Q. You were part of the very first cohort of Playwriting students to go through the NTS, tell us how you arrived at the School?

A. I was finishing my theatre studies at the University of Calgary. I enjoyed acting but I'd always known that I wanted to write; that was the art form I was most drawn to. However, there weren't many playwriting programs at the time. My student advisor had heard about one starting up at the National Theatre School and suggested that I apply.

Q. Do you remember your admission interview to NTS?

A. Yes, I met with Joël Miller at the Palliser Hotel, in Calgary. I was nervous! I'd submitted a play and thought that if they were going to accept me, they'd be looking primarily at that… I didn't know what else I could do to advance my cause. We had a good conversation and I was delighted when I was accepted to the program. It was a terrific feeling.

Q. Who were some of teachers who marked your passage at the School?

A. I spent a lot of time with Joël Miller discussing the form and the execution of the form. Per Brask was also one of our instructors, and I have fond memories of Peter Wylde, who taught us theatre history. He was a terrific teacher, very articulate and passionate about plays.

Q. How did you enjoy living in Montreal?

A. I enjoyed it very much. I found Montreal to be a very rich cultural experience. There was always something to see and it was a hotbed of discussion. When I was there, it was just after the first referendum (held in 1980) and there was a lot to talk about.

Q. What did you learn at the School that has served you throughout your career?

A. One of the things that I relished about the NTS was the conservatory approach. You were totally immersed and fully present throughout the entire creative process: from workshops to rehearsals to production.
Writing isn't something you do in isolation. As a writer, you want to see who the actors are, what the design looks like. And the more you know about the craft of acting, the more you're able to write for actors and the more likely it is that your works will be produced.
One of the great gifts of the NTS is that I was able to work alongside the actors and I listened very carefully to what they said when we were in rehearsal. And I watched very closely as they performed the works – what was a good fit, what words came out most easily from their mouths, where were they least able to bring the words to life. This was invaluable.

Q. What was your first job after graduation?

A.I returned to Calgary and worked as a writer for an insurance company for two years. I wanted to practice writing words and this was a good experience. I wrote their journals, quarterlies, articles, advertising, and interviews; I was also in charge in running the conferences.
Then I got my first playwriting residency, at Chinook Theatre, in Edmonton. This was much more artistically satisfying – I got my first professional plays produced out of that residency – but much less lucrative. During that period, I was also teaching playwriting at the under-graduate level, at the University of Calgary, on a free-lance basis. After about 15 years, I was offered a full-time position, teaching at the graduate and under-graduate levels.

Q. When you were at the NTS, did you ever think that one day, you'd be Head of the Drama Department at the University of Calgary?

A. It never occurred to me! Being the head of the department was not one of my dreams, but there you go, you never know where your career will lead you.
You can certainly be clear about your interests and your passions, but your career kind of shapes itself as doors open and you walk through them. You're guided by your own vision, but you don't know, ultimately, what it'll look like. I've always known that I wanted to write and I'm writing. But there are lots of different hats that you wear on that path.

Q. What advice would you give young writers starting their career?

A. I suppose the advice would be to write about what you're most passionate about. Sometimes, people are looking for the device that'll propel their career or the absence in the art form that needs to be filled, and that can prove fruitless. Think of what you want to say and your passion will guide you better than anything else.

Q. Has that changed at all for you over the years?

A. Well, yes and no. I think that you spend your whole life trying to articulate one thing in different ways. There are lots of different stories and directions that you take, many themes that you follow. But, looking back at your career, you realize that there is a kind of unifying theme or underlying direction that binds it all together. I'm a playwright, but that hasn't prevented me from writing films, novels, opera. And sometimes you're adapting things back and forth: short stories become plays, plays become films, scripts end up being published as novellas.

Q. Is there a particular place where you like to write?

A. Yes, I write at the dining room table. It's a friendly place, it's got lots of elbow room, people can sit across from me and talk, and we can exchange ideas back and forth.

Q. You're surrounded with writers at home as well?

A. Yes, my wife (Cheryl Foggo) is a writer and both our daughters have graduated from writing programs. I don't know if playwriting is necessarily the direction they're going in, although who can say? I think that when you become a writer, you find your way into different means of communicating your vision.

Q. If you hadn't become a writer, do you know what you would've done? Did you have a Plan B?

A. I don't know if I even had a Plan A! I knew I wanted to write, but I wasn't sure where that would lead. When I was in high school, during the 70s, I never studied Canadian playwrights and there wasn't much in the way of Canadian theatre. In fact, I'd never even seen a Canadian play. It was the beginning of a surge of Canadian regional theatres and they were just beginning to fall into place, but I wasn't exposed to very much.
I had no idea where you lined up to become a professional writer. But I entered contests (plays, short stories and novellas) and I had a feeling that if I kept doing this, eventually something would be produced. And, ultimately, that proved to be true, but it wasn't much of a plan. I was simply following an impulse and trusted that eventually, it would take me in the right direction.

Q. What do you love most about the process of writing?

A. I am a little bit of a fool for writing! It's one of my most enjoyable experiences. When I find my way into the piece, it's truly a joyful experience.
I enjoy meeting my characters; I get caught up in the work that's created and I'm moved by their goals and ambitions. Some days, I can't wait to sit down and write….that's not always the case, but it's a fabulous feeling.
I'm a structuralist. I like to have some sense of where the story or characters are going before I begin. But once I've set out on the journey, there are many times that the characters will rebuke me or contradict me, or new characters will step up and introduce themselves, and suddenly I'm off in a slightly different direction. I find that surprisingly wonderful.

Q. What's opening night like for you when one of your works is produced?

A. Opening night is not necessarily the best night! It can be great, but there's lots of tension and anxiety involved. As the writer, you're aware of what happened during rehearsals and the challenges that the actors are facing. And you're hyper-aware of the audience. Nonetheless, it's always very exciting. I like to sit in the audience, at the back of the theatre. I want to be able to experience the show and view the audience's reactions.

Q. What are you working on now?

A. I just finished an opera for the Calgary Opera (What Brought Us Here: A New Community Opera, at the Arrata Opera Centre, in September 2012) and we're in discussions about doing another one. My latest book, Martini with a Twist, published by Edmonton's NeWest Press, is a collection of five one act plays (four of which were previously unpublished). I'm also working on a book about ancient Greek and Roman comic playwrights, and a novel on one of the ancient playwrights.

Q. Please complete this phrase: If I'd known then what I know now...

A. I would tell my younger self simply to write, and the writing will provide the necessary guidance.

Clem Martini has produced more than thirty plays and has published nine books of fiction and nonfiction. He is a three time winner of the Alberta Writer's Guild Drama Prize, a Governor General Drama Nominee for his anthology A Three Martini Lunch, a Siminovitch Prize Nominee, a National Playwriting Competition winner for The Life History of the African Elephant and is the Past President of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. He presently heads the Department of Drama at the University of Calgary.
Interviewed on November 2012 (Photo Credit: Clem Martini)

Q. Mary, tell us about your arrival at the School.

A. I first auditioned in 1962, but Powys Thomas felt that I needed more experience and suggested that I work in the theatre for a year and reapply. I was a school teacher at the time and I was so sure that I'd get into the School that I'd already quit my job! So, I spent the following year acting as often as I could, supplement teaching here and there. I auditioned again in 1963, this time successfully. My original plan was actually to go to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, in London; I'd had auditioned for Michael Langham and had been accepted. But I wanted to stay in Canada.

Q. Jim, what led you to the NTS?

A. I came from the music world. I had left school early and was singing with a band, working in nightclubs. I was pretty seasoned for a young fella. We played the supper-club circuit throughout Manitoba and Western Canada. The club would seat about 200 to 300 people for dinner and we'd do two shows a night: an hour or an hour and a half with a big band, material, skits, songs…
After the group split up, I carried on as a solo act and eventually did a few musical comedies. But I'd never done a "legit" play before in my life, never even read Shakespeare – I had no idea who he was! It was John Hirsch, whom I'd met doing musicals at the MTC, who suggested that I audition for the National Theatre School. He even raised money for me so that I could attend. At first, I was rather reluctant about it all. But he had mentioned Montreal, and that really interested me. I liked the whole idea of being there. I auditioned for Powys Thomas, Jean Gascon and Jimmy Domville and they asked me on the spot to come to the School.

Q. Jim, did you come from a theatrical family?

A. No, we really didn't even have a book in the house. The Bible, and that was it.

Q. How did your parents react when you wanted to go into the arts?

A. They thought it was crazy. They didn't think there was any future in it. They wanted me to do something more substantial, like study medicine or law…but show business? Oh, forget it!

Q. Mary, what was your family's reaction?

A. They supported it. I've always had a great love for the theatre, I absolutely adored it. The Festival Theatre opened when I was going to high school and we'd be bussed in to see plays when I was in grade 12 and grade 13. My mother also used to take me to Stratford; I just fell in love with the theatre. It was always a great joy for me, to be on stage.

Q. What were those first days at NTS like for both of you?

A. Jim: One of the first projects we worked on was Romeo and Juliet… and I was the worst… it was a most embarrassing experience for me.
Mary: I remember sitting in the class that day. Jimmy had dyslexia and was struggling with the text, as were some of the other actors. I wondered how they ever got into the School. As a school teacher, I could read very well! I was thinking it was all so awful.
Jim: A terrifying experience
Mary: And yet, they were the ones that shone, so you never know!

Q. How did your relationship begin?

A. Jim: I'll leave that question to Mary!
Mary: I remember my first glimpse of Jim – he was kind of leaning on the wall at the back of the classroom (we were at Place des Arts on our first day). He had on sunglasses and a trench coat and was feeling the effects of a party the night before. I thought, Oh my goodness, who is this? And my opinion of him didn't change much after that reading of Romeo and Juliet. But eventually, I did fall in love with him… he's a very joyful person, happy and fun to be around. I remember seeing him working on something, off by himself, and I was impressed by how talented he was. I don't know what Jim thought of me when he first saw me….
Jim: I thought you were a knock-out!

Q. You'll be celebrating your 46th wedding anniversary next fall. What's the secret?

A. Jim: The secret is to remain committed to each other.
Mary: For both of us, divorce has never been an option. You may encounter difficult times, but you work through them. At one point, we could see the toll that spending so much time apart was having on marriages in our business and I didn't want that to happen to us. I choose to stop working and I think I made the right choice. The last show I did was Love Letters, with Jim, at the Grand Theatre, which was a lot of fun.
I remember the day Jim and I got married and we were leaving my home, in St. Thomas – we were returning to Stratford because Jim had a show that night – and my mother buttonholed him and said: The Hitches do not have divorces!

Q. What other memories do you have of your School experience?

A. Jim: In the beginning, I found it so stressful. It was out of my comfort zone. The first year was very tough; it wasn't until the third year that I came into my own and started to really enjoy it. Our teachers were terribly encouraging, despite one's inadequacies. They obviously saw something that I didn't see at the time. We had wonderful teachers like Eleanor Stuart who was a vocal coach and was absolutely brilliant.
Another great advantage were the summers spent at Stratford. We'd see a lot of plays and intermingle with Company members, it was very exciting.
We had classes at the same time and would perform at the end of the summer before the Company members, directors, etc. So that when we left the School, some of us were invited to join the Company. In fact, after our 2nd year, Michael Langham wanted me to leave the School and join the Company. But I hadn't ever finished anything in my life and I said I wanted to finish my third year and I get that diploma, which I did and joined the Company after graduation.

Q. You later worked in Los Angeles for 10 years, what brought you back to Canada?

A. I had a successful run in television and the movies, but I got homesick for the theatre. I thought of all these parts I'd miss if I didn't get back to the stage. In 1985, John Hirsch was at the Stratford Festival and he asked me to return, so Mary and I moved back. And we've been here ever since, off and on.

Q. Jim, you are about to embark on your 29th season at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. How do you approach it year to year?

A. Well, you have a lot more experience after all those years, so my approach is that I have nothing to loose or to prove anymore. Over the years, you feel like you've validated yourself as an actor; I've been very fortunate in that I've never had to work as anything else.

Q. Do you still get the stage fright before an opening night at Stratford?

A. Oh sure, that doesn't change. I remember hearing a comment by Frank Sinatra who said there's something wrong if you don't get nervous.

Q. Mary, what's opening night like for you?

A. Back in the days when I was acting, I always had a lot of nerves. It's something I always struggled to overcome. And even now, when I have to speak in public, I still get the jitters. Or if I play the piano in front of someone, my hands will shake and it's difficult to control. It doesn't go away.
When Jim has an opening night, I need to see a preview. Then I know that opening night is going to pretty much be wonderful. I don't have to be nervous about anything and I can enjoy it.

Q. What was it like to come to the NTS Homecoming and experience the School after 45 years?

A. Jim: We were particularly impressed with the Monument-National. Our class was the first to open it; we did the first full production there. The theatre was in such a state back then! There were rats all over the place, the floors were eaten up and were full of holes. It was filthy. But we just loved it!
Today, it's phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. The production facilities are very impressive.
The St-Denis campus is also impressive. In 1963, after our first few weeks in Place des Arts, we moved to a small space in the Le Royer building, at the bottom of St. Laurent Boulevard, near the waterfront. I remember that there was a restaurant on the first floor of this building and we would all go down and have French fries and gravy – that was our lunch! And then, for dinner, we would probably do down St-Laurent – and have hot dogs and sauerkraut… we didn't have any money.

Q. What did you learn at the School that is still helpful today?

A. Mary: I always had confidence in myself and in my talent, and when I left the School, I had great self-assurance. However, when I started auditioning, I thought it was very difficult. At that time, we weren't really taught how to face rejection; that aspect was very difficult for me. I think a lot of women from my era experienced this as well. The plans and hopes and dreams that you thought were within reach, just didn't happen and it was heartbreaking. It's so important to have somebody behind you. Many of today's actresses have directors who push them and mentor them, and that's vital. But I do think I'm still using my training in my life today, even in terms of confidence, public speaking and ease in front of a group. I do some adjudicating and I also help some young people with voice training, which I enjoy. I've always loved the spoken work, that's been with me my whole life. In that respect, I'm very grateful for my training at the School.
Jim: I learned that there is more potential in an individual than one thinks, and all you need is encouragement and nurturing. I really came out of my shell at NTS, in many, many ways. I had a certain sense of freedom from working in the music world, which was a comfort zone for me. But to all of a sudden to be able to speak the words of Shakespeare, Molière and so on, was really an eye-opener.
Some of the best times of our lives were spent there, memories that will always be with us. It was a wonderful time.

Q. What advice do you have for young actors?

A. Jim: I tell them to save their money because there'll come a time when they won't be working. I also try to give as much encouragement as I can. As Mary mentioned, it's crucial to have someone to believe in you, to mentor you. You also need a lucky break, to be in the right place at the right time.
Talent is important in this profession, but it's also hard work. You have to be honest with yourself, to know what to go for and what to stay away from.
Mary: It's a learning process and sometimes, even the parts in which you feel miscast and cause you a real struggle will teach you something. You don't always have a choice, you have to make a living and you have to make the best of it.

Q. What are your dream roles?

A. Jim: At this point, I've played just about everything I've wanted to, except maybe Shylock and Lear….Now whether that will ever happen, I don't know. One of my favourite roles was Cyrano, which I played for Michael Langham years ago and which I wish I could play again, but I'm no longer the right age!
Mary: I wish Jim would've had the opportunity to perform in more of the modern American plays because he would be wonderful in those roles. He was a brilliant Big Daddy (in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and I think he'd be great as Willy Loman (in Death of a Salesman).
As for me, I understudied Martha Henry in Death of a Salesman at Stratford a number of years ago, but she never got sick so I never went on! So I would've loved to play Linda Loman or any of Shakespeare's great ingénue roles. I would've loved to have floated across the Festival Stage in those wonderful gowns! But that didn't happen and that's okay. I enjoyed the parts I did play very much. I have reached an age of contentment. I'm happy when I see the other young actresses play these parts; I say, Good for you and enjoy it.

Q. If I'd have known then what I know now….

A. … we would have liked to have left the school on graduation day with a fuller "arsenal of weapons" to help us navigate through the shark-infested waters of the industry!! We were so naive...we thought "talent" was enough...not so! We didn't have any auditioning techniques for film or television...no audition material that had been worked on and developed in our last year....we had no idea about agents, etc. Had these been addressed at some point, leaving the wonderfully cloistered atmosphere of our school years would no have not been such a great shock to us.
These issues have obviously been addressed since then. The grads of NTS are the cream of the crop wherever they go and we are proud to have been part of it all. Our experiences may not be what our fellow classmates went through upon leaving. Our school years were a rich experience, that goes without saying, but these little "extras" sure would have been a help in the beginning of our careers!

Mary Hitch and James Blendick met as first-year students in 1963 and married during the year following their graduation, in 1966. They both attended the NTS Homecoming in October 2011, reconnecting with old friends, discovering the School's St. Denis Street campus and marvelling at the renovated Monument-National. Here, they share their stories of their early days at the School and the ensuing years.
Interviewed on February, 2012.

Q. What led you to the theatre and to the NTS in particular?

A. My life in the theatre began in grade 3, in public school! Later on, in grades 7 and 8, British actor Maurice Evans was our speech and drama teacher (coincidentally, he later acted at the MTC while I was General Manager). Some of us would work backstage during his shows. He was a big influence on me. I worked evenings and weekends in small theatres and basements all over town, wherever he and his company performed. By grade 9, I had started my own company and we were the first troupe to rent out the Poor Alex Theatre from Ed Mirvish. I was totally immersed in theatre; I read everything I could get my hands on about theatre. You could say it’s in my DNA; it’s been a calling.
After high school, I had the opportunity to be the assistant to Clifford Williams, who was at Theatre Toronto. He had been the Associate Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with Peter Brook, and had directed shows at the West End and on Broadway. However, I decided to go to the NTS. I’d heard about the School’s reputation and that Stratford actors such as Martha Henry, James Blendick and Marilyn Lightstone had studied there.

Q. What are your memories of the School?

A. The School was located at the Le Royer building on St. Laurent Boulevard, but it didn’t feel like a school, it didn’t have that institutional feel. It was nice to make all these new friends. I lived in a room in a building at the corner of Sherbrooke Street and St. Laurent and eventually took over Richard Dennison’s apartment when he left the program before graduating. That place had bugs and rats!
We took acting and movement classes with the English- and French- speaking students and, when they had rehearsals, we’d go and build models, sets, do lighting, etc. I remember the fiery François Barbeau (later to become head of the Design program) and a British teacher who taught us set building and scenic painting. He’d arrive in his suit and tie, then roll up his sleeves, tuck his tie into his shirt and put on his apron.
At the time, we didn’t have directing classes per se. We learned how to build scenery, lift plywood, do lighting; all of the technical elements. We got rope slivers in our hands working at the Monument-National. I wanted to have directing classes and I locked horns with program director David Peacock about that. Eventually, he got Jean Gascon and John Hirsch to come and teach us, which was fantastic.

Q. Tell us about your career after graduating from the School.

A. After the NTS, I did a variety of jobs: I worked with Young People’s Theatre, doing school tours, and at the Vancouver Playhouse, among others.
Then, with two actors, I produced at the Red Barn Theatre (Ontario); I also served as stage-manager, technical director, lighting director, and head carpenter. All of the skills I’d learned at the NTS served me well. Because we did weekly rep, we did different shows. We had to have different sets, costumes and lighting every week. We’d work through the night. I remember that the lighting board kept blowing up…we’d fixed it by putting tin foil around the fuses! I did everything, including putting in (and losing) my own money.
I worked with a lot of people who went on to become prominent actors and directors. Bill Glassco created the Tarragon Theatre at the Red Barn Theatre. A few years later, he directed Creeps at the Factory Lab Theatre and bought a building to resurrect Tarragon, in Toronto.
I was also there for the creation of Theatre Plus, at the St. Lawrence Centre.

Q. What did you learn at the NTS that still serves you today?

A. I learned the craft of theatre, as opposed to doing theatre. The craft of stage-managing: how to deal with people, to keep notes. David Peacock was excellent at that (he’d been at Covent Garden before coming to the NTS).
I also learned a lot from the people I met there. Everyone was gifted; everyone worked hard and was very dedicated. I’d add that the NTS is a key to open some doors. Studying at the School gives you a “seal of approval” that is highly recognized.

Q. What advice would you give to theatre students?

A. To always stay obsessed with and possessed by theatre. You need determination. It’s a hard life, there will be times when you’re lonely, discouraged and isolated…but you’ll live through it.

Q. What would you have done if you hadn’t worked in theatre?

A. What a terrifying thought! I can’t imagine what else I would’ve done….sweeping floors and cleaning toilets just to see the shows, perhaps…
In high school, I worked as the head usher at the Imperial movie theatre (which is now the Canon Theatre,) and I also replaced the night watchman. So I might’ve had a chance to work for Famous Players!
I suppose I could’ve done something else, but nothing as romantic as the theatre….nothing as all-consuming either.

Q. You’re leaving the MTC after 30 years, can you tell us a bit about it?

A. The first time I worked in Winnipeg was in 1972, as a stage manager at Rainbow Stage. I loved the city; the people were friendly, it was a lovely city. Of course, I was here for three months during the summer when the weather was warm! Then, I went back to Toronto and worked as Technical Director and Production Manager with Barnard Havard at the St. Lawrence Centre. (He is the Producing Artistic Director of the Walnut Street Theatre.) I eventually became the Production Manager for 8 years and then returned to Winnipeg to be the General Manager of the MTC, where I’ve been for 30 years. There was no production manager at the time, so I wore both hats for about three months, which was quite a challenge. Since that time, I’ve worked with four artistic directors and 16 board chairs. I’ve always enjoyed having to deal with all kinds of different styles and personalities.
Through it all, I’ve always maintained that what’s important is what’s happening on stage. The artists are the most important thing. You can have the best accounting practices, the best filing systems, etc., but if you don’t put the focus on the production, on the actors and the plays, you’ve got nothing. I think that’s what made me a good general manager; I approach my work from an artistic point of view first, not a financial one.
The MTC is one of the few institutions that have two theatres. We also do tours (throughout Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario). We have deep roots in the community and our subscription numbers are on the rise. I was part of the team that created the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, the 2nd largest in North-America.
I arrived at the Manitoba Theatre Centre and I’m leaving the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre! The MTC received a royal designation from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in October of 2010, in recognition of our steady management and artistic excellence, so we’re very proud of that. Winnipeg is the only city with two royal designations for the performing arts (the other is the Royal Winnipeg Ballet).

Q. Tell us about an aspect of your job that you love?

A. What’s great about working in the theatre is that there’s always a beginning, a middle and an end. You meet new and incredibly talented people with compelling stories and it’s always interesting. The days are filled with comings and goings. I also love the connection with the audience and, when I’m in the audience myself, I still get easily transported into the world of the play, despite knowing all of the nuts and bolts that have gone into the production.
On the management side, I enjoy finding solutions to problems. You must always look for what’s needed and find a way to make it work. Never accept the obvious. I feel that luck is having the ability when the opportunity arises.

Q. Please finish this sentence: “If I’d have known then what I know now…”

A. Well, I believe that life has twists and turns and you wind up at the right place, at the right time. I don’t think of the past, I focus on going forward. That said, maybe I might’ve accepted Clifford Williams’ invitation to become his assistant. I would’ve become a director instead of a general manager.

Zaz Bajon is retiring from the Manitoba Theatre Centre in June 2011, after having served as General Manager for 30 years.
Interviewed on January 11, 2011.

Q. What projects are you currently working on?

A. Right now, I’m writing a non-fiction book, which is a departure for me. It’s part of a two-book contract I signed with HarperCollins this past winter. I’m in a non-fiction frame of mind - the perfect antidote after having written a novel. The novel demands you be sequestered in solitude; it’s hungry and exacting. Whereas this non-fiction book is a book for men, about sex, full of jokes; writing it is like watching Chaplin movies – with the necessary accretion of facts and tips. It is the outcome of a column I wrote for TORO magazine for nearly five years. My next novel is making some kind of subterranean appearances and I’m recording the small details as they arrive. A third project is a screenplay/adaptation of my play Trout Stanley.

Q. You’ve been writing a weekly advice column in the Globe and Mail; where does all your wisdom come from?

A. Thank you. I think experience and observation - as well as the act of paying attention and being moved by what you’ve beheld - is the best teacher. I try to write from a place of consummate empathy. When I was growing up, I felt like a confessional, a secret-keeper; people would come to me and confide and look for direction. I guess I had a lot of practice from an early age. However, I’ve just resigned from the Globe and Mail, after two years and nearly 90 columns.

Q. You mentioned that your next novel is making “subterranean appearances,” can you talk a bit about your process?

A. Usually, it begins with an image and, thereafter, I start to take notes quite furiously – on nearby receipts, in the middle of the night, while driving. I remember John Murrell – when I was studying with One Yellow Rabbit and attending the PlayRites Colony – saying: when a new story presents itself, it rages through you like an infection. The only cure is to write it. So I take down the often surreal, non-sensical notes as they come; those notes start to take the shape of discernible prose and that prose, through meticulous editorial work, becomes the novel. It can be many years in the making. I tend to think long and write fast.

Q. Is it difficult to let go once the novel is finished and sent to the publisher’s?

A. Yes, there’s a kind of melancholia because you’ve existed in such a clearly defined, constantly sharpening world with these characters who are, frankly, as real to you as the other people in your life. If these characters walked into the room, you’d know exactly how they’d move, what drink they would order, who would sidle up against the wall, and who would be dancing. When they are snapped up and sewn into the finished book, you miss them terribly. Returning to living is an awkward act of assimilation – like you’re suddenly a tourist or amphibian. Or you’ve been in space and must re-enter the atmosphere and people clamour around you, the astronaut, and ask: so what was it like? Is there water on Mars? It’s lonely and solitary and disorienting. A writer compulsively needs to live inside that creative universe. It is very much alive in them and makes them awake. The insight I have now is that in future, it’s really important, when you are finishing a project, to have another one burgeoning just behind it so that you’re never quite left in that liminal state.

Q. Where do you do your writing, is there a special place you like to go to?

A. Indeed, and I’m in it right now! It’s the attic of our house. The former occupant, a Buddhist illustrator put in these beautiful skylights and created a sublime space. There’s a huge wall covered with paintings by my son (three year-old Dove) and images of my sultry heroes: Gwendolyn MacEwen, Patty Smith, David Bowie, and Serge Gainsbourg. And I look out onto our roof-top deck which is currently being planted with kale, carrots, basil and possibly a pumpkin by my part-time farmer husband. I spend a lot of time here.

Q. What would you like to write about that you haven’t already explored?

A. I re-visit a lot of the same themes. My curiosities don’t actually shift that much, but are just expressed in different ways. For instance, I’m fascinated by the sense of belonging; how do we define ourselves when all of the markers of identity vanish? Right now, I’m also fascinated by a kind of Twelfth Night androgyny. I’m always curious about relationships and the complexities of love. I don’t know how much of my hunger is for new questions or for old questions that I’m answering differently. I ’ll know more in a few years - once I finish this novel.

Q. Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer?

A. Yes. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I used to make little books when I was a girl and I had a million journals. I would use whatever scraps of paper I could find to take notes and record thoughts. It was like a navigational tool. Nothing has changed.

Q. What brought you to the NTS?

A. A convergence of three passions: writing, the theatre and Montreal. I had studied at McGill University before applying to the National Theatre School. I remember that I was in White River, Ontario, in a motel room, getting ready to cook for a tree-planting contract, when I got the news that I ’d gotten into the School. And I was thrilled, of course.

Q. What aspects of your training at the NTS have served you best during your career so far?

A. I believe it was the constant, constant practice. The constant doing. Like a carpenter, a medical student, a pastry chef, it is about the hours you spend in the wild of your training. What I loved so much about the structure of our program was that it was like this barrage of offerings: art history, theatre history, etc. We had countless ways of entering the work: from biography to mask work to tai-chi. I loved the multiplicity of inspirations and through that, being given the space and charged with the discipline to construct our own processes; this is a pivotal discovery for a writer. I developed my voice at the NTS. I also had players and production teams there to support the presentation of that voice; this was enormously instructive. To have someone like Jackie Maxwell direct my first play was, as an educational tool and thrill, the equivalent of ten years of uninterrupted writing.

I also loved the energy in the halls, being there until midnight, the intensity of the work, the intensity of the expectations, I loved how much we were asked to read, how impossible our tasks seemed. I loved the standard of excellence. The dare of it all.

Q. How did you find the transitional period after you graduated from the NTS?

A. It was a huge adjustment. What I ended up doing was extending that sense of community. Morwyn Brebner (Playwriting, 1996), one of my closest friends, was in Toronto at the time, so I just called her and said “Okay, what do I do now?!” We rode around on bicycles and went to pubs and she gave me guidance and she continues to be that invaluable hybrid: the peer-mentor. I was also invited into another kind of community, the Factory Theatre, which proved to be completely formative. Preceding that, I had a short play – it first premiered at the exercise d’ensemble – accepted at the Rhubarb Festival. This felt like the moon landing. Then I was part of the Factory Theatre’s Lab for emerging writers and ended up being their playwright in residence for many years; they even gave me an office with the kind of swinging door you find in barns – this seemed appropriate.

Q. What would you have done if you hadn’t become a writer?

A. If I hadn’t become a writer, I’d be living in a cardboard box under a bridge! I cannot imagine having become anything else. I might have gone into the performing arts – perhaps playing music. In fact, my husband is teaching me to play the drums right now for a girl band I’ve been invited to join. But, really, it’s an impossible consideration. I can’t imagine another life.

Q. Please complete this thought: “If I’d known then what I know now…”

A. I would change nothing.

Claudia Dey was interviewed in June 2009.

Q. What lessons did you learn at the NTS that continue to nurture your artistic process today?

A. The School taught me a couple of important things. On the one hand, it taught me to be very true to myself in terms of a vision, to stick to that vision and be very articulate, clear and perseverant about it. And at the same time, it exposed me to new ideas and challenged me to go beyond what I initially thought was the right choice. I was encouraged to remain flexible in terms of approaches, to stretch myself stylistically.

Q. When did you decide to move from acting towards directing?

A. I had actually done some directing at university, which my teachers encouraged me to pursue; I guess they knew something that I didn’t, at the time! But it took about a year of working as a professional actor for me to realize that acting wasn’t my path.
I was acting in a show in Montreal; it was entitled Girls! Girls! Girls!, written by Greg MacArthur and directed by Peter Hinton, and presented as part of the FTA. There, I met a theatre company called the New York City Players. A friendship began and I eventually moved to New York to intern with them. I think that’s when I made the decision to direct. I returned to Canada and moved to Toronto, and haven’t acted since.

Q. Do you miss it?

A. No! Not at all!

Q. However, it must give you deeper insight when directing actors?

A. Yes, but as time goes on, I’m losing my “actor connection” and feel like it’s time for me to take an acting class just to remember what it feels like to be on stage. But yes, when I initially started directing, I definitely directed from an actor’s perspective, although less so now.

Q. What do you enjoy most about directing?

A. I think that what I love about directing is what I love about theatre, which is the collaborative aspect of it. I enjoy the collective experience and effort to realize a text, to penetrate and understand it. I like the collective endeavour of creating poetry on stage. I also like being in the middle of the action, being the one who’s looking at the lights and the sound and the acting and watching it all come together with the set and the costumes. I’m not responsible for “one” thing, I’m responsible for everybody else’s responsibilities. I love that aspect of it, it’s very exciting.

Q. Is there a show that you dream of directing?

A. I don’t know if I have “a” dream show…I have, perhaps, a dream process that would make the many shows I would like to direct all the more dreamlike.
And that process would be one where I’d be working with a company of actors whom I know very well. Ideally, we would have a long history together and we would work on shows for extended periods of time. It would also be a process where an audience could encounter our work at various stages; an on-going dialogue with the audience. The work would somehow always be in evolution and the audience would meet it at whatever juncture we were at when we decide to share it. I also imagine this dream process to be in the countryside somewhere, where life and theatre-making are somehow intertwined and it’s an environment where people’s lives are very much connected to the experience of art-making. It’s an old-fashioned vision of an acting company (such as the one depicted by Mnouchkine in the film, Molière) where the artists have a real commitment to each other as people as well as a commitment to making theatre together. That, to me, seems very dreamlike.

Q. What advice would you give someone just starting their career in theatre?

A. I don’t have any original advice to give, but I will pass on something that Robert Lepage said that really resonated for me. When I was a student at the National Theatre School, Lepage was given the Gascon-Thomas Award. In his acceptance speech, he told the students to not worry about being good, but to worry about being unique. I found that to be so liberating: don’t worry so much about whether you’re good enough and just stay true to your own interests and artistic impulses, and have the blind faith that eventually someone will share that interest. And I can say that that has certainly been the case for me – it’s taken a long time – but it certainly has happened.

Q. Do you think that young artists put undue pressure on themselves to “succeed” and don’t give themselves the time to mature and perfect their craft?

A. I think our culture puts a lot of pressure on us that way: we’re presented with a very specific model of success that isn’t reflected in our reality as theatre artists. Graduating school is not an ending; it’s really just the beginning.
A commitment to the theatre is, I think, a lifelong commitment. It’s impossible to say, “Okay, that show is finished, it’s the perfect show and now I’ll move on.” It’s never finished. You could easily spend your life doing the same show every few years, because there’s always something to learn and that’s the gift of the theatre. And it’s a hard lesson to learn, because we expect results in our culture and we really evaluate our self-worth by a kind of economic and social position that the life of an artist doesn’t give you. There are other ways to measure your success and part of the life lesson is learning how to measure success for yourself.
Samuel Beckett wrote: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” I think that’s such a great way of talking about the process of theatre and the process of living too, since it releases you from all the pre-conceived notions of success – whatever that means – and releases your ego from needing to be defined by something outside of yourself.
If you just assume that you’re going to fail, I think your life will be more pleasant!

Q. If you hadn’t gone into theatre, what do you think you would’ve done?

A. My dirty secret is that I went to McGill Law School for a year and a half, during the time I was acting professionally. But I dropped out, because it really did not feel right for me. However, I guess if I weren’t directing, I would have somehow found a way to make a career in law work for me.

Q. Please complete this thought: “If I’d known then what I know now…”

A. I probably would have spent less time worrying about what I thought other people wanted me to be and would have spent more time just being myself. That would apply equally to my professional and personal life.

Brendan Healy returned to the NTS this fall to direct the 3rd year Acting students’ production of Liliom, by Ferenc Molnar. The show was presented at the Monument-National from October 20 to 24, 2009.
Brendan is Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto) and the 2009 recipient of the Pauline McGibbon Award, presented by the Ontario Ministry of Culture to a theatre professional who displays a unique talent and a potential for excellence.
Brendan Healy was interviewed on October 13, 2009.

Q. How long have you worked at the Shaw Festival?

A. I arrived at the Festival in 1993 as a freelance designer, my first production was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; I became Design Director in 1996.

Q. On what projects are you currently working?

A. I am designing the set and costumes for The Women, by Clare Booth Luce, directed by Alisa Palmer, which opens May 12. The set is built and is being painted; I’m just about to start shopping for fabric and the cutters have started their work. The other show I’m working on is John Bull’s Other Island, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Christopher Newton. The set is currently being built and this show opens on June 18.
On an administrative level, I am part of a team that meets regularly to look at the state of the Shaw Festival today, the direction we want to move in, the philosophical changes we want to make. We’re also planning for the 50th anniversary next season.

Q. What is your favourite aspect of your work?

A. I think it’s the variety of it all. As a designer, you are often in situations where you are asked to repeat past successes. The administrative side allows me to avoid that, so there are always opportunities to keep learning. I love the freedom of it.

Q. Are there any aspects that you enjoy less?

A. I suppose that model-making has become more challenging over the years. When you start out as a young designer, you make a lot of them. As you become older, you don’t have as much manual dexterity or patience, so that is something that I’m happy to delegate. I still do some model-making on my own, but it’s not my favourite part of the process.

Q. What led you to a career in stage design?

A. I’m one of those rare people who knew what type of work they wanted to do at an early age. I grew up in Kitchener/Waterloo and we had lots of school trips to the Stratford Festival. As a teenager, I continued to go on my own. I realized then that there was a world of employment in that field.

Q. Were you active in theatre at the time?

A. I acted in high school and amateur productions. There was a company called KW Musical Productions and we were fortunate enough to have Alan Lund (director and choreographer at the Charlottetown Festival, in PEI) working there, so I got involved in musicals.
I enjoyed acting, but I realized that what I really enjoyed was the process leading up to the show, so that by opening night, the fun was over and I was ready to move on to other things.
However, that experience has helped me in my designing: I can relate differently to actors, I can imagine myself walking through the space, wearing a costume, etc.

Q. What brought you specifically to the NTS?

A. During high school, I was always researching schools. I liked that the NTS offered conservatory-type training and seemed focused on what I wanted to get out of my education. And I liked the idea that it was in Quebec and that the French culture was part of it. I took French all through high school just in case I went there. I ended up being the only Anglophone in my class!
I really feel lucky, in a way, although it was very hard for me at the time. The French factor was a very rich part of my education. I feel that it’s such a great thing that I can pick up a French newspaper or watch French television and know what’s going on.

Q. What did you learn at NTS that continues to influence your work today?

A. François Barbeau was the Director of the Design Program at the time and he taught me everything I know. He was very generous to me and made me realize that as an artist, you have to approach every project by making yourself happy. You have to express yourself in each thing you do. Even if you’re struggling with the director, you have to make your statement. This has given me a great deal of confidence.
When I read a play, I can see it very quickly and I know how I want to move forward; I get that from him, from his approach. I can talk about the play in a larger way, outside of design even, that engages the director. You can keep up a livelier conversation about new ways of doing the play; you can move through the nuts and bolts very quickly and get to what is going to be great about your production.
I tell young students that it’s always good to come to your first meeting with a developed idea. Because if they hate it, you’ll have had your chance to express the idea and they’ll know exactly where your mind is at so that they can get you onto their side. Or, chances are they’ll love it. It’s much better to come with something, to have something for the director to bounce off of, rather than coming with nothing. So that’s an extension of what I was taught by Barbeau.

Q. What other advice would you give to young designers?

A. When actors graduate from theatre schools, they can get jobs right away, because there are roles for 22-year-olds. However, not too many people will hire a 22-year-old designer because they don’t necessarily have the life experience that they would need to be designing costumes for 40 years olds.
So, you have to work in other areas of design before you get to be a designer. It’s always good to develop one of your skills, whether you’re a painter or a draftsman, because that gets you into the bigger theatres, where you can learn more quickly than you can by struggling on your own.
When I was being trained in my theatre career, you had to pick a stream, like design in my case, and you were very much encouraged to be in that stream and learn everything there was to learn about it. Nowadays, I think there’s a lot more cross-over. No one would think twice about somebody who wanted to design, direct, write, and perform. It would be preferable, I think, to go into a world where you could move between the disciplines. It was scary graduating when I did because there weren’t even that many independent projects. You had to go to a theatre that was established and work your way up.

Q. Are there shows that you dream of designing?

A. I love classical theatre, the big war-horse plays. I have a preference for Chekov and Tennessee Williams, and I’ve designed a lot for musical theatre. So I guess I would say the big classic pieces of the 20th century are what interest me the most.

Q. Finish this sentence: “If I knew then what I know now…”

A….I would not have limited myself to a design career alone. Although I love what I do, I would have continued and developed in the acting and directing stream. Designers are lucky that they have such strong visual imaginations and memory. If these skills were applied to directing, I am sure we would have a generation of directors who are freer and more diverse in their approach to what is possible in producing plays. Most directors are trained as actors so their ideas are often exclusively text based. This is valid, but the theatre is equally a visual medium and sometimes developing imagery is left unexplored for the immediacy of language. Learning the language of acting when talking to an actor to give really useful information about how they can use my design, has taken my whole career. If we don’t separate the training of designers from the training of actors, both disciplines would be less mysterious to each other. I think this is happening now more and more.

William Schmuck was interviewed on February 26, 2010. (photo credit: Shaw Festival)

Q. How did you enjoy being back at the NTS?

A. I was absolutely thrilled to come back and I loved being in Montreal. I really enjoy working with the first-year students. It’s a time when everyone is learning their craft and discovering who they are.
I have such great memories of the School. It’s where I met my husband, Joe Ziegler (Acting, 1979), during our first year.

Q. What do you feel has changed since your time at the School?

A. The world was a very different place when I was here. There were far fewer theatre schools, and it seemed like there was more money available for the arts, and new theatre companies were starting up all over. So there was more work.
Today, there are so many theatre schools launching so many young actors, every year. There's a lot more “self start” work by young actors. When we graduated in 1979, we hoped that we would be hired to work on plays by new playwrights or perform the classics at the more established theatres. Fringe festivals and the new works playwrights festivals didn’t exist. I never had a camera class at the School. That’s definitely part of what you’re expected to have learned when you come out of a theatre school now.

Q. What’s next on the agenda for you?

A. Well, I’m doing three plays with Soulpepper: Waiting for the Parade, by John Murrell; A Month in the Country, by Turgenev, adapted by Susan Coyne (Acting, 1984); and Death of a Salesman, in which Joe and I will play Willie and Linda Loman.

Q. Will this be the first time you play husband and wife on stage?

A. Well, it’s the first time in a long time! We have played the Macbeths, off-Broadway, and we’ve played couples in various comedies directed by Robin Phillips during his time at The Citadel Theatre. But this will be the first time we play husband and wife at Soulpepper. We do work together a lot though. And I've been directed by him many times.

Q. How do you reconcile family life and your work in the theatre?

A. We were able to travel a lot and work together before our children were born and up until our first boy was about 6 years old. (Nancy and Joe have three sons; their eldest, Timothy, is an actor and a member of the Shaw Festival company; their other boys are still in school.) At that point, travelling was too disruptive and we felt that one of us should always stay in town, so we had to make some choices. You do what you need to do. Yes, there were some things that I had to turn down, but we’ve been very fortunate in our careers in that there has been enough work close to home and so it actually hasn’t been that difficult.

Q. What do you still carry with you from your training at the School?

A. It was really wonderful training and much of it stays with me. We studied under Douglas Rain who taught us that all the clues are in the text, and you must strive to illuminate it, rather than illuminating your virtuosity. We also had wonderful teachers: Louis Spritzer and his partner, Ann Marie Peters, who taught voice and movement respectively. As a unit, they were completely in tune with each other about voice and body work always connecting to the text.

Q. What inspires you?

A. I always look for what the play is saying to me. I have to find some kind of passion for the story, not just the part. I look for a reason, a human reason to do it.
One always tries to find compassion for the characters one plays. And – I suppose this is true in any career – you never really stop learning, you never feel like you’ve arrived.

Q. Are there any roles that you dream of playing?

A. Well, I would probably have to say Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. I also love those sort of wacky Tennessee Williams women and those Chekhov beauties like Ranevskaya (The Cherry Orchard) or Arkadina (The Seagull), I’d love to get to know them.

Q. You recently played Martha in Soulpepper’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. What is your process leading up to such a role?

A. That was a mountain to climb and it was so big; at first, I was scared of it. That happens often with iconic parts like Martha. There are some plays in which you feel the weight of other people’s performances. But once you get into rehearsal, the role becomes your own.
Since I suffer from a bit of stage fright, I like knowing my lines and being very prepared before getting into rehearsal. A lot of actors don't agree with me about that. It just happens to be my way. I don’t like to be full of tension. I like to be relaxed and, for me, it helps if I know my lines.

Q. Do you have any advice for young actors?

A. I suppose I would go back to what Douglas Rain taught us, that the text is what’s important. Try to relieve yourself of thinking that it’s about you. Also, the need for generosity –not only for your character, and scene partner, but towards the audience as well. They've had a long day at work, they're tired, they're intelligent, they're in the theatre for a reason, they crave a good story. Don’t judge your characters: stand in defence of them.

Q. What would you have considered doing had you not become an actor?

A. I don’t know the answer to that. This is probably what I was meant to do.

Q. At what point in your life did you start thinking about theatre?

A. I was very fortunate to have grown up in Winnipeg where my father was on the board at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, when John Hirsch was the artistic director. It also was the time when actors such as Douglas Rain and Martha Henry were all flooding to Winnipeg so the theatre scene was very active. The MTC ran a drama school and I started taking lessons in grade 5.
The first project that I remember involved a bunch of poems scattered on the floor. We were to pick one up and start working on it. I picked up this really good poem that started with: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players…” And, of course, I just thought it was the greatest poem I’d ever heard! So, while everyone else was taking piano lessons, I was going to theatre school. I didn’t necessarily know at that point that I’d become an actor, but I did know that I enjoyed it.

Q. Please finish this sentence: “If I’d have known then what I know now….”

A. I would have had five kids, fifty million dogs, and made twenty skillion dollars.

Nancy Palk, one of the founding members of the Soulpepper Theatre Company, was at NTS in February 2010, working with the first-year Acting students on the play White Biting Dog, written by her NTS classmate, Judith Thompson.
Interviewed in March, 2010 (Photo credit: Tim Leyes)

Q. You are originally a Montrealer; what brought you to Vancouver?

A. Green Thumb Theatre! I had worked in a number of theatres throughout eastern Canada after graduating from the NTS, including working for three seasons as Director of Planning and Education at the Stratford Festival. At that point, however, I felt that I wanted to make a major shift in my life and was planning to leave the business altogether. It was then that Green Thumb Theatre offered me the opportunity to come to Vancouver head up the administration of the theatre. So while it meant that I would remain in the business, moving to the west coast was definitely the major shift I was looking for!

Q. What would you have done if you hadn’t been approached by Green Thumb Theatre?

A. I was actually thinking of going back to school. I was contemplating law school!

Q. What aspects of your job do you most enjoy?

I enjoy working with all the staff on planning both the upcoming season and the long-term vision for the company. We work in a solid team environment and, as a result, people are free with their views; that freedom helps the company formulate very strong directions for itself. In the end though what brings the most enjoyment are the shows. Most of the work we do is new and newly commissioned. It’s enjoyable watching a piece grow from an idea into a full production. We’re also fortunate in having Patrick McDonald as our Artistic Director, as I think he is an exceptional dramaturge/director with playwright and script. His clarity adds to the excitement of watching a new play come to full life. His ability to work with both new and experienced playwrights and his care and patience with the many young actors we work with are unparalleled in my experience.

Q. What aspect of your training at the NTS did you find most useful when you began your career?

A. I think it’s the fact that all aspects are covered at the School. Being at the NTS is like being in a company; this gives students a real taste of how the industry works. Because the NTS is a specialists’ school, everyone concentrates on their specialty, but there’s interaction and engagement between the sections. This constant interaction enables students to get a complete idea of how to produce a work and gain an understanding of all of the components of theatre.

Q. What advice would you give to someone starting out in today’s market?

A. There’s definitely an active demand out there. If you’re in it for the love of theatre, you can do something you really enjoy and make a pretty good living out of it. Keep an eye out for opportunities for technical direction and production management, because there’s a real need for qualified people.

Q. Finish this sentence: “If I’d known then what I know now…”

I would have stuck with university or better yet entered an abbey! It would also be nice to not be on the “Freedom 135 plan,” but you can’t have everything (and retirement is highly overrated … isn’t it?). Seriously though, I think I wouldn’t have changed anything. I’ve traveled the world and worked in every major city in the country, so what’s not to like about that?

Yvan Habel is the General Manager of the Green Thumb Theatre Company, Vancouver, B.C.
He was interviewed in March 2009.

Q. What are you working on right now?

A. I’m working on the Shakespeare Project with the 2nd year Acting students. We’re doing Henry VI, Parts I, II and III, which were the first three plays that Shakespeare wrote; I’ve condensed them into one evening. Hopefully, we’ll come in at under three hours, with two intermissions.
Every time you cut Shakespeare, you learn more and more about it. His first plays are very muscular, sexy and live in the land of swashbuckle with just a hint of melodrama lurking in the background. And when you cut it, the swashbuckle aspect of the plays comes even more to the fold. There are 19 fights in this production and every actor participates. The hardest thing for the actor to do in playing Shakespeare is to get on your voice, say what you mean, think at the same time and breathe what you’re thinking, getting it all together. The energy of the swashbuckle is good, it helps them find it.
If they, the actors and crew, embrace Shakespeare and love him with as much passion as I do, than I’ve accomplished something.

Q. What did it feel like to return to the NTS?

A. Well, I graduated in 1972 and last year was the first time I’d been back, to direct Richard III. When I walked into the Pauline McGibbon Studio, after 30 years, memories came flooding back and I broke into tears. It’s fantastic coming back, I just love this room. However, back in our day, we didn’t have a whole team behind us: we brought in our own props and costumes…there was maybe something that looked vaguely like a set… a chair and a table, we used the natural light… I was amazed when I saw everything we had to play with. I asked for scaffolding and I got scaffolding!

Q. What is your favourite thing about your profession?

A. My favourite part of acting is the rehearsal process, not to say that I don’t enjoy sharing it with an audience. But the digging and exploring beforehand is wonderful. I like the Sherlock Holmes approach to theatre, a good play will tell you what to do, all the clues are there. The difficult part is doing it, making it effortless and believable to the audience. The French have it right – répétition – the more you do it, the more you learn. And if you hang in, you get better. Us old dogs, we get better just by the fact that we’ve been doing it for so long. With age comes wisdom, and that can only make you a better actor. I’m not afraid of making my weaknesses my strengths and making my strengths, my weaknesses. I couldn’t have done that in my youth, I wouldn’t have known what it meant.
Right now, though, I love directing! It’s so easy in this business to become complacent. It’s easy to fall into habits, become lazy. I like challenge, I like going into the unknown and I don’t ever want to stop doing that. Sometimes, the opportunities to experience those challenges are harder to find in acting, which is why I’m so much more excited about directing these days.

Q. What advice would you give young actors starting out?

A. You can’t just say to someone “believe in yourself,” because it won’t automatically make them confident. But what I can say to someone is that when you make your choices in a play, commit to them 100% and play them to the fullest. They may be the wrong choices – so be it. Hopefully a good director will tell you and get you back on line. But I have learned more from my failures as an actor than I have from my successes. So, I would say commit to the work ethic and through that, your confidence will build and will grow.

Q. What aspect of your training at the NTS did you find most useful when you left the School?

A. I arrived at the NTS during a very tumultuous period: in 1969 there was the Vietnam War, the FLQ crisis, changes at the School… My class was small because a lot of actors left before the end of the three years. But, I got a very good solid foundation at the NTS, only I didn’t know it at the time. Remember, I was only 19 and at that age, you think you know everything. Most importantly, what existed then and still exists now is the fact the NTS opens doors.

Q. What would you have done if you hadn’t become an actress?

A. I can’t image what I would’ve done! I always joked that I would’ve liked to become a veterinarian. Although I wasn’t strong enough in math and sciences so I don’t think that would’ve worked. If you could be paid to be a Girl Scout den mother, I would’ve been good at that, I think. Herding people around, giving them what they need. Which is not unlike directing theatre: you have to know when to say something, how to be patient when giving a note to an actor so that it will register.
Certainly, my most successful job has been as a mother to my two children, who are currently in university. I feel I’ve done a better job at that than anything else I’ve done in my life.

Q. “If I’d known then what I know now…”

A. I’d like to say that I would have done things differently - better - but acting is something I had wanted to do since I was 9, so I suspect this is it. I have no regrets.

Diane D'Aquila was interviewed in May 2009.