Alumni Outreach: Grads in Far Lands

by Alexa Topolski

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” These graduates have journeyed far afield since their days at the National Theatre School, but they carry their training and their memories with them. The same talent, resourcefulness and drive that brought them to the NTS make them fine ambassadors for the School abroad.

Kevin Collins (Acting, 1994)
In the UK since 1995

“I’m from Philadelphia. I studied philosophy at University of Toronto before entering the NTS. “When I graduated from the School, I wasn’t a landed immigrant and they told me I had to leave for a year. I had an Irish passport so I thought I’d travel for a year then move back to Montreal: I had fallen in love with Montreal and it gutted me to leave. I left all my stuff in my apartment, expecting to be back in a year — and then life took over.

“I had friends and family in Ireland, and I found work with Blue Raincoat, Ireland’s premier physical theatre troupe. We toured all over Ireland and the UK.

“I received a Fox Fellowship to study corporal mime at the École de Mime Corporel Dramatique in London for one year, and then just stayed. I trained for three years, going back to perform with Blue Raincoat. I take classes for hours every day. Now I’m preparing to take over a role with the school’s affiliated company, L’Ange Fou. It’s an adaptation of Gogol’s ‘The Government Inspector’. We’re touring Israel in December and then will do a month at the London International Mime Festival.

“It’s wonderful to be working at a crossroads of the world, but most of the time you don’t think about it. I don’t wake up and say, ‘ooh, I’m in London,’ Also, I mainly work with other foreigners: in L’Ange Fou, there are 17 members from 12 different countries.

“Corporal mime is my love — it’s the kind of theatre I wanted to do before I knew it existed.”

Joanne MacInnes (Acting, 1990)
In London, England since 1993

“When I first came over to England I thought, ‘oh, I’ll just come over and scoop up all the American parts.’ But my eyes were opened. There’s a real resistance to using North American actors for a North American role in Britain. It’s better to pretend you’re English and studied in North America. Maybe they’re afraid a genuine accent will show up the other accents. I have to pretend I’m American a lot of the time.

“As a result, a group of us founded the North American Actors Association to lobby TV and theatre groups to use us.

“There’s very little call for Canadian accents, though when I first arrived I had a part as a Canadian research assistant in the hit BBC production called Our Friends in the North. “I also have a company, CanDo Productions, that has produced a few Canadian plays here, including Belle by Florence Gibson, The Mad Boy Chronicles by Michael O’Brian, and Maureen Hunter’s Atlantis.

“Another project I enjoyed was Tennessee Williams’ Stairs to the Roof, nominated for a Barclay’s Stage Award.

“Everything is so expensive here! Actors don’t have the same standard of living as they do in Canada, but the potential for an exciting career is here. “I am soon going to play the lead in a feature film called Ultramaroon.

“I still hope to get back to Canada to live one day.”

Gerry Van Hezewyk (Technical Production, 1990)
In Singapore since 2000

“I was the Technical Director at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for seven years. I’ve been in Singapore for two years now as the Production Director for a new arts centre, The Esplanade, Theatres On The Bay. “I think every techie secretly wishes to contribute to the construction of a theatre; and this arts centre has four with a budget of $550 million.

“The theatre is state of the art, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by technology — that’s something I learned at the School. We have a fully computerized fly system. I found it remarkable that we were teaching stagehands to operate this automated fly system where 12 years ago at the Monument-National I was operating with hemp rope and sandbags and wooden pulleys in the ceiling.

“Singapore is a new country and its survival has been based on finance. The focus is now on the arts scene. “This experience has given me insight into what happened fifty years ago with Canada’s cultural development and the venues that grew out of very specific needs. Except Singapore is doing it backwards by building the theatres first in the hope it will foster cultural growth. In a short time, the Singapore government has started a music conservatory and introduced arts programs at the colleges and universities.

“I haven’t had time to think about being homesick.”

Gary Files (Acting, 1964)
In Melbourne, Australia since 1976

“I was working as a graphic designer in Toronto when I was in an amateur theatre production that won the Dominion Drama Festival for Ontario. As part of the prize we went to Montreal and toured the NTS with Michel St-Denis. The first class was just starting and I loved it. My dream had been to study theatre in England but I thought, why look any further?

“After I graduated I went to England and did a musical where I shared a dressing room with a Canadian. He made me nostalgic, so instead of going back to Australia, I went back to Canada for another five years where I performed in Toronto, Montreal, New Brunswick...

“I started writing for CBC radio: The Age of Innocence and As It Happens. The income helped between acting jobs. Finally I got a big TV show with Frankie Howerd that gave me enough money to go back to Australia, which was what I wanted to do by then.

“I still visit Canada. I saw a lot of my old mates in April. There is nothing more bonding than going through theatre school, because you take out your emotions and show them around, and everyone is very nurturing. But it was also very disciplined, which I feel is missing from theatre now.

“I played Kylie Minogue’s uncle on the TV show Neighbours and someone told me I could make money in England, so I went back. I did get parts in England but I missed the beaches and the bush in Australia. I think eventually we all end up going home."

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