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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>Dear Colleagues,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>I thought this article on the Theatre
Museum might be of interest.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2>Denis.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#008000 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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<P align=center><STRONG><SMALL><SMALL>©<FONT size=+1> 2002<FONT
color=#0000ff><BR>JENIVA
BERGER<BR></FONT></FONT></SMALL></SMALL><FONT
color=#000080>updated weekly</FONT></STRONG> </P></TD>
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<P align=center><STRONG><FONT color=#800000>Previews and Reviews
covering the best<BR>of the Toronto entertainment scene
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<P align=center><FONT size=5><STRONG><FONT color=#990033
size=7>Theatre</FONT></STRONG></FONT><FONT color=#990033
size=5><STRONG><FONT size=7>World</FONT></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT size=5><STRONG><FONT size=7><FONT color=#006666
size=6>Behind the Scenes</FONT></FONT></STRONG></FONT></P></TD></TR>
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<P align=center><FONT size=6><B><FONT color=#990000 size=7>For April
2002</FONT></B></FONT></P>
<P align=center><B><FONT color=#006633 size=7>Raising the Curtain on a
Canadian Theatre Museum</FONT></B> <BR></P>
<P align=right><FONT color=#006666 size=4>by Jeniva Berger</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=224
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/cyrano.jpg" width=189
align=left>As histories go, the story of how a prospective Canadian
Theatre Museum blossomed into reality would probably seem tame. Its
beginnings during a 1982 meeting of Theatre Research in Canada, part of
the 1982 Vancouver Learned Societies Conference, a large and impressive
gathering of scholarly organizations in which everything is discussed
from feminism to family law, were modest. Herbert Whittaker, then Globe
and Mail Theatre Critic, remembers the academic gathering as being
totally in favor of the idea, though his proposal for "a chain of
theatre museums dotted across the country," was appropriately
idealistic.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=183
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/museumshowcase.jpg" width=197
align=right>Back home in Toronto, Whittaker's idea percolated for a
while then spilled over into a more structured plan in 1987 when<B> The
Friends of Canadian Theatre Museums</B> was organized with a mandate
from the the Association for Canadian Theatre History to form a back up
association of involved parties from coast to coast. Setting up a heady
six-point "purpose" for the project which ranged from establishing
Canadian Theatre Museums in various centres of the country, to finding
and collecting artifacts and memorabilia, to building up computerized
archival networks to link the museums, the goal that the Friends set out
for themselves was astonishingly ambitious.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000>It all changed dramatically after a
Feasibility Study funded by the Samuel and Sadye Bronfman Family
Foundation found that a central body couldn't organize a whole chain of
museums. Rather a prototype museum in Toronto which would serve as an
example and if a success would have a springboard effect on other
regions across the country.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=201
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/tenlostyears.jpg" width=259
align=left>By 1991, the newly established <B>Theatre Museum
Corporation</B> and its board of directors would have its work cut out
for it. With funding cutbacks eating into the budgets of theatres and
arts organizations across the country, concentrating on funding and
warehouse options would become the number one priority on the agenda for
the next ten years. The Board consisting mainly of theatre
professionals, academics and arts administrators, focussed on mounting
two exhibitions that would call attention to the rich heritage of
theatre in Ontario. The first, in 1998, was a retrospective on the work
of the legendary director, the late <B>George Luscombe</B> and the
theatre he founded, <B>Toronto Workshop Productions</B>. Featuring
numerous set designs, macquettes, posters by Theo Dimson, Video Clips,
and other memorabilia from such groundbreaking productions as <I>Hey
Rube, The Mac-Paps,</I> <I>Christopher Columbus</I> and <I>Ten Lost
Years</I>. Luscombe himself was honored at the opening gala.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=242
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/musketeer.jpg" width=130
align=right>The second exhibition, <B>" A Life in the Theatre: The
Whittaker Collection" </B>followed in 2000 at Toronto's Reference
Library. Celebrating the 90th birthday of the Theatre Museum's founder,
Herbert Whittaker, the show featured photographs, set and costume
designs, props and other memorabilia collected by the former drama
critic over a lifetime of involvement in the Canadian theatre scene.
"While we're always on the hunt for theatrical treasures," says Theatre
Museum Secretary, writer Kate Barris, "what we don't want is to become a
repository for people's old programs. As Herb Whittaker constantly
reminds us, we are not an archive but a museum that captures great
moments in Canada's theatrical history, with costumes, properties, set
and costume designs, masks, video and audio recordings, photographs,
posters and other significant memorabilia."</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=172
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/herbandbrent.jpg" width=229
align=left>Barris's concerns with too many old programs has thankfully
not eliminated them entirely. Some of them form part of the splendid
jewel of an exhibition, mounted by the Theatre Museum in cooperation
with the Ontario Heritage Foundation- on view at the Palladian Lounge in
the Elgin/Wintergarden Theatre until Fall, 2002<B> The Theatre Museum:
Our Heritage</B> is perhaps the best example of what a permanent theatre
museum will hold in store for visitors. Featuring over 200 artifacts,
Herbert Whittaker describes the exhibit succinctly as one that "traces
the rise of Toronto's theatre, from its days as a touring town to its
present independent stage." So well received is the exhibit that Mirvish
Productions subscribers were invited to a special seminar and tour of
the exhibit. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=209
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/georgearliss.jpg" width=180
align=right>Among the exhibits many treasures on display are a
magnificent costume from the Opera Atelier production of <I>Dido &
Aeneas</I>, a rare print of Jenny Lind as <I>La Figlia del
Reggimento</I>, a model of George Luscombe's Toronto Workshop
Productions, a portrait of Pavlova, and a vintage photograph of the
Grand Opera House which once graced Adelaide St. Pictures of Canadian
celebrities such as Mary Pickford, Raymond Massey, Christopher Plummer,
William Shatner and Donald Sutherland, remind us the perennial call of
Hollywood . </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=138
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/colicos.jpg" width=132
align=left>There's a wonderful drawing of John Colicos, one of many
Canadian actors who performed on the Stratford Festival stage, in his
landmark role in <I>Soldiers</I> for Theatre Toronto. Posters,
production shots and yes, programs, from Dora Mavor Moore's New Play
Society, the Crest Theatre, Spring Thaw and Hart House are gentle
reminders to visitors that Canadian theatre history didn't begin when
they first went to the theatre.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=170
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/johnneville.jpg" width=239
align=right>Nothing is as permanent as change in the theatre, and that
show business axiom has found itself flying straight into the arms of
the new technology. The Theatre Museum board is currently applying to
the Trillium Foundation and the Museum Assistance Program to assist with
programming and other exhibition plans, not only with a permanent
physical site which the Board hopes will come through within the next
few months, but also with plans for a virtual museum, a Theatre Museum
website which will be designed to offer theatre enthusiasts, as well as
theatre students of all ages, an interactive view of Canada's theatre
scene - yesterday and today. "It's in the beginning stages," says
Barris, "but will be a constantly growing site that will work hand in
hand with the exhibitions at the Theatre Museum. Our hope is to be able
to offer such things as artists in residence who could "chat" with
people about production and so on. The opportunities are only as limited
as the budget."</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=168
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/donharron.jpg" width=250
align=left>And budget of course, is the buzz word. Private donations
such as Christopher Plummer's Governor General's Award win of $15,000
was given to the Theatre Museum, which has depended upon private
donations and fundraising through the years to get them to this point.
But, as current Theatre Museum president, Margaret McBurney points out,
"even small exhibits like the current one costs $16,000 dollars to
mount." While McBurney hopes that a permanent home will lead to possible
travelling exhibits to theatrical institutions like the National Arts
Centre or the Stratford Festival, those plans will be on hold until the
Museum is on a stronger financial footing. Fundraising galas such as the
glittering one that opened the Elgin/Wintergarden Theatre Museum
exhibit, can only add so much to the cash reserve.</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=194
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/picturecomp.jpg" width=261
align=right>Visibility and versatility are assets as well. To that end,
the Theatre Museum has strengthened its Board by adding well known
theatre personalities like actor/director R.H. Thomson, as well as
people with expertise ranging from administration to fundraising to
marketing. Recently engaging a Marketing and Design Consulting Firm to
analyze and recommend directions for the website, the board also will be
advised of valuable partnering opportunities. And Governor General
Adrienne Clarkson has just come on board as the Theatre Museum's
Honorary Patron. </FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><IMG height=179
src="http://www.scenechanges.com/images/herbsdiva.jpg" width=108
align=right>It's been a long 20 years since Museum Founding Chair
Herbert Whittaker started his visionary quest for a theatre museum.
Today, Whittaker, ninety plus years and just as committed as he was
during that historic meeting in Vancouver, doesn't let you forget why a
theatre museum is so important to the country. "It reflects our
independence in creating our own history." '</FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000000><B>The Theatre Museum:Our Heritage</B>
is on display at the Elgin/Wintergarden Theatre, Palladian Lounge, until
Fall, 2002.</FONT></P>
<P align=center><FONT color=#000000 size=6><B>. . . . . . . . . .
</B></FONT></P>
<P align=left> </P>
<P align=left><B><FONT color=#000000>Photo Credits:</FONT></B><FONT
color=#000000><I> From top of article to bottom: 1. Christopher Plummer
as Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1962 Stratford Festival production of
Cyrano de Bergerac; 2. Display case with glove worn by Sir Laurence
Olivier in the film The Entertainers (photo: Jeniva Berger); 3.
Production shot from George Luscombe's adaptation of Ten Lost Years for
Toronto Workshop Productions. Produced at the St. Lawrence Centre, 1975;
4. Costume worn by Christopher Plummer in the Stratford Festival
production of The Three Musketeers (photo: Jeniva Berger); 5. Herbert
Whittaker and actor Brent Carver who received the 2001 Herbert
Whittaker/Drama Bench Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian
Theatre at the gala for The Theatre Museum : Our Heritage (photo: Alan
Carrie); 6. Autographed photo of George Arliss in the play Old English
(photo: Alan Carrie); 7. John Colicos in the Theatre Toronto production
of Soldiers (photo: Jeniva Berger); 8. Betty Oliphant, Founder of the
National Ballet School with actor John Neville at the gala for The
Theatre Museum: Our Heritage (photo: Alan Carrie); 9. Actor Don Harron,
who will be donating his Charlie Farquarson character sweater to the
Theatre Museum. At the Museum gala (photo: Alan Carrie); 10. Photo
composition wall at The Theatre Museum: Our Heritage(photo: Alan
Carrie);. 11. Illustration by Herbert Whittaker of Marjorie Raven in
Divinity, in Montreal, at the Dominion Drama Festival,
1939.</I></FONT></P>
<P align=left><I><FONT color=#000000>Welcome Page: Original costume from
the Opera Atelier production of Dido and Aeneas. Photo: Alan Carrie
</FONT></I></P>
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<P> </P></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>******************************************************<BR>'If we rule the
world together then we can succeed in peace and let each other be different and
have different opinions and different cultures. If there was no diversity then
life would be boring. Imagine me looking exactly like you or acting the same
way! LIFE NEEDS difference and until we realise it then we will not achieve our
hope of world peace!"-Natasha Salter, written on the occasion of her 11th
birthday (20 November 01).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>***************************************<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke St
West<BR>Montréal <BR>H3A 2T6</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 398 6573<BR>F: (514) 398 8146<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Home Office<BR>4965, avenue Connaught<BR>Notre Dame
De Grace<BR>Montréal<BR>H4V 1X4</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 487 2568<BR>F via Email: (309) 294
0444<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
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href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
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