Avenue

Casting Call

The retirement of two prominent artistic directors marks the end of an impressive run for Calgary theatre and signals a new beginning for the talent waiting in the wings

By Maclean Kay
Photography By David Dean

• print
• email

In Calgary’s theatre scene, the times, they are a-changin’. In the span of two months, two of its most prominent and well-respected artistic directors announced their retirements: Alberta Theatre Projects’ Bob White and Ghost River Theatre’s Doug Curtis.

It’s only appropriate they should tell us about their departures at or near the same time; in many ways, their careers in Calgary followed oddly similar paths. Both became artistic director of their respective companies in 1999 and both had a significant impact on Calgary’s theatre scene in the intervening years.

White has been with ATP since 1987, coming from Montreal to run ATP’s then-pilot playRites Festival, a featured part of the Olympic Arts Festival. He joined as an artistic associate and his role grew along with the company.

“I came [to Calgary] thinking I’d come for a year, do playRites, enjoy the Olympics, then find something else,” recalls White.  

With White at the helm, ATP has enjoyed unprecedented success, earning local, national and even international acclaim. The playRites Festival alone has premiered 90 new plays, 56 of which have gone on to be produced else-where in Canada. ATP has also won 45 Betty Mitchell Awards since 1999.

For his part, Curtis started from scratch, founding Ghost River in 1999, partly because he wanted to create new opportunities, but also because he wanted to do things his way. Hour-long monologues, live music, you name it — Curtis has found provocative ways to challenge his audience. More than anything, though, he was adamant that Ghost River only produce original work, which has become its trademark.

“Well, we had no money to pay royalties,” Curtis explains, half-seriously. “It was more about creating more opportunities for myself and others.”  

Under Curtis’ watch, Ghost River has never shied away from controversial and topical subjects, from a play about Wiebo Ludwig, to X-Ray, a “collective-creation musical about Guantanamo Bay and 9/11,” right down to The Alan Parkinson’s Project, a poignant and very personal reflection of Curtis’ own strug-gles with Parkinson’s disease.

While Curtis is stepping back as artistic director, he may be peaking as a playwright: his Mesa is entering its ninth production worldwide, which, as Curtis notes, means surrendering creative control. For example, when Curtis was speaking with the director of the most recent production, he was shock-ed by the casual mention of an intermission that had been added to the play. “At Ghost River, I guess I was well-protected,” says Curtis.

Calgary’s theatre scene has exploded in recent years, something Curtis and White both take pride in, but are reluctant to assume much direct credit for. Both say they are more grati-fied simply to have created more opportunities for Calgary’s actors, writers and audiences.  

“There were maybe four or five groups doing something meaningful when I arrived [in Calgary],” says Curtis.

Adds White: “Artists used to get asked, ‘Why are you in Calgary if you’re so good?’ That just doesn’t happen anymore.”  

Both Curtis and White believe there is no shortage of challenges for their successors.

For ATP, the first challenge is determining just who that successor will be. White announced his departure well enough in advance to allow the board time to find the right person.  

“It’s exciting and terrifying,” says J’Val Shuster, chair of the board and in charge of the selection process, adding whoever takes over for White has huge shoes to fill.

For Ghost River, the process was easy; in fact, it’s done. Artistic producer Jason Rothery joined in 2006 and is stepping up to the plate.

“The key to success,” says Curtis, pointing to Rothery across the table, “is to hire people smarter than you.”  

That, says Rothery, is a lesson he’s learned only too well planning Ghost River’s upcoming season. With seven productions planned, it’s a very ambitious  season for a small company. The workload has been staggering, and Curtis can only nod sympathetically. “You get into theatre wanting to make art, and it’s just more and more and more admin work.”

In many ways, Curtis’s and White’s departures mark a changing of the guard.

As one generation of theatre directors makes way for another, they both hope the new guard will be better equipped to deal with coming challenges.

“It will be a multifaceted challenge just keeping theatre attractive,” says White, citing increasing traffic and the rising costs of trans-portation and even parking as potential pitfalls for the next generation of theatre directors.

The next generation of theatre-goers may expect something different, says Shuster. “Technology is changing the way people interact with things. They might demand interactivity, a more collaborative art,” she says, adding the true challenge will be to find a way to keep telling compelling Canadian stories in potentially new, tech-friendly ways.

The bigger challenge, though, will come from the ever-changing and increasingly div-erse audiences, and the importance of finding and telling stories that matter to them.

“We ran student matinees for our holiday show, Oilver Twist,” says White. “Some days, 90 per cent of the faces in the audience were non-white. I turned and looked at our very white cast, doing an English story and I found it shameful.

“Art needs to reflect what is really going on out there,” he says. Namely, increasing diversity.

Of course, not everything changes and not all of White’s advice is so high-minded.

“Get a bigger office and windows with a nice view.”