The Theatre Museum Report

 Denis Salter

Most of the Museum’s collection is stored in the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto, courtesy of the Ontario Heritage Foundation.  Adrienne Desjardine, the Collections Manager, is now cataloguing the collection in preparation for transferring it to an environmentally-controlled, museum-quality storage location. The Herbert Whittaker Collection is being integrated into a newly designed collections database. It will eventually be possible to access the entire Museum collection through the Museum’s website.

 As we all know as researchers, it takes time and patience and sometimes serendipity to build up a collection.  For example, Sylvia Kirkpatrick recently offered the Museum a 1983 Hart House Theatre program announcing an evening of The Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton. Tony van Bridge, its star, first created this one-man show for the Shaw Festival in 1970 to “remind us that a richness of words goes hand in hand with a richness of spirit.”  He then took the show on a cross-Canada tour for many years thereafter. Denis Johnston, the current Audience Outreach Director at the Shaw Festival—and the editor of Tony van Bridge’s memoirs—recently donated the wig, costume, moustache, pince-nez and other props used by the veteran actor in the production.  If you are planning to donate theatre artifacts to the Museum, please describe them in a letter and, if possible, include an evaluation. The letter should be mailed to Jane Ricketts, Head of Acquisitions, Theatre Museum Canada, 77 Bloor Street West, Suite 1903, Toronto, ON M5S 1M2.  [Telephone (416) 962 2992.]

 The Museum recently hosted the first in a series of programs under the banner Theatre Museum Canada Presents . . .  On 30 September 2004 in Toronto, Design of Operatic Proportion brought together the designers Susan Benson and Dora Rust-D’Eye, along with Opera Atelier Co-Artistic Director Marshall Pynkoski and lighting designer Michael Whitfield. Stuart Hamilton of CBC Radio’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera moderated the event. Among the audience were students from Sheridan College’s Theatre School. Using Windows Media Player, you can listen to the panel discussion at <http:/winvault1.vaultstudios.com/2004/tmc/designseminar.wma>.  The Theatre Museum’s latest exhibition, Divas of Design: Leading Ladies of Operatic Set and Costume Design, was on display in the Palladian Lounge of the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre until 31 March 2005.  Produced by the Museum in co-operation with the Ontario Heritage Foundation, the exhibition featured costumes and artifacts from the Canadian Opera Company’s production of The Golden Ass designed by Susan Benson, the Cincinnati Opera’s 2002 production of Elektra designed by Dany Lyne, and Opera Atelier’s production of The Magic Flute designed by Dora Rust-D’Eye.

 Making plans for a permanent home, the Theatre Museum engaged Lord Cultural Resources Planning & Management to conduct a ‘concept planning study’ to help define how the Museum’s vision of itself might take shape in an actual museum space. Through a series of discussion groups and interviews, over 20 “stakeholders” in the performing arts and museum communities were involved in the study and a set of criteria was established for the development of a dynamic, relevant, and national institution.  The focal point of the museum will be a performance space providing live and recorded performances as well as workshops, readings, lectures, master classes, and press events. Adjacent to this space will be a ‘Behind the Scenes’ venue that will allow the visitor to experience all the essential components that are required to bring a performance into existence—sets, costumes, make-up, lighting, and special effects, etc.  Two learning areas will feature rotating exhibitions together with displays from the Museum’s permanent collection. A project called “Windows on the World” will explore how theatre approaches contemporary issues and how different cultures interpret and communicate these ideas through their own theatrical traditions. Another project titled “Windows on Ourselves” will showcase our national theatre heritage from First Nations myths through to current Canadian productions, using dioramas, artifacts from the collection, costumes, maquettes and A/V technology.  There are also plans for a resource centre and a retail outlet.

 If you wish to become a member of the Theatre Museum, send your name, together with your address, city, province, postal code, phone and fax numbers, and email address to the Theatre Museum Canada, 77 Bloor Street West, Suite 1903, Toronto, ON M5S lM2; or you can fax this information to 416-923-0226.  You can pay with Visa or Mastercard—please provide your name as it appears on the card and the card number.

Cheques should be made payable to the “Theatre Museum Canada.”  A regular membership is $50, a student membership is $25; you can also become a prime benefactor for a $1000 or you can give a special donation.  You will receive a charitable receipt.

 
Denis Salter, Regional Advisor for Québec & Liaison between the Theatre Museum and ACTR / ARTC

Bulletin / Newsletter 29.1