Student Life: Rites of Passage

by Janis Kirsner

New city, new language, new faces. The year ahead is beginning to take shape as a formidable and demanding challenge, like a whale looming through the fog. You are hundreds of kilometres away from your best friend and your favourite café. You’re overwhelmed. What have you gotten yourself into? Who are these people? Is your harpoon in your other bag?

Initiation rituals are an important part of the adjustment to student life. Although something new was tried this year, for the last 10 years, the School’s Acting Program has initiated first-year students with an exercise known affectionately as the Binge, to both jump-start their new adventure and defuse the high tension of the first week. But whether it be the Binge or something else, it is the overall experience that really matters.

Almost all the English students come from other parts of Canada and are new to Montreal. For many years, the initiation took the form of a kind of scavenger hunt. Students were asked to find city landmarks and do a small sketch of every place they visited. Some of the classics on the list were the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Cleopatra’s Bar — a favourite haunt of some of Montreal’s most colourful characters, the visible-from-the-moon Orange Julep, and a hot-dog bar on Montreal’s West Side.

More recently, the initiation has emphasized the more practical aspects of living well in Montreal. The first set of Binge instructions were given on Mount-Royal, which many students later came to appreciate as a calming refuge from city life and the pressures of their studies. The students were divided into groups of four and sent to explore the city’s various markets and cultural neighbourhoods. They were encouraged to get a feel for their new home: contrasting cultures, different people, new foods.

The Challenge

Charlotte Gowdy, now in third-year Acting, says the Binge showed her how scary the city could seem, especially for someone from a small town without a subway. "You really get a chance to check your team out. We lost one guy about ten times!"

Each group also had to create a "survival kit" for one of the other groups consisting of funny or personalized items, whose total cost could not exceed five dollars. To fulfill the third part of the initiation, students had to do something they’ve never done before. A few years ago, two students auditioned to be dancers for a local music-television station, Musique Plus — and got accepted. Gowdy’s group got accordion lessons from a yellow-bespectacled player on St. Catherine Street.

On the last day of the initiation, presentations were made. The students were encouraged to talk about their experiences. Gowdy’s first impression was "it’s insane to do this the first week." All she could think about was the pressure. Later, she realized that the rest of the school had been supportive and non-judgemental. "It was a challenge to find the dynamics of the group. You’re thrown into the pot with other artists, like real life when you graduate."

On the last day, each student had to also perform a one-minute piece as a way of introducing him or herself to the rest of the English students. Gowdy, who hails from PEI, donned a Sou’wester yellow rain hat, put on her best Maritime accent, played the fiddle, and ate molasses on bread. She then invited people onstage with her to find the "Best Islander" as her replacement, should anything happen to her during her time at the School.

"This is a very important part of initiation as it lets everyone know ‘this is what I bring with me,’" says Gowdy. "It really leaves an impression on other students and gives an insight into the ones you didn’t get to know during the first week." Often new friendships are formed. Two years later, some people at the School still remember Gowdy from her Binge performance.

At the end of the presentation evening, there was an unofficial party at the Brasserie Laurier, a local bar. It turned into a family affair, uniting the students of the English and the French programs. A week had gone past and the new kids on the block had had a chance to meet all the new neighbours.

A Different Initiation

Dylan Cag, now a second-year Scenography student, vividly remembers her one-day initiation. For Cag, the only Anglophone in a completely French group, the experience was a wonderful barrage of the senses. Most importantly, it gave her "a context to start from. Since everyone is thrown together, you’re going to have fun. Having all gone through it, you can laugh about the same things." Cag’s experience took the form of a kind of artistic hazing. She remembers being blindfolded and led from room to room hearing sounds, having her hands thrust into paint and other gooey concoctions, and enjoying the general feeling of "being in a madhouse." Her favourite memory from that day is "being led onto the André-Pagé Studio floor in the near dark. Students from other years entered costumed while didgeridoo music played." Cag was struck by the "feast for the eyes, the good use of theatre." For her, it was a great beginning. She also discovered the different cultures this city offers, crossing through the language barriers.

A Lasting Impression

Initiation is the first foray into a remarkable experience. It reinforces that the School is a place like no other. "You are encouraged to try everything in a safe environment," explains Eda Holmes (Directing, 1996) who had organized the Binge for four years. "Here you can go the distance and open up your creative fount." It is also important for the friendships that begin to be forged. Initiation is an introduction to a way of looking at life that may well last a whole career.

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