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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><STRONG><FONT
color=#000000>Bill Glassco 1935--2004<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT color=#000000>On Monday, November
8<SUP>th</SUP>, there was a memorial service for Bill Glassco held at the
Centaur Theatre here in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:City>. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The evening was graciously emceed
by Albert Millaire; the theatre was full of people, present because in one way
or another, Bill had made a significant contribution not only to Canadian
theatre but to their own lives and careers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There were laminated obituaries from all
the major newspapers on display in the lobby; on stage, there was a video made
up of a montage of photographs from various stages of Bill’s life. Gordon
McCall, artistic director of Centaur, began the event by welcoming all of us to
his theatre and by reminiscing about his own experiences working as an actor in
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Toronto</st1:City></st1:place> in the
early 1970s when he first met Bill.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Jane Needles, the key organiser of the event, came on stage to say that
we were there to celebrate Bill’s life, to laugh through our tears, which is
exactly what we did. Among the many speakers, the first to come on stage was Dr
Thomas Deuel. He had been a room-mate of Bill’s at <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Princeton</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> where they did their
undergraduate studies together.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
told amusing stories about their antics, their personal relationship, and Bill’s
generous and fun-loving spirit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Michel Tremblay could not be with us, but he sent a “love letter to Bill”
which Albert Millaire read out loud.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It was full of sympathetic humour, delightful anecdotes, and confirmed
Tremblay’s gratitude to Bill for supporting his early playwriting and for
helping to open up his work to audiences outside of <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Quebec</st1:place></st1:State>. Clare Coulter
read a letter from Bill’s former wife, Jane Glassco, telling us amusing, brave,
and hopeful stories about the struggles involved in founding and nurturing
Tarragon Theatre in its earliest days. One of Bill’s children, Rufus Glassco,
spoke very personally about what kind of father Bill had been; he explained that
Bill had told him that, above all else, one must have self-esteem or
“amour-propre”—Rufus said it sounds better in French—in order to engage fully
with one’s life and ‘destiny.’ Michel-Marc Bouchard read a very moving statement
about why writers of his generation feel a great debt of gratitude to Bill.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Bill’s daughter, Briony Glassco, read a
letter from Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in which she wrote passionately
about their shared love of (Canadian) literature and of course about the arts
more generally. Bill’s much-loved piano, which he had inherited from his
grandmother, was on stage, and a number of the guests played some of his
favourite pieces of music. We also heard music from Bill’s CD, produced in the
last year, on which he sings and plays the piano.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Kent Stetson spoke of his very personal
relationship with Bill, outlining the kind of helpful dramaturgical advice which
Bill had given him when he was writing one of the many drafts of his
ground-breaking play, <U>Warm Wind in China</U>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Kent</st1:country-region> told us that after Bill phoned him with the
bad news that he had throat cancer and perhaps only a year to live,
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Kent</st1:place></st1:country-region> walked on his way through Carré
St. Louis and along Prince Arthur with anger and sorrow in his heart; but now,
in celebration of Bill’s life and achievements, as he walks along Prince Arthur,
he hears Gershwin, one of Bill’s favourite composers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Joe Cobden, a member of the Montreal
Young Company which Bill founded here in <st1:City
w:st="on">Montreal</st1:City>, spoke of the first major opportunities to
practise his art as an actor which the Company had given not only to him but to
other young actors eager to establish their careers after graduating from places
such as the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">National</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">School</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Cobden made the whole hall laugh when he
said that when he first met Bill he thought he was a “theatre guy” with
intimidating experience and great artistic taste; in time, Cobden came to know
Bill as a man like any other, and he found<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>himself trying—and still tries—to be as cultivated a person as Bill was.
Minum and Ronnie Blair, together with Muffy Price, spoke of one of Bill’s last
(great) adventures: a trip they all made last year to <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Bill, his
cancer in remission, seemed inexhaustible, and, as the ideal tourist, was
determined to see virtually <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">everything</I>. At the end of the evening,
we all stood up and to piano accompaniment--and with Bill’s daughter Briony as
our guiding inspiration—we sang a rousing rendition of one of Bill’s favourite
compositions—George and Ira Gershwin’s “You Can’t Take That Away >From Me.”
Afterwards, we gathered in the lobby to swamp individual stories about what
Bill’s life had meant to each and every one of us; we also signed the guest
book, adding a personal line or two of warmth, wit, gratitude, and love.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We were reminded on the program that
Bill’s dream was that the Montreal Young Company should continue; contributions
can be sent to the Montreal Young Company, 3558 Marlow Avenue, Montreal, H4A
3L7.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The organisers of the evening
included Clare Coulter, Paula Danckert, Anne Douglas, Sheila Fischman, Linda
Gaboriou, Briony and Rufus Glassco, Biek Price, Eliane Price, Cynthia Scott,
Jean-Stéphane Roy, Luc Tremblay and, of course, the indomitable Jane
Needles.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There will be another
memorial to Bill in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Toronto</st1:place></st1:City> on Monday, November 29<SUP>th</SUP> at
the Royal Alex.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All are warmly
welcome.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT color=#000000>--Denis
Salter.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT
color=#0000ff>__________________________________________________<BR>" . . . and
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning-hooks: <BR>nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more."<BR> Isaiah 2.4<BR>___________________<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke Street
West<BR>Montreal, QC<BR>H3A 2T6<BR>(514) 487 7309<BR><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><BR>__________________</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
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