Article from Ottawa Citizen on Thursday, February 28, 2008

Community Theatre thrives in West Quebec

Fred Ryan, Citizen Special

Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008

Every cinema marquee on both sides of the Ottawa River delivers the message that movies have changed.

Not only are they still popular, more as DVDs than on the big screen, and there are more exotic-made films, but we have animated movies more than ever before. This has become a genre, the combination of animation and "real" acting, and the influence of video gaming has drawn the attention of critics and movie buffs.

The Outaouais has its own annual film festival which has grown year after year, and which specializes in new Québécois and Canadian movies.

There is a lot of talk in Ottawa and Gatineau right now of funding for a new complex of film studios and maybe sound labs, which could likely be built in Gatineau for fiscal reasons.

In a totally different fiscal world is theatre. And it, too, is blooming in the Outaouais.

Live theatre is a one-step-at-a-time proposition, and often the steps go as easily backwards as forwards, depending upon the year, the economy, and the season. And especially depending upon the leaders, the writers, the actors, and audiences. Live theatre has its high and low tides more so than many of the arts. And that's the reason it's a good barometer of a community's imaginative health. West Quebec has a long history of community theatre, and several of those histories continue, as with groups in Maniwaki and Shawville.

There's also a new level of accomplishment showing, since what is driving the two most dynamic groups, The Wakefield Players, and the Aylmer Community Theatre Company, ACT Company, are not links to institutions such colleges or churches but a pool of local expertise, talent and pure energy. The Wakefield Players is a very happy conjunction of forces, counting several published writers, experienced producers, film-makers, directors, actors, plus a proactive and creative audience. ACT Company, less talent-heavy, is driven by enthusiasm, energy and smart judgment.

Wakefield likes its farces and shares enjoyment in comedies with most other communities, including Aylmer. Both groups have shown they can fill a house, and then some. They know their audience; they know their material; and they have bang-on instincts for promotion.

Heritage College, in Hull, also has a theatre group, the Bacchus Players, which has an excellent reputation, and, of all the theatre groups, is not afraid to take on a meaty subject occasionally. They are doing Tennessee Williams this year; no one else is. This is why we love students.

A theatre company's progression into maturity is not a necessarily turning to different types of productions, like staging something serious or developing a local star phenomena, but the maturity shows in how the theatre itself is used.

The Wakefield Players have demonstrated a social consciousness right from the start in not only bringing the community into their presentations but in pushing themselves out into the community. As individuals many of the troupe are involved in social efforts, and now the Players are teaching their skills of communication and expression to their public.

ACT Company has reached this same level of sophisticated community relations. Not only does the company provide entertainment, and provide themselves with a lot of stimulation, they have held workshops on a theatre's communication skills, how to produce, direct, and act.

These are signs of maturity, self-confidence, and of social engagement. This is what every community needs, and these qualities are so valuable to a community because they come from within that population. Theatre groups grow from within a community outward. Their success on any level is a boost to that whole community.

There are plenty of West Quebec towns in need of a big boost, especially since the crash of forestry. There's probably a play or two in this great, dramatic socio-economic event.

There's a lot of drama in the Outaouais these days.

 

Fred Ryan is the publisher of the Aylmer Bulletin, the West Quebec Post and the Pontiac Journal. 

© The Ottawa Citizen 2008

 

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