Fw: Theatre Museum . . .

Fri Apr 19 16:40:57 EDT 2002

Dear Colleagues,
I thought this article on the Theatre Museum might be of interest.

Denis.

              © 2002
              JENIVA BERGER
              updated weekly 
             Previews and Reviews covering the best
              of the Toronto entertainment scene 

        TheatreWorld

        Behind the Scenes

------------------------------------------------------------------------

        For April 2002

        Raising the Curtain on a Canadian Theatre Museum 

        by Jeniva Berger

        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.

        Back home in Toronto, Whittaker's idea percolated for a while then spilled over into a more structured plan in 1987 when The Friends of Canadian Theatre Museums 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.

        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.

        By 1991, the newly established Theatre Museum Corporation 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 George Luscombe and the theatre he founded, Toronto Workshop Productions. Featuring numerous set designs, macquettes, posters by Theo Dimson, Video Clips, and other memorabilia from such groundbreaking productions as Hey Rube, The Mac-Paps, Christopher Columbus and Ten Lost Years. Luscombe himself was honored at the opening gala.

        The second exhibition, " A Life in the Theatre: The Whittaker Collection" 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."

        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 The Theatre Museum: Our Heritage 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. 

        Among the exhibits many treasures on display are a magnificent costume from the Opera Atelier production of Dido & Aeneas, a rare print of Jenny Lind as La Figlia del Reggimento, 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 . 

        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 Soldiers 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.

        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."

        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.

        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. 

        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." '

        The Theatre Museum:Our Heritage is on display at the Elgin/Wintergarden Theatre, Palladian Lounge, until Fall, 2002.

        . . . . . . . . . . 

        Photo Credits: 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.

        Welcome Page: Original costume from the Opera Atelier production of Dido and Aeneas. Photo: Alan Carrie 

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******************************************************
'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).

***************************************
Denis Salter
Professor of Theatre
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke St West
Montréal 
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    <denis.salter at mcgill.ca>

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