel about being an actor this time and being directed by Necessary Angel’s Artistic Director Alan Dilworth?

This is her fourth collaboration with Alan, and she agrees he is a gifted director. She’s learned that it’s important to write the play first and then hopefully not have to do any re-writes during rehearsal. With ‘New’, Sinha wrote the play and then made adjustments but, hopefully, they’re not cataclysmic so she can focus on her actor performance and journey in the play instead of the third eye point of view of the playwright:

“It’s challenging as a playwright, but I love acting so much. I think the hard part is done and now I have to step into the harder part which is the role and surrender to the story as opposed to hearing the story while I’m in a scene and trying not to judge the writing.”

As we concluded, I asked Pamela where she sees the future of Canadian theatre headed as an artist.
She’s really worried about the theatre because people’s attention spans have shrunk with streaming. We both agreed that we are guilty of fast-forwarding a lot.

She adds further:

“Art will always be relevant and I think theatre is essential to our humanity. The convenience of everything being at our fingertips is going to threaten the sacredness of what we do. There’s great potential in these new plays new playwrights and new approaches, but we’re up against a lot. We have to get people to come to the theatre and experience that group and audience energy of receiving story in community. You don’t get that on your couch watching a streaming network.”

Sinha’s final words: “Theatre keeps all of us connected in an important way that we were so robbed of during Covid.”

Necessary Angel in association with Canadian Stage and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre presents the Toronto premiere of ‘New’ running to May 14, 2023 at Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street.

For tickets, visit www.canadianstage.com or call the Box Office at (416) 368-3110.

To learn more about Necessary Angel Theatre Company, visit www.necessaryangel.com.

Actor, director, writer, and founding member of The Howland Company, Paolo Santalucia, was on his way to rehearsal where he is directing ‘Three Sisters’ which will open at Hart House this month. I’m grateful he was able to take a few moments before his upcoming rehearsal began to speak with me.

I’ve admired and respected his work on stage at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre over the years. Recently he appeared in ‘Orphans for the Czar’ at Crow’s Theatre. Most recently, I saw Paolo’s work in Canadian Stage’s whimsically colourful production of William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ at High Park.

Santalucia is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Sheridan College’s joint Theatre and Drama Studies program. Upon his graduation, he was accepted into the Soulpepper Academy where he trained for about a year and a half before joining the acting ensemble at this prestigious company.

As a professional artist, how’s he feeling about this gradual return to live performance even though Covid still surrounds all of us? Santalucia believes theatre must reflect our community, including our fears for the future and current moment. He elaborated further:

“Art is an essential and beautiful aspect of community building in times of crisis. The Theatre has a real responsibility to engage with the issues of our time while also providing escapism from them and reminding us that there is a path forward.”

For Paolo, it’s important this community-building happens at everyone’s own pace. He believes it’s vital that art continues to happen, that theatre continues to push through, and that we work within the complications that Covid is providing in order to ensure that we have art on our stages and don’t end up falling behind as a world-class theatre city.

Even after these last two-plus years of changes within the theatre, what is it Paolo still finds fascinating about the craft and art of acting and directing? He laughed and said he still finds everything fascinating about the craft as this pause made him confront the fact that perhaps he might now know how to act, direct, write or even mount a play.

Paolo clarified this point:

“What I love is that it feels like we’ve come back to an industry asking questions of itself in a way that allows me to probe aspects of my own work that I’ve always felt self-conscious about.”

What’s shifted for Paolo is the space he’s been given to question his pre-conceived notions about what a given piece is “supposed to be” – as opposed to undergoing an investigative process whereby one is able to ask what it is the play is trying to do in its own right. Having the confidence, space, and time to feel the industry is pushing past results-based art-making has been an exciting aspect of this pause.

That’s something Santalucia feels much braver about now than he did two, three years ago.

Before the pandemic, he was entering his work with what he knew what the story was about. That sometimes got in the way, so it’s exciting to engage in a process that trusts the work and trusts the people in the room in a different way. “I don’t have all the answers” he says “but I have a lot of questions.”

Paolo adapted and will direct Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’ at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus. His cast list is stellar actors who are so in tune with each other to tell the story. He jokingly stated he was waiting for the shoe to drop so that the cast will realize he was a big hack. We both shared a good laugh over that.

But why this 13-member cast of ‘Three Sisters’ now as we return to the theatre?

One of the things Paolo has always loved about this play is the fact it’s a young person’s play. To see many young people populating the stage will be thrilling. Part of Howland Company’s mandate is to investigate the stories of our time and also re-investigate stories that reflect our time. Over the course of the pandemic, Santalucia went back to ‘Three Sisters’ story because he was part of a production in the midst of a Chekhov play. Tech day for that show was the last day in 2020 before everything shut down.

What struck him the most about all of this?

‘The fears that were permeating what was happening in the early moments of the pandemic were being reflected in the work we were doing. During one of those long weeks I thought I should just sit down and re-read Chekhov’s plays. I was languishing around at home not doing too much when things were shut down and it felt like the right time.”

In reading ‘Three Sisters’, Santalucia was struck by the plight of this group of young people trying hard to reacclimate their understanding of how their world has changed and question whether returning to the world they knew from their childhood was possible. This is a story of the inheritors of the world asking big questions.

These questions have never been more relevant for Paolo. He felt it was really fruitful ground to revisit post-Covid. He always found ‘Three Sisters’ to be one of Chekhov’s more elusive plays. This family who wants to return to their home felt too literal for Paolo but, over the course of the pandemic, he began to understand something more about his own circumstances which lends itself to the central metaphors in ‘Three Sisters’.

As we concluded our conversation, I asked Paolo where he hopes to see The Howland Company move in the next five years. First, Howland is a collectively run organization. Covid was a real eye-opener for the fragility of all theatre companies moving forward, and Paolo takes nothing for granted. His dream is for Howland to continue its existence and to move through this time of transition and change – to learn from it, and apply what they’ve learned in meaningful ways to allow movement forward with ambition and understanding.

I like his final comments:

“I look forward to the learning process during these next five years.”

So do I, Paolo, so do I. We all have so much still to learn.

The Howland Company and Hart House Theatre presents Anton Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’ (adapted and directed by Paolo Santalucia) which opens October 26 and runs to November 12 at Hart House Theatre, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto.

For tickets and for more information, visit howlandcompanytheatre.com or call 416-978-2452.

Just like his wife, performer Brenda Robins who was interviewed earlier for this series, I’ve also seen Patrick Galligan’s work on stage many times. The first time I saw him on stage was in Soulpepper’s extraordinary production of its annual ‘A Christmas Carol’ where Patrick played Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, who invites the miser to Christmas dinner with a “Bah! Humbug!” in response.

Recently Patrick was part of a truly fascinating production of ‘Oslo’ by Studio 180 at the Panasonic Theatre. Patrick has made many television appearances. Two were in ‘Republic of Doyle’ (another personal favourite) and Murdoch Mysteries.

One of my goals as a reviewer for On Stage is to ensure there is coverage for the blog at The Shaw Festival. Even though I have yet to review productions at Shaw for On Stage, I’ve read about Patrick’s solid performance work in many of the productions there.

Thank you, Patrick, for taking the time to answer questions via email:

It appears that after five exceptionally long months, we are slowly, very slowly, emerging to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. Has your daily life and routine along with your immediate family’s life and routine been changed in any manner?

It sure has. I moved from Niagara-on-the-Lake, where I was in rehearsals for my 17th season at The Shaw Festival, back to my home in Toronto. As a result, my wife, son, and our two cats have had to put up with me being around all spring and summer.

Were you involved or being considered for any projects before the pandemic was declared and everything was shut down?

We were a week away from our first preview of “Charley’s Aunt”, the opening show of Shaw’s 2020 season, and about to start rehearsals of Alice Childress’s “Trouble in Mind” at the time of the shutdown.

Describe the most challenging element or moment of the isolation period for you. Did this element or moment significantly impact how you and your immediate family are living your lives today?

The abrupt halt of putting on a couple of really good plays was a big challenge. I love the work of a theatre actor and I miss it terribly. Without it, there are times when I feel lost, at sea. On those days, my family is likely wondering if I will ever get out of my pajamas.

What were you doing to keep yourself busy during this time of lockdown and isolation from the world of theatre? Since theatres will most likely be shuttered until the spring of 2021, where do you see your interests moving at this time?

Fortunately, the Shaw Festival has insurance which has enabled them (with the help of the federal government) to keep us employed until the end of August. It has been a lifesaver in many ways: financially obviously, but also the opportunity to help create on-line content and to have the benefit of some much-needed training. Once that ends………….

Any words of wisdom or sage advice you would give to other performing artists who are concerned about the impact of COVID-19? What about to the new theatre graduates who are just out of school and may have been hit hard? Why is it important for them not to lose sight of their dreams?

I thought it was tough to find work when I came out of theatre school thirty-two years ago, but I can’t imagine all of the challenges facing recent performing arts graduates, or artists trying to support a young family. The advice I would offer is really the same thing I try to remind myself: be patient, stay positive, read, exercise and stay connected to the people who inspire you and whom you can inspire.

Do you see anything positive stemming from this pandemic?

I have been able to spend more time with my family. There is no way to overstate what a joy, that is.

In your informed opinion, will the Canadian, Broadway and Californian performing arts scene somehow be changed or impacted on account of the coronavirus?

Without question. Gathering together in large groups to experience the performing arts will no longer be the norm. It will take a very long time before we can sit in a crowded hall and feel safe.

What are your thoughts about streaming live productions? As we continue to emerge and find our way back to a new perspective of daily life, will live streaming become part of the performing arts scene in your estimation? Have you been participating, or will you participate in any online streaming productions soon?

It’s not ideal to be sure, but I’m okay with it. We’ve done a fair bit of live streaming with Shaw since the shutdown, and I’ve found that there is a great deal that is lost in not being in the same room together. But since it is a safe way to share stories and experiences, I expect there will be a lot more to come.

What is it about performing you still love given all the change, the confusion and the drama surrounding our world now?

Steve Earle says that empathy is at the heart of being an artist. I love the possibility that, as an actor, I might be able to create a little more empathy and compassion in this crazy world.

With a respectful nod to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the 10 questions he asked his guests at the conclusion of his interviews:

a. What is your favourite word?

Yes

b. What is your least favourite word?

No

c. What turns you on?

Joy

d. What turns you off?

Pain

e. What sound or noise do you love?

Laughter, and a super funky bass line

f. What sound or noise bothers you?

That high-pitched whine our 14-year old Toyota makes, which one day I know is going to be very expensive.

g. What is your favourite curse word?

Goddammit!

h. What profession, other than your own, would you have liked to attempt?

Carpenter

i. What profession would you not like to do?

Garbage collector – those people are heroes

j. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Welcome, Pat. There are some special people here I’m sure you’ll want to see. By the way, rehearsals start at 10am tomorrow.”

My immediate family and I recall how much we really liked Patrick McKenna’s work in two shows for which he is well known: despicably ruthless and underhanded Marty Stephens on ‘Traders’ and as loveable nerdy bespectacled Harold Green on ‘The Red Green Show’ broadcast from fictional Possum Lodge. My family and I were impressed at the performance range McKenna revealed in these two opposite characters.

Of most important note is the fact he was recognized for his versatility with 2 Gemini Awards in 1998, for best performance in a comedy series and in a continuing dramatic role for these two roles.

A recent Zoom call with Patrick revealed just how down to earth this guy is, and what a good sense of humour he has. He put me at ease quickly.

He’s extremely thankful for the opportunities he has been given. Like all of us, Covid made Patrick think about what is very important to him as you’ll see from one of his responses.

Patrick has recently completed some voice cartoon work with Sesame Street and YTV. I also learned about his traveling improv group, ‘The Yes Men’, and yes, I do plan to catch one of their shows when they are in the region. I’ve included contact information for ‘The Yes Men’ at the conclusion of the profile. He is a spokesperson for the Golden Horseshoe Marathon for wheelchair athletes, the MS Society, McMaster Sick Kids, Lupus Canada, and Adult ADHD.

Thank you so much for taking the time, Patrick. Very much appreciated:

Tell me about one teacher and one mentor in your life for whom you are thankful who believed in your pursuit of your career as a performing artist.

The teacher would definitely be Steven Gaul; he was my Grade 11 English teacher. He took me to Second City because I was a pretty poor student. I wouldn’t do theatre because you had to wear tights in my mind.
He said there was a lot of different kind of theatre so his wife and he were going to see Second City and he took me and another troublemaker to go see the show. I went, “Ohhhh, oh that’s what I want to do. I want to be on that stage (Second City).” He opened that door.

And professionally, it was Andrew Alexander from Second City who at that particular time, because I have no training whatsoever, none. Other than being the class loud guy (not necessarily the clown, but I was loud). Andrew was the only one who said I’ve got something.

I was the doorman at Second City for a couple of years, and people thought what I was even doing at an audition. I snuck in and away we went. Andrew was the one who said, “Let’s hire Pat.” Andrew was high enough up on the ladder to say, “Let’s put Pat there and see how it’ll go – he’ll sink or swim.”

And luckily enough I swam, which was great.

I’m trying to think positively that we have, fingers crossed, moved forward in dealing with Covid. How have you been able to move forward from these last 18 eighteen months on a personal level? How have you been changed or transformed on a personal level?

I guess I’m probably more cognizant of personal time and giving my time away to people.

Work can sometimes do that. You get locked in that wheel and just start running and you realize that everybody is happy but you.

I think these last eighteen months have given me the opportunity to say there’s way more I want to experience yet.

Giving my time away to other people – that changed a lot.

I’m slowing down and prioritizing to decide what I want to dedicate my time.

How have these last eighteen months of the pandemic changed or transformed you as an artist professionally?

Well, quite a bit.

A couple of things happened all at once.

I turned 61 so you’re into a whole new category as an actor to begin. I’m an old white guy so that’s also happening in the new world and making me step back a few in the line.

And Covid stopped production everywhere for quite awhile and made audiences go elsewhere and look for different things to entertain themselves and to fill up their time.

You’re splitting any hope you had of coming back that there was going to be a new normal because everyone found a new normal. By the time we come back say with a new CBC show, audiences might be saying they’re into Netflix or Hulu.

It’s going to be harder to find a dedicated audience, I think.

I also got into a lot of voice work because I have a studio at home. I’m doing seven different cartoons right now. I never really did that before, so that was great.

I was nominated for a couple of Screen Actor awards for voice work which is fantastic for me when you start something and you’re acknowledged for it right away knowing you’re going in the right direction. So this has opened a few doors for me.

I’ve written a couple of screenplays that are floating around out there too. I wouldn’t have done this unless I had the time to follow through on some ideas.

Professionally (and personally), it’s been a hand in hand of walking down the lane and wondering what’s next.

In your opinion, how do you see the global landscape of the professional Canadian live theatre scene changing at all as a result of these last 18 months?

It’ll be interesting because I’m also working with an improv group. We’re called ‘The Yes Men’, we’re three old guys who go out and have some fun. Before the pandemic, we were booked every weekend. It was a lot of fun with crowds.

Even in the early stages of the pandemic, we still had a few crowds even though there were some people who weren’t too sure if they could go out or not, do we wear masks?

As a group, we decided to just stop as did the world.

But watching now when we go back to book the theatres, we hear the hesitation in the voices over the phone of “We’re not sure yet. We’re not sure we can be open.”

So there’s a real hesitancy on the part of the management as to when promotions can start once again. I think audiences are going to be sceptical being nudged shoulder to shoulder.

Will audiences have to be so far apart that artists and the audiences themselves don’t get a community feeling and understanding that laughter and empathy can bring? That magic might be changed a little bit.

I was just up in Iqaluit doing some improv shows and, because of Covid, the audience had to be so far back from the stage and they had to be six feet from each other, there was no laughter, no infectious energy. It became small individual groups around the room who might laugh but there was no collective laugh.

That was a real learning curve of how do you communicate now to these people and will theatre do that?

Can theatre do that?

I think it’s going to be harder for the theatres themselves than the audiences. When they come back, I think shows are going to be huge, glorious shows, a lot of celebration. We saw this in the 20s, 30s, 50s, after the wars. All these big shows in history were a reaction to being shut down for awhile.

It’ll be interesting to see how we’ll all pop back.

From a Second City background, there will be reaction on every level. I think Second City will take a hard punch because it is such a cabaret experience with audiences shoulder to shoulder. There’s also a real division now of what we can laugh at in the real world. Two years ago it was Trump, anti Trump; now it’s mask, anti-mask.

What excites/fascinates/intrigues Patrick McKenna post Covid?

Well certainly audiences – that will make me excited to be in front of an audience and for audiences to be there and who can be there to feel free enough to experience that community again.

Being on a set that doesn’t feel sick. I’ve been on a few sets where everyone has to go through so many protocols, it’s half a day to go through protocols. By the time you’re ready to shoot, some of us are tired on account of the protocols we’ve had to go through to get there. And if you have to leave set to go get something, then you have to go through the protocols again.

I know we’re all over-reacting at times because we don’t want to be that place that perhaps gave Covid to an audience member or to a performing artist. So it makes it so difficult to proceed in an artistic way, there’s no flow. We’re constantly interrupted by reality. The ripple effect over the next five years is going to be felt tremendously within the industry.

And that’s been interesting to watch on a set of how that functions.

What disappoints/unnerves/upsets Patrick McKenna post Covid?

To be honest, I’m going to have say the loss of some friends.

There’s been a line in the sand of where some people stand on vaccinations.

People whom I personally know who have passed away on account of Covid.

I have a lot of close friends who surprised me in the way they are challenging the vaccinations and Covid. They challenged me on who I thought they were, and they were also challenged on who they thought I was. It really brought politics, beliefs and who you really to the forefront, and made you stand there and confront what’s happening.

It’s more of a conservative world right now than my liberal point of view. I have to respect that as Conservatives believe their thoughts and they’re going to have to respect the thoughts and wishes of others.

Post Covid, there are going to be a lot of different groups regarding who has been vaccinated and non-vaccinated.

RAPID ROUND

Try to answer these in a single sentence. If you need more than one sentence, that’s not a problem. I credit the late James Lipton and “Inside the Actors’ Studio’ for this idea:

If you could say one thing to one of your mentors or favourite teachers who encouraged you to get to this point as an artist, what would it be?

“Good eye.” (and Patrick and I share a good laugh). That’s probably too American.

I’d have to say, “Thank you” especially to any teacher along the way who blows support and confidence into an individual rather than negativity. I look back to those people who nurtured strength and confidence in me, thank goodness for them.

If you could say something to any of the naysayers in your career who didn’t think you would make it as an artist, what would that be?

In an odd way, I’d have to say “Thank you” to them as well. Humour is such a subjective thing and that’s a huge lesson to learn especially if you’re going to be in this business. Just because you said something in a certain way doesn’t mean it’s going to be funny. There’s an audience and there are always going to be different ears.

I remember there were those who did try to belittle me and say I wouldn’t make it, and I don’t miss that, but I have to acknowledge they made me work harder at being funny.

What’s your favourite swear word?

“Shite”.

If I’m working somewhere and people think I might use the four letter “s” word, and then I surprise them with ‘shite’.

What is a word you love to hear yourself say?

“Absolutely”

What is a word you don’t like to hear yourself say?

“No”

With whom would you like to share a meal and dialogue about the Canadian performing arts scene?

It’s such a big table, really…

“Erin O’Toole”

What would you tell your younger personal self with the knowledge and wisdom life experience has now given you?

“Listen more.”

With the professional life experience you’ve gained over the years, what would you now tell the upcoming Patrick McKenna from years ago who was just in the throes of beginning a career as a performing artist?

“You have everything you need.”

What is one thing you still wish to accomplish both personally and professionally?

Personally, I want to be able to tour Scotland with my wife. We promised ourselves that, and then Covid just stopped everything. That’s our go to right away.

Professionally, I would like to see one of these scripts I’ve written produced. As I said I’ve been lucky with acting and with voice work, and I’d like to conquer this new mountain of writing scripts and getting them produced.

Name one moment in your professional career as an artist that you wish you could re-visit again for a short while.

Ooooh, there are so many great sporadic ones…

To be completely selfish, I would say a second show doing stand up comedy at Punch Lines in Vancouver in 1988. There’s nobody on the stage but you, and if it’s working it’s because of you.

What is one thing Patrick McKenna will never take for granted again post Covid?

Friends.

Would Patrick McKenna do it all again as an artist if given the same opportunities?

Yes, but…(and again we share a good laugh)

There are a lot of things that I would do better if given the same opportunities as an artist. The opportunities I was given were great, I might tighten things up a little such as listening more.

To learn more about Patrick McKenna’s improv group “The Yes Men” (with Neil Crone and Kevin Frank), please visit the website: www.yesmenimprov.com or Facebook: The Yes Men Improv Comedy Troupe or Twitter: @TheYesMenImprov.

These two personable guys kept me smiling during the Zoom call.

I had the opportunity to profile Steve Ross at the height of the pandemic almost three years ago. A National Theatre School graduate, I’ve seen Steve’s work on the Stratford Festival stage. He’s been a member of the company for fifteen-plus years now. Go here for Steve’s first profile:

https://www.onstageblog.com/profiles/2021/2/3/theatre-conversation-in-a-covid-world-with-steve-ross

Paul Constable appeared as Gary in the Canadian Tire commercials for ten years. He attended the University of Windsor and attained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the School of Dramatic Art. His comedic training came from Second City classes, just doing improv shows in Toronto. With a smile, he stated he’s done other things, and his work as Gary was only one job.

What draws these two affable guys together?

They’ve recently opened in Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre’s annual panto during the Christmas/holiday season. This year’s production is ‘Jack: A Beanstalk Panto’ written and directed by Rebecca Northan. There’s singing and dancing. The story is a very loose presentation of the fairy tale with loose meaning many liberties can and will be taken. The Capitol’s panto has two versions: the Family and the Naughty. Naturally, I chose the latter. Audiences can decide which one they would like to attend.

I will attend the show this week. Look for my review to follow.

From seeing Paul’s limited work in commercials, he had a wry sense of humour as Gary. I’ve seen more of Steve’s comedic work at Stratford – Amos Hart in their production of ‘Chicago,’ Mr. Mushnik in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and as the Narrator in ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ Who can forget those fishnet stockings, Steve?

What perfect timing for writer/director Northan to put these two together in a panto. This is Constable’s first time performing on the Capitol stage. Ross did a reading of Yasmina Reza’s ‘Art’ years ago but never an entire show.

Rehearsals went well. According to both, everyone was in a really good space before opening. Paul said it’s amazing what can be accomplished in two weeks and comically mentioned how the first day lifting a rock in front of him might not have been possible. Two weeks later, the rock is over his head, and he’s doing okay.

He added further:

“We’ve run the show many times. Now we got to tech week, and everything became stop and start, that’s wrong, take two steps, and now take three steps back. It didn’t push us back because we were in such a great place for tech week. There’s always the excitement of the preview crowds coming to the show, hearing the laughs, and figuring out where the pacing is and timing issues, it put us in a really good place for opening.”

Compliments galore from both Paul and Steve about their cast members. Steve called Rebecca a great ship captain; he took this gig because he’s been a fan of hers. Every day, she knew what she wanted to get done, and it was completed. For him, an exciting part of working with Northan was noticing she was in the cleaning process of the show on the second day. Cleaning is something usually not done until a tad closer to show dates.

Steve also commented on how quickly the rehearsal process went for the show. It’s a three-month process at Stratford, but there’s been a brain shift in thinking about how to tackle the panto. It was an intensive two-week process, but it went well for him.

The talent of the cast still amazes Paul. He jokingly said he is becoming a two-and-a-quarter threat. Steve said that Paul can get the t-shirt because it’s true.

Both agreed Rebecca wanted clean comedy. That’s what she’s getting, and that’s what audiences will be getting. Everyone is having fun; it’s a good time, which has made this show a good opportunity for everyone involved.

The two coyly said chickens weighed into the show and would leave it there. If you’re a chicken fan, you will like the show.

Was there any distinction about the chickens between the Family and the Naughty version? Ross said the show is universal chicken and will be played as such. The two versions are fun, but Constable prefers the Naughty. Steve has never been involved in a show with two versions, so he doesn’t have a preference. For him, it’s virtually the same show with the dial turned up for the Naughty.

Along with Rebecca, the guys clarified an essential item for the audiences on how the actors will approach the show’s subject material.

The Naughty version will not push into a place of blue and dirty for the sake of being blue and dirty. Paul is thankful the naughty version didn’t go there because his parents, wife, son, and friends are coming. He didn’t want them to feel embarrassed, and he didn’t want to cringe at any blue material. Steve also felt the same way as Paul. Instead of being blue:

“It’s fun. It’s smart. Rebecca knows a line to walk. You’re laughing because it’s a joke, not harmful or hurtful. Sometimes stuff happens in life, and it’s silly. It’s the kind of show you’ll talk about with your friends and say: “Maybe we shouldn’t say this.”

Sounds like double entendres and second glances are on the menu for the Naughty version. Nothing’s hurtful, except ‘anti-chicken people’ might consider it bothersome. I’m sensing the show might just make a few comments on how our woke world has become extremely sensitive to the point where no one feels comfortable laughing anymore.

Oh, by the way, now I’m curious how these barnyard animals will figure into the show.

The two are excited to gauge the audience’s responses from both versions. There’s improvisation involved from everyone. Sometimes, a joking improv on a Tuesday audience might kill, and the actor might consider bringing it back on Wednesday. However, that audience might not respond in the same way. For Paul, that’s the beauty of improv.

Are there messages in the show that the cast hopes audiences will take away with them when they exit the theatre?

When Rob Kempson (Artistic Director of the Capitol) and Rebecca first approached Steve with the offer, the term ‘forward thinking panto’ was coined. He’d never heard of it. Body shaming gets addressed, and fluidity of sexuality gets addressed (not directly). These are only two messages. None of the messages is ever hammered over the audience’s heads. Doors are open; if people want to see that stuff, it’s there.

Steve also shared Rebecca had seen pantos in the UK and even in the GTA, where the dame, always in drag, also gets booed. Rebecca is not interested in someone getting booed. The panto is crafted in such a way that no one will feel the need to boo. Steve admires Kempson and Northan for trying to do something different within the genre. Paul concurred and added that the show will have its own message subconsciously. There are mixed characters and situations, but no one will ever feel as if they are being preached to or told how to feel:

“At the end, you’ll probably be exhausted from laughter. Something as light as a panto takes away the darkness of this time, and you’ll forget about whatever you were thinking about when you came to the theatre.”

As we neared the end of our conversation, it turned to some changes in the industry that hit the live artists hard. Steve referred to the Writer’s Strike. Since returning to work, he has noticed gratitude at Stratford. He set himself that goal of gratitude for the two years he sat inside his house, not working. If he is lucky enough to be back, he will not complain about anything, whether it’s a 12-hour day or why something might be missing. Steve has also noticed there’s an understanding that artists do work hard and that it’s okay to say one must take care of him/her/themselves for the day.

Steve is also quick to add it’s not just him. He sees so much gratitude for the profession because Covid was the reminder it was taken away for two years. Gratitude is easy to forget in the theatre/performing arts industry, and Steve doesn’t want it to happen again. Paul agreed Steve nailed it. The former returned to a different rehearsal process, and Covid permitted people to acknowledge what was bothering them.

Paul mentioned a joke I hadn’t heard before – how do you make an actor complain? Give him a job.

That joke couldn’t be any further from the truth.

Since the return, Paul has noticed a check-in at the beginning of each rehearsal. Rebecca and Rob set that tone right from the start. That was something new, but it was welcomed because Paul just saw so much of the attitude of learning lines, showing up, doing what is asked of you, saying nothing, and going home before Covid changed the world we know.

Once the panto concludes its run at the Capitol, what’s next for Paul and Steve?

A piece of advice was shared I had never heard either – as actors, you just get used to not knowing, and somehow you will land on the ground.

Paul was Gary for ten years with Canadian Tire. The actors are in a strange place, and there’s some hope union actors can return to work in commercials. If that happens, Paul hopes to be a part of it. Paul is pleased he took the panto job because it allowed him to step back into theatre. He hopes artistic directors are listening and looking for his talents (hint, hint, call his agent).

Steve will put his writing hat back on before returning to Stratford for the upcoming 2024 season. He has two drafts he’s working on. He’s excited to sit at his laptop and write for the month. There will be some free days during the panto run, so he’ll continue writing. (Rob Kempson, are you listening? Steve will send you the drafts).

‘Jack: A Beanstalk Panto’ runs to December 23 at the Port Hope Capitol Theatre, 20 Queen Street, Port Hope. For tickets, call the Box Office (905-885-1071) or visit capitoltheatre.com.

I’ve met Peter twice in Toronto theatre lobbies since I’ve begun reviewing for On Stage Blog. Both times he was a true, modest, and unpretentious gentleman.

The first time was at Factory Theatre. I had waited to speak to one of the actors after the production. Keep in mind I hadn’t met Peter at that time, but I had reviewed one of his shows at Soulpepper several weeks earlier in the summer. There was this dignified looking man who spoke to an actor. This classy guy was Peter. I waited while Peter finished what he was saying to the actor.

When he sensed I was waiting to speak to the actor, Peter graciously stepped back and made me laugh by saying, “There are others here besides me.” While I was asking my question, I could sense Peter was paying careful attention to what I was saying and then what the actor said.

I remember we had left the auditorium together. Peter asked me my name and what publication I wrote for. I was so surprised when he said, “Joe, yes, I read your review for the production I had directed at Soulpepper. I’m Peter Pasyk.” And I was equally touched he said he has been reading my articles and browsing through the On Stage site.

Wow! This highly sought-after young director who has worked at Stratford, Shaw, Tarragon, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Canadian Stage read my review and was perusing On Stage. I was honoured and flattered to say the least.

The second time we had met again was several weeks later at Factory in the lobby before the performance began. Once again, this dignified gentleman came up to me and started chatting with me as if he had met me before.

When I introduced myself, he said, “Yes, I’m Peter. We met here last time.”

Well, I turned mortification red in eight shades of embarrassment and wanted to hide. Peter laughed and said not to worry as we are constantly meeting people all the time at the theatre.

I promise you, Peter, when ‘Hamlet’ premieres at that gorgeous new Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford I will not forget!!!!!

We conducted our interview via email:

1. How have you and your family been keeping during this two-month isolation?

We’ve been keeping as well as we can, thanks for asking. It’s actually an exciting moment in time for us because my partner and I are expecting a baby in July. So that has kept us busy and focused. But of course, its been hard and strange too. Being pregnant, we wish we could be getting together with family and friends more often but that’s not really possible for now. But we have each other and that’s most important.

2. What has been most challenging and difficult for you during this time personally and professionally? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy?

For a while there, both personally and professionally, there was a kind of mourning. I think that’s what it boils down to really. I have been mourning the loss of the daily routines and interactions I took for granted, and I have been mourning the best laid plans I had set out for myself and my future. But there is a kind of sweetness and clarity in grief too. I am forced to reckon with my values and appreciate the not-knowing as well as the simple pleasures.

As far as keeping busy, I cook a lot. I read. I write. I subscribed to the Criterion Channel to watch great art house cinema and learn from the master directors. And I’m always cooking up future theatre projects in my head. You know, I’ve heard some folks talk about being bored. I have never really experienced boredom. It just doesn’t afflict me. I’m always curious about something or working something out in my head. As a director, every experience and every observation and every interaction is fodder for my craft. And there is so much to learn at this moment about each other. I have found in myself a greater capacity for empathy – and empathy is probably the single most critical skill of a director because we have to see the world from multiple perspectives.

3. I interviewed Antoni Cimolino several weeks ago, and he spoke very highly of you and your work in preparation of bringing ‘Hamlet’ to the Festival this season which has now been postponed. Antoni is still declaring this slate of plays will go, but it just depends on the situation with Covid. How are you doing regarding all the work you had been preparing for ‘Hamlet’ only to have everything come to a grinding halt?

We were in advanced stages of rehearsal with Hamlet, and about to go into tech. I was in such awe of the company. I could hardly contain my excitement for sharing their work with audiences because there was some really fresh and unexpected things happening. And though it’s frustrating I know that none of that work will be wasted. The creative process is resilient. And at any time I trust we can pick our momentum back up again. I know this from touring productions: a show can easily start to feel far away but as soon as you start up again there is this sense memory that kicks in. Of course, ‘Hamlet’ is so much a play about reflecting the present moment that in some ways the production will naturally evolve with the times. But that’s the exciting part.

But also ‘Hamlet’ is only one part of what is an exciting landmark season for the Stratford Festival. I am looking forward to the day that all these shows can be shared with the public, and that everyone will be able to experience the new jaw-dropping Tom Patterson Theatre.

4. In your estimation and opinion, do you foresee COVID 19 and its results leaving a lasting impact on the Canadian performing arts scene?

Well, it’s easy to speculate in any direction but speaking of the longer term I tend toward optimism. Ultimately, I trust that this prolonged pause in our being able to congregate and commune in large groups will make theatre and performing arts more vital and sought out by the public eventually. By the time theatres open again I don’t think anyone will make the argument “why would I go out when I can watch TV at home?”. That said, it’ll likely take some time (and a vaccine) before we can congregate again and in the interim it will be a difficult time for many artists who are unable to make a living.

5. Do you have any words of wisdom to build hope and faith in those performing artists and employees of The Festival who have been hit hard as a result of COVID 19? Any words of sage advice to the new graduates from Canada’s theatre schools regarding this fraught time of confusion?

I don’t think anything I can say will alleviate those hardest hit. But I do believe that storytelling is almost as old and as necessary for survival as fire. So, storytelling will not go away. The way we do it may need to adapt.

But of all those affected I feel most for young adults and new graduates because it is such a fertile time. So many firsts to be experienced, now interrupted. But to be honest, I’m counting on this new generation of artists to lead the way of innovation and to find new ways of presenting theatre that can adapt to the times. There is nothing more valuable than the gumption of youth.

6. I’ve spoken with some individuals who believe that online streaming and You Tube presentations destroy the theatrical impact of those who have gathered with anticipation to watch a performance. What are your thoughts and comments about the advantages and/or values of online streaming? Do you foresee this as part of the ‘new normal’ for Canadian theatre as we move forward from COVID 19?

Yes, I’ve heard a lot of conversation about this, but I think the premise of the argument is confused. Online content and live theatre are each unique medium. They are both storytelling mediums and both share an audience but neither can ever replace the other. I applaud those artists that are pivoting their creative efforts to online formats. Everyone has their own way of dealing with a pandemic and anyone who manages to be creative and productive at this time is winning in my books. And to go back to something I was saying earlier, I think that when we are given the go-ahead to return to theatres there will be a considerable uptick in the popularity of live performance.

7. What is it about the performing arts that still energizes you even through this tumultuous and confusing time?

The sound of an entire audience giving an involuntary collective gasp.

With a respectful acknowledgement to ‘Inside the Actors’ Studio’ and the late James Lipton, here are the ten questions he used to ask his guests:

1. What is your favourite word?

Love

2. What is your least favourite word?

Impossible

3. What turns you on?

Laughter

4. What turns you off?

Bullying

5. What sound or noise do you love?

Wind through trees

6. What sound or noise bothers you?

Mosquitoes

7. What is your favourite curse word?

Kurwa (Polish is my first language and it’s great for cursing)

8. Other than your current profession now, what other profession would you have liked to attempt?

Chef

9. What profession could you not see yourself doing?

Insurance

10. If Heaven exists, what do you hope God will say to you as you approach the Pearly Gates?

“Are you ready for an adventure?”

To know when Canadians have made it to Broadway to showcase their talent is something to celebrate all the time. When one can go to Manhattan to see Canadians in a Broadway production and see them perform is another excitement in itself.

That’s why it was exciting for me to see ‘Come from Away’ in New York when East Coast artist Petrina Bromley was in the show (along with Toronto artist Astrid van Wieren whom I interviewed earlier).

Petrina is an actor, director, musical director, and composer from St. John’s, Newfoundland who has worked with Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland since its inception, having participated in ten of the company’s original works. A bit of online research discovery that Petrina also made an appearance in one all time favourite CBC shows I watched religiously each week: ‘Republic of Doyle’.

We shared our conversation via Zoom:

It has been an exceptionally long five months since we’ve all been in isolation, and now it appears the numbers are edging upward again. How are things in Newfoundland? How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some kind of new normal?

We’ve been very, very fortunate. The provincial government has been diligent. The benefit we have over everyone else is the physical location (of Newfoundland) and the fact it’s an island. You have to make an effort to come to Newfoundland. No one is flying and the ferries were reduced. There were less people travelling anyway and they actually closed the borders for awhile provincially as well.

Now we’re in an expanded bubble but it’s just with the Atlantic provinces. You still can’t even come here from Ontario and Quebec. They’re being very, very strict about all this stuff so I think it’s good. When I first came home in March, we (Broadway production of COME FROM AWAY) shut down March 12 and I hopped on a plane the next day and came home. That first week I was home which was around St. Patrick’s Day, over the weekend there had been at a funeral home two wakes happening and someone came home to bereave a loved one and brought Covid with them and didn’t realize it, and out of that one person, 150 people got sick. At least one person died.

Because that happened immediately, everybody really took it seriously. You became so aware suddenly of how contagious it was and how quickly it spread and how sick you could get. It’s put the fear of God into everybody, and people have been taking it pretty seriously since then.

We’ve been slowly, slowly coming back to some things. We had a pedestrian mall downtown this summer on the main drag where restaurants had outdoor service. They closed it to traffic and that was a huge success. The kids have gone back to school last week and so far, that seems to be going okay. We’re very lucky that we don’t have any community transmission. Anytime anyone has been sick, it’s been quickly traced, and it’s usually connected to someone flying. A lot of it has been people who have been away and trying to return home. Because of the rules and the isolating, it’s been under control.

Cross my fingers and knock wood, we’re in a really good place with it so far. We’ve been fortunate enough that I actually went to a live performance the other day, a socially distanced piece of theatre. The main theatres here in the Arts and Cultural Centre which are a series of large theatres across the province all operated provincially have officially re-opened and have their social distancing, masks, sanitizing rules in place that are now opened to houses of about 100 which is a start.

I think there will be some sort of new normal. We have been warned for so many years that superbugs are on their way, and it’s a question of when. I think masks are just going to be a part of our future in general, particularly during the cold and flu season. And hopefully we’re all going to wash our hands a lot more often. And just be aware of how much contact we do have with people. I hope it makes us more aware and more grateful for the physical contacts that we have, being able to be in the same place with others, being communally together and developing a greater appreciation for that. I know it’s made me aware of how much I miss being in a room with other people.

And for performing arts in general, I’m now teaching a university course online. It’s a singing course and it’s almost impossible to connect because technology doesn’t really exist to facilitate it. It’s made me very aware that I can’t wait to sing in an ensemble again, a true ensemble, not “I take my part, and you take your part and we stitch them together with an editor, but I’m looking forward to when we make sound together.” It’s made me realize how important this is in my life.

How have you been faring personally and professionally? As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally?

Again, I’ve been very, very lucky and fortunate that I own a home in Newfoundland. All of my family have been good. Knocking on wood again, I haven’t add anyone adversely affected by it all. It has been something that has been happening elsewhere. It’s more something that you see on tv since I haven’t had anyone in my life who has been sick.

Professionally, the biggest is teaching this course online as I’m stretching all of my skills and learning new ones every moment of every day. I also think the other challenge that performers, particularly theatre performers and musicians are a little bit better equipped to deal with something like a shutdown because we go through long periods of time of “I don’t have a gig”. There are periods of non creative output in terms of jobs.

It’s gone on so long that doesn’t stand anymore. Theatre performers are deeply affected because our industry is in question itself in terms of what will come back, how it will come back, and how we manage to make it work. I have no doubt we’ll be back no doubt as we all need that storytelling. There’s something in our lizard brain, from cave people that we need to sit in a group and be told a story together. We will find a way to make it happen again. It’ll just look a little different and feel a little different, but I think we’ll be back to it. But this is what I found hard, the uncertainty of it has been challenging.

For the first six months, they kept pushing with faint hope that the Broadway League kept pushing the dates and that Broadway would come back. It was always a guestimate and still is, really, but every time it got moved, there was a feeling of “Ugh, it’s being moved again.” That has been hard, wondering. The research that was also coming out saying that singing was a no no was also disheartening. It really did make me feel that our industry doesn’t exist anymore and won’t.

Times are changing and this is such a fluid situation. There’s flux in this Covid situation, but we will find ways as we’re hard wired to find them.

Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon?

I wasn’t personally in any kind of planning. I was very content to be where I was. It’s been the best gig ever and I couldn’t imagine leaving it.

Besides the university teaching, what have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time?

You know, I’m actually surprisingly busy which is a great complaint. It’s because I’m back home in Newfoundland and it has given me the opportunity to work with people I’ve worked with before and to re-kindle old work relationships. That’s been great.

I’m involved in a workshop that’s coming up in a little while. Now there are two television productions shooting here and I got a couple of days on one of those. I’m supposed to be writing my own show as well.

I’m busier than I should be in normal times let alone in Covid times.

Any words of wisdom or sage advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty given the fact live theaters and studios might be closed for 1 ½ – 2 years?

Oh, I don’t know. ‘Hang in there’ is about all I can say. You have to be kind to yourself. You have to be able to give yourself the room to feel whatever you’re feeling at the time. There’s general anxiety, upset and depression given the times that we’re in right now because the whole world has changed. It’s a huge tectonic shift for anyone to go through, and we’re all going through it together. I think we all need to be a little more generous to the people around us in terms of understanding that we’re all going through it. Everyone is having a bad day just about every day, maybe not every moment but there will be those times where it’s going to feel bad.

To the new theatre grads, yes, be kind to each other, be gentle with each other but hang in there is the best thing I can say to them. I would always tell people before all this that the road to where you want to get might be longer than it needs to be. It took me my entire professional life to get to Broadway. It happened eventually and happened when I did not expect that it would happen, very, very unlooked for and unexpected for me.

But as I look back on it, everything happened as it should have happened, and I can’t imagine having gone sooner in my life because it would have been a terrible experience and ruined it for myself. Knowing me and knowing how I would have treated it when I was younger, I would have just blown it. Sometimes the path you go down takes a lot of twists and turns before it fits in where you want it to go, but every one of those twists and turns will have value, maybe not until later but it will.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

Oh, definitely. There’s tons of positive stuff happening because we’re so focused or we’re forced to be especially during the lockdown, a little less now that we’re getting back to some sense of normal life. People were so focused on everything that was happening on screens in front of them because there was nothing else. That really facilitated the focus on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ social movement and all those things that sprouted from that.

Theatre companies and institutions were being called to task for their response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Also again, I hope, that it’s going to make us appreciate communities so much more, physical community being with other people, and experiencing things with other people because there has been such a movement to have everything be on line.

Even before everything went on line with Covid, we were doing a lot more virtually, through video, and through conversations on tablets and phones, and I hope having this moment will remind us just how important it is to hang out and just see people be together. A lot of that can be seen when they reopened the bars and the reports came out there were too many people and they were too close together.

I think we are really, really just hungry for it to be around each other again.

Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Broadway/Canadian/North American performing arts scene?

Again, there’s a lot coming out of the Black Lives Matter movement. This focus is changing the world of theatre all over the world. It’s shining a light on that and allowing and opportunity for us to take stock of that, well more than take stock, to really give the attention that it deserves.

I think we’re really going to see the affects of that. Hopefully there will be a focus on the technical side of things, a focus on some of the older theatres around being properly ventilated. Some rehearsal practices that might encourage some proper physical things as well, just handwashing. It’s very easy for a bad cold and flu to go through an entire cast, let alone something like Covid.

We’re all going to be mindful of these things. If it does come to a place where masks are more common, then that might help that as well.

There’s ton of more things that we’ll eventually look back and say, “You know what, that started after Covid.”

The first couple of times seeing audiences wearing masks might be little jarring, but the thing about New York is New York is full of individuals. Everyone there is an absolute individual so you would run into different people all the time like subways or in the stores who are already wearing masks a year ago. That wasn’t uncommon to see in New York back then.

During the show close to the shut down, we would see one or two people wearing masks in the audience and that was when it was startling. I think it’ll feel natural now because it’s all over the place now, but who knows? Going back to New York, it might seem startling not to see masks.

Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown?

It’s great. It is definitely a double-edged sword because it depends on whether or not an individual artist is able to support himself or herself by putting their stuff up online. The arts is not a hobby, it’s a job. I always call it a calling. I always tell people don’t get into this industry if there is anything else you can see yourself doing. If this is a compulsive behaviour for you to be in the arts, then you might make it because it’s so challenging, so difficult and demands so much of you.

As long as people are managing to turn streaming into something that gives them a viable living, I think it’s fantastic. There was a lot at first as people kept thinking, “Oh, we have to keep doing something” and so much was poured out. We’ve come to a place now where there should be limited access and pay thresholds as a product because it is as people do need to support themselves.

Again, the irony of it all – when something goes wrong in the world and someone wants to have a benefit for something, the first people who are called upon and step up are performing artists, visual artists and artists in general who say, “I can help”. I think this happened when Covid hit as people just wanted to help out in some way and so they just started posting things to make people feel better, things to look at and to focus on.

Where it has come to now is good with the talk of pay thresholds, paid performances and having limited access to something so that it’s not out there on the internet forever.

Despite all this fraught tension, confusion, and uncertainty, what is it about the performing arts that Covid will never destroy for you?

Our need, absolutely, that goes back to what I was saying earlier about our compulsion with people. If you’re a performer and this is how you identify yourself that you have to do it. Being unable to do it is challenging enough but just being not allowed to do it is a different thing altogether. Everyone has had a moment as stage performers where you’ve had an injury or illness and that has prevented you from performing. I had some voice trouble once and it was a long period of time where I couldn’t sing and during that time it kept running in my mind, “Who am I if I can’t sing?” What do I have to offer and who am I as a person.

That’s one thing.

But now with Covid and it’s the feeling of “No, you’re not allowed to sing” is so much harder because it’s hard to make those reasons realistic to yourself. They seem like someone is imposing something on you.

Again, everybody started putting up these videos right away speaks to the compulsion that the performing artist needs to create. It’s who we are as a human being and how we get through this world.

So I don’t think that can be taken away from us at all and people’s need to experience that can’t be taken away either.

At least I really hope.

When I reviewed The Company Theatre’s website, I saw some very influential members of the professional Canadian theatre industry, and I invite all of you to peruse the site when you have a chance and see what’s going on with them.

I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to the Co-Artistic Director of The Company Theatre, Philip Riccio, for taking the time from his schedule to chat with me and to let all of us know where and how The Theatre Company will move forward from this pandemic when it is deemed safe.

Philip attended the Etobicoke School for the Arts in Toronto, an Arts High School, where he majored in Drama. He then attended George Brown.

I never had the opportunity to see ‘Jerusalem’ in 2018 at Crow’s Theatre, staged by Outside the March and Company Theatre. And yes, I am doing the proverbial kicking myself in the behind for missing it as I heard it was THE play to see that year. Philip was in that production which was directed by Mitchell Cushman whom I had already interviewed earlier. A note to myself: don’t be missing out on these kick ass productions in the future.

Philip and I held our conversation via Zoom. Thanks again, Phil, for the wonderful talk and discussion:

It has been an exceptionally long eight months since the pandemic began, and now the numbers are edging upward again. How are you feeling about this? Will we ever emerge to some new way of living in your opinion?

Right now, I feel pretty Zen about all of it. I feel as if people prepared us and predicted it and that the fall and winter would get worse.

I feel mentally that I was prepared for all this. The hardest time for me was probably when it first happened, I thought in my mind that it would last three months or so. And then in the summer the reality sunk in that this was going to be much, much longer than we thought. I feel like I’m past that phase.

Obviously, I’m just worried for everyone’s health and that as few people die from this virus as possible, and that our communities can stay as safe as possible through the winter. Hopefully, knock on wood and fingers crossed, I’m hoping next year we will see improvement. I am really hopeful that towards the end of next year that we are returning to some semblance of life and what it was like before this pandemic.

I think it’s human nature on every level that we’re probably giving ourselves a date, perhaps 2022, as Ms. Arnaz said. No one really knows, but I’m hopeful and trying to stay optimistic that people are saying that a vaccine will be available sometime early next year and that it will take a good part of the year to get it distributed. It feels like a realistic timeline for some positive news.

Up until the pandemic, The Company Theatre has only produced plays that already existed, mostly international contemporary themes, and we’ve launched a new initiative in the search for new plays and new voices about the struggles of this time, and how we’re going to come out of it.

How has your immediate family been doing during these last eight months?

I feel pretty lucky knock on wood that we’re all healthy. My grandfather did get Covid and he’s 90. He’s not in the greatest health but he somehow survived it. It kind of spoke to the randomness of this disease where some people who are younger and healthy can’t survive it,and some who you think won’t survive it are able to do so somehow.

My parents are getting up there in age. I have eight siblings so it’s navigating the internal workings of the family such as who gets to hang out with the parents and when, making sure we’re all on the same page and how careful we’re all being. Certainly, we’ve been lucky overall for sure.

My grandmother on my dad’s side just turned 100. She’s in a nursing home. It was nice and everyone came. She has about 100 grandchildren and great grandchildren. We did what we could. We were able to wave to her when she was at her window. It was kind of sad that we weren’t able to have a proper celebration for that, but she’s still doing well. Hopefully when we’re past this we can celebrate with her.

As an artist within the performing arts community, what has been the most difficult and challenging for you professionally and personally?

Certainly, for me professionally which is also personal is The Company Theatre and having to postpone what our next production was going to be. The uncertainty wondering if we would be able to survive this as a company. Mostly for the people who work for us and the artists whom we wouldn’t have the chance to employ.

Personally, I actually don’t mind and find it easy to find other interests and there was something nice about being forced to put a pause on theatre which has been such a big focus for me over the years, and let my brain wander into other random things.

It was mostly just being worried about the community and the long-term effects to the community are going to be. I don’t think we know what they are going to be yet. Certainly, I’m sure there’s hardship going on within the community. That’s probably the hardest part.

Were you in preparation, rehearsals, or any planning stages of productions before everything was shut down? What has become of those projects? Will they see the light of day anytime soon?

We were prepping as we usually produce a show yearish, and so our next show wasn’t going to be until this winter. We should have been starting rehearsals for this upcoming January. Because we are a small company, it is about a year of prep for us. We were casting and doing a lot of the preliminary prep work in set design and marketing for that production. That one will at least be postponed a year. We’re planning to do that one around January/February 2022 instead of 2021.

Not just being able to plan and all the conversations around possible productions and activities we were thinking of having have been put on hold.

What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during this time?

(Philip laughs when I asked him where his mind has wandered to during this time away from theatre) I’d be even too embarrassed…honestly, I’ve just been randomly obsessing and learning about the things that are the complete opposite of the arts, of acting. I find that when I was a young artist, I was so obsessed and narrowminded as all I cared about was theatre and story telling. That lasted for years.

Now that I’m a bit older, there is a sense that this pause has made me realize there are lots of interesting things out there. While I was busy zeroing and narrowly focusing in on this one thing, I didn’t appreciate how much creativity and how many other worlds there are filled with people who are really passionate and creative about something other than the arts. That’s been really interesting to dip my toe into these different worlds and get to know people in these other worlds and see how similar they are to something like theatre where there are a group of people who are gathered around something they are passionate about.

At the same time because I have The Company Theatre, we’ve also launched ‘Intermission’ magazine about 4 years ago, which is an online theatre magazine. There has still been a lot of work around how do we keep the company afloat, what should the focus of the company be, and what should ‘Intermission’ do during this shutdown. How can ‘Intermission’ support the community during this time?

I’ve been splitting my focus a bit between making sure Company Theatre and ‘Intermission’ magazine are okay and trying to find ways to support the community through those outlets and giving myself permission to explore worlds that are completely outside of the arts which I actually think will end up informing my work in the arts moving forward.

Any words of wisdom or advice you might /could give to fellow performers and colleagues? What message would you deliver to recent theatre school graduates who have now been set free into this unknown and uncertainty?

I definitely feel bad for them as it is interesting this once in a lifetime occurrence of the pandemic which hits where you are in your career and life. It really does affect how you experience it, and I do feel badly for those young artists.

My advice to them would be exactly the same as it would be before the pandemic. If I had advice for myself as a younger artist, it would be to expand my interests and don’t be so narrowly focused on acting and theatre or storytelling. I think anything else you can learn or experience will just inform you as an artist and will make you better as an artist. As much as possible, use this time to do just that and create habits that will allow you to have a healthy relationship and balance when you do return to a focus on your career.

The arts can be an all-consuming lifestyle. It can be a really harsh lifestyle at times with its many ups and downs. Having other interests and being okay with the arts not being around, being able to develop those skills early in your career will serve you positively. It’s hard to tell young artists that. That’s something that comes inevitably with age and experience.

For the young people who are able to hear that and take it in, it’s true that they shouldn’t worry. If they’re meant to be actors or theatre artists, and that’s their greatest passion, they will come back and pursue it another time. Just don’t waste this time right now by worrying about it. Focus and learn other things and that will just make you a more interesting and compelling performer anyway. Trust that.

Do you see anything positive stemming from Covid 19?

I really do, actually. I’ve a weird kind of relationship with it all. I worry about the people and the individuals and the artists, especially people I’ve grown close to over the years. But from a macro level, I think there’s something very positive about a pause on theatre. It will allow audiences to miss theatre and to remind them just how important and how profound a live experience can be in a communal watching of a story and taking it in together. People will crave that in a way that you can only crave something when it’s gone away.

For artists, our own relationship with theatre will have changed. It can be tiring, exhausting. There are many positives about it, but within the professional theatrical community you can forget as a job what you loved about theatre, what’s special about it. I think there’s going to be a renewed sense of passion for theatre since we’re going to be away from it for a long time.

I also think it’s going to be an inevitable cleansing. It’s going to be a long time before it comes back that I’m sure there will be artists who don’t come back to it or who have moved on to other things or have found other ways to live and don’t want to come back. Obviously, there’s a huge social change happening at the same time while we’re on pause. That social change has clearly broken through, perceptions have shifted through this time in a way that is going to bring profound change to our community when we come back.

It’s almost as if we’re coming back to a clean slate. It will be a kind of Theatre 2.0 where there will always be a before Covid and a post Covid. So, whatever that post Covid looks like, the leaders within the community and all the artists in the community are thinking about that. When it returns, it will return fresh and new in ways that I don’t know that we know yet. But I’m confident that will happen.

Do you think Covid 19 will have some lasting impact on the Toronto/Canadian/North American performing arts scene?

With ‘The Company Theatre’, we’ve launched a new play development for the first time. For us, it was really about how we can support the community. I really feel like if we’re able to give and provide support to artists who want to use this time to write and create the stories we’re going to tell on stages after this, than there could be a real golden age of Canadian plays that will come out of all this. We did get in this cycle of development where we would discover a writer and they would have a lot of time to work on their first play and that would be successful.

There would be so many theatres who would want the next play from the writer that there is less time for development at that time. Every play after that gets less development time so that’s not the best kind of development pipeline. Now, essentially, we will have years of our great theatre artists hopefully getting to spend some time on creating what their next show will be. I have to mention that is going to be a great thing with the caveat if we can support them to do that and the artist is not worrying about having to pay their grocery bill.

I don’t think we’ll know exactly what the lasting impacts are as of yet. I think there will be lots of things that will change about the theatre community itself and that inevitably will change the work that gets produced. Our relationship to it will be different. Every industry is going to be thinking about how they do work now.

All of this experimenting online will not go away after Covid. That will remain in some way as part of theatre.

Some artists have turned to You Tube and online streaming to showcase their work. What are your comments and thoughts about streaming? Is this something that the actor/theatre may have to utilize going forward into the unknown?

I’m kind of on both sides of it. Personally, as a performer, I have no interest and as a director I have no interest. For Company Theatre we quickly thought about it, but it wasn’t right for us.

We’re so much about the live experience and what live performance is versus other mediums. That’s really what we do and what we’re passionate about. It felt inauthentic for us to pursue it in any way. Most actors who perform on theatre stages in this country also perform in film and on tv, and I love film and tv as an art form. It felt like any of my time or effort was better served for me personally more kind of traditional film and television than trying to turn theatre into streaming.

On the ‘Intermission’ magazine side, because ‘Intermission’ serves the whole community, we have been trying to find ways to embrace and support that work. We’re about to launch an initiative so we will use ‘Intermission’ to broadcast streamed performances – some of them will be live, some of them will be re-broadcasts of what theatres have already done to give a second life to it.

In terms of compensation, there’s really no financial model around it. At least for me, it will serve us better to try and get support from the people who support us whether that’s the public funders or our main supporters, our donors, corporate supporters and then trying to sell directly to patrons and audiences at this point.

Now I know that other people in the community think much differently, and I know there’s a lot of pressure to get some revenue out of these streaming performances. It’s a new art form and I think we would do better long term to offer that to audiences for free, see what the reaction is, build some habit around them consuming theatre in this way and then see if we can build from there. I think if we try to charge right away, I just don’t know what kind of success people will have with that model and whether it will be worth the small amount of revenue that we might be able to bring in. We’re going to shoot ourselves in the foot if we’re trying to grow this as an aspect of theatre.

One of the exciting things about this for me and ‘Intermission’ is the fact theatre is so localized and how the streaming allows us to show the performance in Alberta, Vancouver or wherever. That’s exciting and how to compensate artists for their time is a tricky one. It’s just the reality around it if there is a sustainable financial model for it. I don’t know, but if we can get support from different streams, I definitely think that financial support should go to the artists for sure as much as possible.

Ultimately we’re all in this together, and if there is a desire to create this online theatre world, there’s going to be some sacrifice from all of us for the time and effort and resources behind it without expecting much back in return.

Despite all this fraught tension, drama and confusion, what is it about performing that Covid will never destroy for you?

To me it’s about connection and community. Theatre is about building community and that’s what we’re being reminded of during this absence.

At its best, that’s what live performance can do. It can make you feel more connected to your loved ones, to you, to the human condition. Most of these are all to do with connection to others.

I’m hopeful it will give us a better appreciation for all that.

To learn more about The Company Theatre, visit their website: www.companytheatre.ca, Facebook page: The Company Theatre, Twitter: @companytheatre.

To learn more about Intermission magazine, visit their website: www.intermissionmagazine.ca, their Facebook page: Intermission, Twitter: @intermissionmag.

A new professional theatre company has moved into Durham Region.

Although Artistic Director Jeremy Smith (a former student of mine) no longer lives in the Durham Region, I always salute his company, Driftwood Theatre, which has produced some extraordinary Shakespeare in the Park productions across the province every summer. In my heart, Driftwood was and will always remain a professional theatre company stemming from sturdy roots here in the Durham Region. Port Perry’s Theatre on the Ridge (TOTR), under Artistic Director Carey Nicholson’s vision, has staged classic and modern plays over the last ten years both indoors and outdoors.

Passionate and articulate about the theatre, Phil Nero, an Equity-based artist, now living in Brooklin (with his wife and six-year-old daughter) is excited beyond measure to open DREAMCO (Durham Region Entertainment and Music) even in these uncertain fiscal times for the Arts on account of Covid. He knows it is going to be challenging over the next couple of years since many have lost income, but Nero is confident the enjoyment and love of live theatre will outweigh in the long run especially if local residents do not have to spend gas money to drive downtown to Toronto. Starting out small and inexpensive, Nero wants DREAMCO to show just how valuable they are in what they plan to offer to Durham Region and beyond.

Phil is not out to be in competition with other local professional theatres in Durham such as Driftwood and TOTR. On the contrary, he says there is no reason for that. Instead, he made a comparison to car dealerships that are on the same street and next door to each other. People who are going out to look for a car will venture and look all around for what they want. For Phil, the more these theatre companies thrive and work together in the same manner, the more theatre is generated, and the more people and audiences will attend.

During our conversation at the Brooklin Coffee Culture over a cold drink on a very warm afternoon, the conversation turned to Nero telling me how he stumbled into dance and when the proverbial ‘theatre bug bit him’, specifically by accident in Grade 6, when he was involved in the school play ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Phil fondly recalled watching ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ in high school and how its message of CARPE DIEM/SEIZE THE DAY spoke volumes to him. That film’s message brought him to this point in his life where he is right now in making his dreams come true and pursuing them.

Nero grew up in Markham where he next appeared in a production of ‘West Side Story’ with the Unionville Theatre Company. Two dance teachers from the area grounded Phil going forward where he participated in and won several competitions and discovered what he calls this extraordinary gift of dance. Undecided whether he wanted a career in show business or as a chef (another of his passionate interests), Phil took a year off to decide while he performed in Grand Bend’s Huron Country Playhouse of ‘West Side Story’ where he was offered the Equity Apprentice role.

When he returned home, he knew of Sheridan College’s Musical Theatre Programme and wanted to attend. He failed his first year because he was ill-prepared and thought it would be a waste of time to return. However, a couple of teachers took Phil under their wings and in his words was told: “it would be a game-changer for you to repeat your first year again.”

He stayed and turned the three-year theatre programme into a four-year one. Phil didn’t graduate Sheridan because he went to do ‘West Side Story’ at the Stratford Festival where he worked with famed choreographer Sergio Trujillo* in 1999, but he did assure that he completed his diploma (now a degree from Sheridan) So, to all theatre lovers who want to school themselves in the art, Nero strongly advises to make sure you get that degree or diploma first and foremost.

The theatre life then became ‘serendipitous’ for Nero as he quoted this word several times during our conversation. He auditioned and was cast in the Toronto production of ‘The Lion King’ for a year and then moved down the street to The Royal Alexandra where he appeared in ‘Mamma Mia’ as Dance Captain and understudy for Pepper. Nero then went on the road for a year and a half with the US National Tour of ‘Mamma Mia’ where he played Pepper.

When he returned, he directed and choreographed a production of ‘A Chorus Line’ at Stage West in Mississauga and ‘Chicago’ at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre. Nero was supposed to return to Halifax to perform in ‘Evita’ when he was offered a role in the Toronto run ‘The Lord of The Rings’ where he was the Dance Captain/Fight Captain/Swing and then went to work on the production in London. Upon his return, Nero went to direct and choreograph six seasons at The Citadel Theatre.

Nero recognizes how Covid has put a kink in the plans of the trajectory going forward in the Canadian theatre industry. Many of the major and independent/regional theatres are focusing on smaller casts at this time as everyone weathers this continued Covid rain for now to reduce overhead costs and capital investments which means less work for actors and less parts to be had.

But as DREAMCO evolves over the next several years. Nero assured me Durham theatre actors and lovers can look for opportunities to grow as artists. Starting off, Nero called the company’s focus now ‘a Math game’ and will produce non-Equity presentations to begin with the idea going forward that Equity credits could be earned in the distant future. Phil also reiterated this is not a comment on the artists’ abilities whether they are union or non-union. All Equity artists were once non-Equity.

It is Nero’s goal that DREAMCO will produce entertainment across many genres and not focus merely on musical theatre. He believes and wants so very much to be able to create the magic of gathering together as a community for theatre here in Durham Region. He wants his shows to enable audiences to question, think, act, react and talk. These are the points of why theatre is shared in the community. Going forward, Nero says a long-term wish is to build a theatre for DREAMCO within the Region. He specifically said:
“Mayors of Durham Region, are you paying attention?”
__________________________________________________________________________
(*Trujillo learned the choreography from the famed Jerome Robbins who originated the dancing from the original ‘West Side Story’)
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Although this is far off in the future, Nero’s goal and desire are to fashion DREAMCO in the same manner as Drayton Entertainment and London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre where there are six-seven shows a season, possible Fringe festival, workshops for students and a bridge for community theatre to professional theatre. Although musical theatre is Nero’s passion, it is his hope that the company will also tackle the great stories from classic to contemporary and modern. Phil’s wish list for the inaugural DREAMCO season would include ‘Death of a Salesman’, ’12 Angry Men’ and ‘Inherit the Wind’ (readers: remember this is a wish list and not a given).

To bring audiences back to the theatre, DREAMCO is planning a Concert in the Village Series to be held at Brooklin Community Centre. No money or profit will be made from this series, according to Nero as that is not the intent at all. DREAMCO is planning to bring in entertainers well known around the province. There are also plans for Sunday afternoons around 2 pm ($10/$20) where tea and scones will be served and listen to performers with special engagements planned to celebrate Autumn, gather for Remembrance Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. Part of DREAMCO’s mission statement is to improve the quality of life through art, and these Sunday afternoons will reflect that statement.

DREAMCO’s Board of Directors include Nero, Katherine Docherty (who works at Active Natural Health in Brooklin), Brooklin Rotarian Rod Hunter, and Rex Harrington (National Ballet of Canada) My jaw dropped when I heard Harrington’s name mentioned.

DREAMCO will present its first concert ‘Songs of Hope’ at Port Perry’s Town Hall 1873 on June 17 at 6 pm and 8 pm with proceeds going to help Ukraine. Phil has selected from the musical theatre scene and one from the pop world. He smiled and said he called in a lot of favours, and there are some terrific artists who will participate: Mark Cassius (who has played in Toronto and Broadway and was a member of the acapella group ‘The Nylons’); Cory O’Brien (who recently appeared in the Toronto production of ‘Come from Away’); Cory’s wife, Christy Adamson (who appeared in ‘Cats’ and ‘War Horse’) and Cynthia Smithers (who appeared in Stratford production of ‘A Chorus Line’) and local talent Jessica Docherty who attends Oshawa’s O’Neill Collegiate.

Thank you so much, Phil Nero, for your time. I look forward to seeing the inaugural season for DREAMCO.
To learn more about DREAMCO, Nero encourages interested people and audiences to sign up on the website: www.dreamcotheatre.com to be placed on the mailing list so information can be sent to you regarding the inaugural season.

To purchase tickets for ‘Songs of Hope’ A Benefit Concert for Ukraine on June 17 at 6 pm and 8 pm, go to www.townhalltheatre.ca . Tickets are $50.00.