In 1996 I put together a special Vaudeville show to celebrate 20 years of Vaudeville at Burnaby Village. It was very disappointing however, because  the show only ran for  three performances, as the executive at that time felt there wouldn’t be enough people who would want to see it at the Shadbolt Centre. A local writer, Anne Dupas, wrote a glowing  critique  about the show, saying “The only negative thing that can be said about the show, that ran May 23, 24, and 25, is that it closed far too soon”.  I called the show THE ROARING 20TH!

After the summer VAUDEVILLE, we started to mount FIDDLER ON THE ROOF once more. I decided to Choral Direct this time, but not go into  the show, as I felt I was busy enough directing the Vaudeville shows in the summer, and producing the melodramas at Christmas, in the Village.

Drew Borland, the Artistic Director,  had convinced me to be Choral Director, but when one actress left the show, I found myself playing the part of Grandma Tzeitel again, and in addition,  the part of Shaindel, Motel’s mother!

One evening during our second week of performances, we were having such a good time doing the wedding party scene that when the soldiers came to disrupt the festivities,  we suddenly all felt very angry because  it seemed so  real. When we left the stage we  commented about how real it was, not like we were acting. We had really internalized our roles! It was such a very great moment!

THE PERILS OF PAULINE, a melodrama, at Burnaby Village Museum brought our year to an end.

We had an interesting incident during the Christmas season of 1998 at BVM. The show was about a Ladies Temperance League, called THE DILIGENT DAUGHTER. The ladies in the cast would enter through the audience carrying placards denouncing the drinking of alcoholic beverages. They proceeded  to the “saloon” on stage.  After one show a man came backstage to complain about the show’s content. He thought that the ‘drinking scene’ was a poor influence on his children. We had to explain that the play was against drinking, and that there was no alcohol on stage. They were drinking tea!

I continued to produce Vaudeville and melodramas at the Village for the next three years. When I heard that Chad Matchette would be directing SOUND OF MUSIC in the fall of 1999, I just knew I had to be in that show in the ‘Nun’s Chorus’. Chad had been a teenager when he came into one of my earliest Vaudeville shows. This would be my revenge!

I got my wish, as Chad cast me as one of the sisters in the Nun’s Chorus. The sisters had a lot of kneeling to do for long periods of time, so it was suggested that we all purchase ‘sports’  knee pads. They worked beautifully,  we were all able to kneel with a smile,  and the audience never knew our little secret!

Chad asked me to be the ‘bowing lady’ in the final scene of the show. He told me to bow a lot, so I bowed seven times as I moved across the stage. I thought that that was enough! He complained that I was still not bowing enough! So at each performance, I bowed two or three times more. The children in the cast took to counting my bows, and telling me how many I did, when I got off stage. For the final performance I bowed twenty one times, and Chad said “that’s enough!”

Through 2000 to  2004 I directed and produced summer Vaudeville and melodramas. In 2003 I was asked by Burnaby Village Museum to stage BOX AND COX, a British comedy in which Robert Burnaby had acted the part of Cox, sometime in 1860 in Victoria.  He repeated this performance many times at house parties during his stay there.

I was so glad that the actress who played Mrs. Bouncer in my production was nominated by The Community Theatre Coalition for a Best Supporting Actress Award. Unfortunately she didn’t win, but she was my ‘best supporting actress’!

The next year I directed an old play called THE RED LAMP. It was a success, as long as you didn’t count the lamp that went on and off at unexpected times. Ghosts in the Village perhaps?

In 2005 I took my leave as an active member of FOOTLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY and retired from theatre, only to resurface in Dogwood Drama Club in Coquitlam.

I wish to thank all those whom I have had the pleasure of directing, and everyone with whom I shared the stage, over those many years. I’ve had a wonderful “run”!

During the 60’s we were receiving an annual grant of $1500 from the Burnaby Arts Council, but that had gradually decreased. When we started to rehearse for this show we only received a $300 grant. However, with the shows in the Burnaby Village Museum and other fund-raisers, we were able to continue, even though royalties and other costs kept rising.

After the spring show we entertained with the VAUDEVILLE SHOW, followed by MOTHER GOOSE, another show written by Chad Matchette. Our Christmas show in Burnaby Village was called THE PLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which finished the 1991 season.

Our first show in 1992 was THE CREATURE CREEPS, which was billed as “a horrific comedy” and for which I handled the advance sale tickets. This show was followed in the summer by VAUDEVILLE VARIETIES.

Also in 1992, Burnaby was celebrating it’s centennial. For 5 years I had spent every available moment at Burnaby Village digging through archives, and thumbing through books at the Burnaby and New Westminster libraries.

After much research, I wrote a two and a half hour show (fondly called “the long one”) about our native people and events in the municipality, combined with music popular during each era. I wrote two songs for the show and collaborated with Bud Harris on five others. I called the show BURNABY IN REVUE . Originally I wanted to call the show BURNABY IN REVIEW, but there would have been a copyright infringement with a local cable program of the same name. The title was altered by changing the spelling, with approval on both sides, to BURNABY IN REVUE, which was actually more suitable because of the revue-like format.

The production opened in a forest, with a re-enactment of a Quantlam Indian mythology in modern ballet, set to THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY by Anton Dvorak. The story then moved to the  1858 gold rush, the founding of the municipality, the laying down of  the first train and tram lines, and the lives of the early pioneers.

My daughter Debbie Adams, a Graphic Designer in Toronto,  designed the program cover and posters with a tram, Robert Burnaby, and a map of Burnaby.

The year in Burnaby Village ended with a repeat of the ever-popular melodrama  KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING.

In 1993 we staged BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and VAUDEVILLE VARIETIES, in the spring and summer respectively.

In the fall we put on L’IL ABNER. As I was the producer I had to make sure all aspects of the show worked well.  When the costumer walked out in a huff, I had to step in and finish costuming the men in the chorus.

We finished the year in Burnaby Village with a melodrama called A TROUBLE SHARED.

On August 14, 1993, I received an honorary award for Outstanding Special Achievement  for BURNABY IN REVUE by the Community Theatre Coalition.

In the spring of 1994 I decided to get back on the stage. I auditioned for EXIT WHO?  and  got the part of Lydia Scott, Real Estate lady and wannabe reporter for the local newspaper. As producer , I also found myself painting the set late one night. The set artist had painted a mouse and mouse hole just out of view from the audience. He explained to  me this was his signature that he put on every set he painted!

After the summer VAUDEVILLE we started to rehearse THE PYJAMA GAME. Roy Fairbairn played Myron Hasler, the manager of a night attire manufacturing plant. There are two places in the show in which he makes speeches to his employees, and  both occasions are marked by intentional ignoring of the boss. While delivering the second speech, he deliberately started with the dialogue from the first speech. Suddenly everyone on stage turned to him with shock on their faces. I always wondered afterward why he did that!

We finished that year with the melodrama called FOILED BY AN INNOCENT MAID.

We were well into rehearsals and were about to open with BEANIE AND THE BAMBOOZLING BOOK MACHINE in 1995, when we were forced to find another venue because of a pending C.U.P.E. strike. This arduous task fell to me, as producer. Fortunately, I was music teacher at St. Michael’s School at the time, and they were more than eager to have us use their auditorium. The set had to be adjusted to fit the smaller stage, but somehow we managed to do it!

One Saturday, one of our actresses had not arrived by show time! She had been in an accident and her car had not survived, but fortunately, she was fine. We explained the situation to the audience, and we all helped to get her ready as soon as she arrived . We started the show only twenty minutes late!

I was playing Candy, the witch from the story Hansel and Gretel, and I especially enjoyed hamming it up at the school where I taught music! My students also enjoyed seeing their music teacher in a different role!

That year closed with GUYS AND DOLLS, and that old favourite melodrama KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING,  at the village.

My second memorable moment was getting permission from the CBC to sing “Oh, Knowlton Nash” (expounding my love for him) instead of the original song to the Fire Chief. It was a big success and certainly more timely for the audience!

IOLANTHE  was our last show as HERITAGE MUSICAL THEATRE, as we were about to change our name once again.

After performing the summer VAUDEVILLE SHOW in 1989, we changed our name to FOOTLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY, so that the group could perform plays as well as musicals. Our first production as FTC was ALADDIN AND HIS MAGIC LAMP. Director Robert Sidley cast me as Lamelo Mustapha, Aladdin’s Mother. I wrote a song lamenting my delinquent son, and Frizoola, the Fruitseller (Alan Cedargreen) and I sang it.

Our Genie (Brian Rooney) would make his appearance by jumping from a trampoline backstage and leaping through a dry ice “smokescreen) onto the stage! He wrote the music for his “Rap Genie” song.

The Evil Wizard Basoora was played by Roy Fairbairn, who enjoyed playing to the children in the audience. In one scene as he was chasing Aladdin back and forth across the stage, he asked the audience where Aladdin went. To protect Aladdin, most of the children either pointed in the wrong direction, or shrugged their shoulders as if they didn’t know. A few children pointed in the right direction and were immediately chastised by the other kids. Some, in fact were punched by the other kids, and some actually tried to climb on stage to get Roy, making him more than a little uneasy!

Roy had made himself a turban with jewels and doodads on it. In one scene he was to enter on stage wearing a cloth over his costume, rip it off, threaten everyone and then steal the magic lamp. The cloth was, unfortunately, a sort of netting weave, which got caught in his jewels and would not come off immediately. Struggling and threatening everyone with dire magic spells, he added under his breath “If I ever get this damn cloth off!”. Fortunately, after much ad libbing, it came off and Roy was able to exit!

Burnaby Village Museum asked us to present some kind of entertainment for the Christmas season in 1989, in addition to our usual summer shows. We decided on a melodrama called KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING, which I produced. And so a new tradition was started!

In the spring of 1990 we presented DRACULA: THE MUSICAL? directed by Dwayne Campbell, and this time I was Musical Director and Conductor. I had the three musicians and myself dressed in black with red accessories. I gave each one a pair of Dracula fangs, and each night when we took our bows at the end of the performance, we would show our teeth!

Following that summer’s VAUDEVILLE we put on an original Pantomime written by Chad Matchette and Darlene Robinson.  It was called THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, and certainly showed off the talents of the two writers. I had the pleasure of musically directing the delightful cast!

We finished the year of 1990 by re-mounting KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING, with me producing it once more. The actress playing the part of the ugly old hag quit the show three weeks before opening, and with only nine rehearsals left, I had to step into the role, as no one else was available.

All went well for the first few performances. There was one scene where I had to turn my back on the audience and throw a book out an upstage doorway. The director suggested I “wind up”, much like a pitcher in baseball. I did that successfully for several shows until one performance I lost my grip as I drew my arm back, and I sent the book flying out into the audience!

Of course this stopped all action on stage so I turned to the audience (completely out of character) and said “Will someone please throw the book back to me?”.

Someone did, and I “wound up” again, to triumphantly send it through the door. The audience applauded and we continued with the play!

A not-so-funny incident happened in 1982 during a performance of BABES IN TOYLAND. One of the leads was reading his lines in the dressing room and missed his cue onstage; I was waiting in the wings as the Fairy Queen, and saw the whole scene. The other actors on stage needed to have his dialogue in order to further the plot for the audience. They somehow carried on until the scene ended, and did a wonderful job of ad lib and improvisation.

After, when the “late” actor was told what he had done, he got so angry he punched a hole in a nearby wall. Needless to say, Heritage Musical Theatre (as it was known as at that time) had to pay for the repairs at the theatre!

In 1983, while rehearsing for ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, we were worried about a pending CUPE strike before we were to open. I was teaching a group of female Japanese students in Coquitlam at this time, and as the time got closer to our opening, I arranged for our cast to use the gymnasium in the High School where these girls were being taught. We moved our set and everything to the High School and were all ready to open, when the strike was settled, so we moved back to the Burnaby Arts Centre, and were able to open where we wanted to be!

I also learned a good lesson about concentrating and focusing while playing Queen Agravain in this play! Standing in the wings at the Saturday matinee, preparing myself for the monologue which the Queen delivers, I listened to someone tell me a joke! By the time the joke was over, it was time for my entrance and I stepped onto the stage with the joke still in my head. The audience was comprised of about 175 noisy children, left while their parents went shopping at Brentwood! (In those days, the Burnaby Arts Centre ran children’s movies on Saturday afternoons, but if we had a show suitable for kids, we could have the “movie” slot).

Needless to say, as I struggled to remember my lines and found that no one was really listening to me rave about my wonderful son, Prince Dauntless, my mind went blank! I said something about going to find my son and left the stage. King Sextimus the Silent (Ed Milaney) wondered why my monologue was shorter than usual, and had to enter onto the stage more than a little bewildered!

The show was a little shorter that day, but I don’t think the children minded a bit! As for myself, I never did that again, vowing to always be prepared before stepping onto the stage!

In the 1984 production of THE MUSIC MAN I had another learning experience, when I played the keyboard in the orchestra. I was the Choral Director, but this would be a new type of challenge for me, as the Music Director (Jack Anderson) wanted me to play “badly”, representing the school band’s first performance. I was now a “sideman” in a band!

I was never sure whether Jack wanted me to play badly, or whether he thought I played “badly” already! I could only hope that the audience knew the difference!

CREAM OF THE CROP in 1985 was a tenth anniversary celebration of HERITAGE MUSICAL THEATRE. We contacted many of the performers from the shows between 1975 and 1984 to join us for this celebration.

Our show was in the form of a Musical Revue, where we performed the best songs from those years. Our tenth anniversary as HMT was a great hit!

“Our audition before an EXPO board in Coquitlam was on the day of one of the most severe snowstorms I can remember on the west coast!”  So wrote Roy Fairbairn in his memoirs.

I had hand-picked the cast for this exciting event and they had to travel from Abbotsford, North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam to Centennial High School, which was only four blocks from my home. By nine o’clock the snow was so deep it took me 30 minutes to get there! The cast all made it, and our audition was a great success. And so our EXPO adventure began, and what an adventure it was!

We performed eleven times, appearing at The Pavilion of Nations, the British Columbia Pavilion, and the European Pavilion (Green Zone). We had to use microphones, which was a foreign concept to many of us. I had asked for seven handheld microphones on stands, which were provided for us at every performance.  During our rehearsals we used seven paper cups placed on chairs to get used to picking them up and  putting them back in the same place, which is important when using microphones with cords! Only once did we have a problem, when the person using the microphone before my song put it back on the wrong stand, so I was rather limited in my “walk-about”  ability!

We each received a Certificate of Appreciation signed by Bill Vander Zalm, then Premier of B.C., and Tom Rust, Commissioner of B.C. Pavilion.

Needless to say, it was a great experience!

In the fall of 1986, on the night of the dress rehearsal for THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW, we had quite an exciting incident. Robert Newcombe as the “bad guy” in this show, came through the saloon doors with such force that he pushed the whole set down, and unfortunately, no sand bags had been placed  to keep the flats stationary! Luckily no one was injured, and after righting the flats the cast continued with the performance.

The late Dorothy Jones, head of the Drama Department for Douglas College at the time, was in that audience, as she had agreed to critique our presentation. After the final curtain she was very sympathetic, saying only that the performance had certainly “brought the house down”!

Starting in 1977, we put on only one show a year for the next 10 years, as we had started to do VAUDEVILLE VARIETIES in the Burnaby Village Museum during the summer. In the beginning the season started on Father’s Day in June, and ran until Labour Day in September, with performances Saturday, Sunday and holidays, four shows each day, lasting 35 to 40 minutes. After that first exhausting summer we dropped the Saturday shows, with three shows a day, using two separate casts.

In the first Vaudeville show in 1977, Roy Fairbairn and I were to sing “I Love You Truly”, which the Director wanted sung in a serious manner. His Assistant Director/  Choreographer  thought otherwise, and choreographed it as comedic,  then proceeded to show the Director the difference. He reluctantly agreed to the change, and that number was actually performed every year, with people often  requesting it…..it in fact  became a classic over the years!

One time in the summer of 1991 when Roy, as the emcee, opened the show, he noticed Ed Asner in the front row near the piano. He was sitting with feet outstretched and arms folded looking very much like Lou Grant of the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” on TV. The show was going well so Roy took a quick look at “Ed”, who was smiling and chuckling. After the show, Roy went out to the front of the building, but there was no sign of Ed Asner!

Recently, Roy saw a newspaper article about Christmas shows that had been filmed in this area. The TV movie “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”, filmed in 1991, starred Ed Asner. So who knows?

One summer, the “August” can-can dancers were well developed, but the “July” dancers had not reached their full potential, so with some padding here and there the costumes were made to fit. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be done about the skinny legs!

All the can-can dancers wore black bloomers over their tights, so that when they kicked and lifted their skirts the effect wasn’t too naughty. One day one of the girls neglected to put on her bloomers, and showed her flesh coloured undies to the audience.

When she returned during the “The Finale”, she lifted her skirt to show the audience that she was now wearing her bloomers. The audience responded, showing their approval with a loud round of applause!

During the final show one summer, Roy and I were singing a sweet old song called “The Little Shepherdess”, a lovely song telling a story about a shepherd and shepherdess falling in love. As we were performing it seriously, I began to notice some people in the audience giggling. I knew something unrehearsed was going on behind me, but I decided to keep singing and then look around after the last words. Someone had somehow procured a life-sized sheep on wheels, and had rolled  it onto the stage.

I wish we had had it all summer!

One summer we had to continually remind the youthful cast that we were performing in a museum in the “olden days”. I had sung in the “Guest Spot” for each show. and  also came out for the “Finale”. After the Finale of the last show of the season on Labour Day, I was surprised by one of the teens, who came forward to tell the audience their Director was on stage and would like to thank me with some flowers. I was very startled when they presented me with an enormous bouquet, all picked from the flower beds in the village! Needless to say, I had to go and apologize to the Museum for the faux pas!

We continued performing a Broadway Musical every autumn. In 1978, 1979 and 1980, we performed THE SOUND OF MUSIC, CABARET, and HELLO DOLLY respectively. Roy Fairbairn was Herr Shultz, the fruit seller, in CABARET. When his lady love came into his store, he was to pick out an orange to give to her. All of the oranges were made of papier mache except for one real one. One performance, in his haste he grabbed a fake one, and the lady who was to eat it had to do a fine job of acting that time!

In 1980 we decided it was time to do the Canadian musical ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. We applied for permission to put on the show but were turned down because a traveling troupe from P.E.I. was performing  it across Canada. Unfortunately for them, when they got to Vancouver a CUPE strike prevented the show from taking place.

We applied again the next year (1981) and were granted permission. I was Costume Assistant, and also played the part of Muriel Stacey, the school teacher with the big puffed sleeves. Fortunately for us, all the people who had been unable to attend the traveling show came to ours. We had sold out shows for every performance!

Our Treasurer deposited the proceeds in a night deposit at the end of each week. When our Executive meetings resumed in January, we didn’t have the amount in the bank account that we should have had. After much “policing” by everyone, our embarrassed Treasurer found the last week’s monies in a plastic bag on the floor of her closet. She had forgotten to deposit it after the cast party!

In every show that is performed there are always incidents that the audience is unaware of.  Sometimes it occurs because the actor makes a mistake, at other times it happens when something quite unexpected goes wrong.  Those of you who have acted on stage know that the show the audience sees is sometimes unrehearsed.

FOOTLIGHT THEATRE COMPANY had its beginning in 1965 or 1966 as BURNABY CIVIC OPERA, performing excerpts from light operas such as “Trial by Jury”, “La Traviata, Act II”, “The Gypsy Baron”, “The Count of Luxembourg”,“Pink Champagne”, “The Merry Widow”, and many others.

In 1971 Burnaby Civic Opera put on an original show called “Bonanza Creek 1871” for British Columbia’s Centennial year. It was written by Harry Mossfield with music by Theo Gould. At that time I became a member and sang in the chorus, learning a lot about community theatre, and actor’s egos. I was quite taken aback when a young female lead of 20 complained to me about how upset she was, being cast as a 40 year old. I must admit  I was quite surprised, because she looked 40, and I was 40.

In  the fall of 1975 the group changed its name to HERITAGE MUSICAL THEATRE. As the club wanted to start performing Broadway musicals,  they staged ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. I was cast as  Mrs. Sylvia Potter-Porter, the “over-the hill Gibson Girl” who is trying to steal Frank Butler (Gary McGill) from Annie Oakley (Roxanne Harper). Backstage I was affectionately known as “Porta-Potty”!

In the final show during the scene onboard ship when Annie shoots a seagull, someone dropped a facsimile of a seagull from the catwalk. The cast was surprised, as this hadn’t happened in previous performances; however the audience thought it was part of the show…..too bad it wasn’t!

We took ANNIE GET YOUR GUN to Nanaimo, complete with a truckload of scenery and costumes, only to find there had been little or no advertising done. Our venue was a high school gymnasium, and there were three other concerts going on in the city at that time. We had a total audience of 25, and needless to say we lost a lot of money on this venture! We had to put on many fundraising projects to get out of debt.

Some of us girls formed a group called “The Fabulous Frowzies” and we would close these fundraisers by coming through the audience as “charwomen”, ad-libbing with the audience and ending up on stage. We’d sing “Hey, Big Spender” and do a pseudo strip-tease. One of the girls fastened water filled balloons inside her top, and one night the wife of a plastic surgeon spoke to her, suggesting that she have plastic surgery to correct her problem before she got any older!

In the spring of 1976 we performed a lesser known musical, ANNIE LAURIE. It is the story of the courtship of Jean Armour by Robbie Burns. I was Mrs. Armour, Jean’s mother. Our director was attending Drama classes at UBC and took no fee for directing the show. He had his professors attend a performance for this “thesis”, which helped us with the loss of revenue from ANNIE  GET YOUR GUN. There were winners all around!

And so we embarked on a theatrical journey to raise money for our club. We traveled to the PNE, nursing homes, conventions, senior’s activity centers, and even to Hope for the Hope Brigade Days. Slowly but surely we began to build a bank account for future shows.

We decided to do a big popular musical in the fall of 1976, so we chose FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, which was a huge success. I was in the chorus, and also had the great pleasure of playing Grandma Tzeitel in the dream scene; this was a lot of fun!

We rehearsed the complicated opening number “Tradition” for one month, only to learn we had to do the routine set down by the original Broadway Choreographer for that song. That’s what we were told; so back we went to square one to unlearn, then learn a new, different and complicated opening.

In 1977 we staged GODSPELL in the spring, and HERE’S LOVE for the Christmas Season. HERE’S LOVE is a delightful musical which was based on the classic film “Miracle On 34^th Street”. I played Miss Crookshank, secretary to the psychiatrist, who was to assess Santa Claus’ mental stability. The scene immediately following the intermission was one in which Santa was to teach me a song, while waiting for the doctor.

One performance, I was waiting behind the closed curtains, wondering where Santa was. The orchestra started to play our music and I knew we should begin singing as soon as the curtain opened. In the meantime Santa Claus was standing behind the mid-stage traveler, telling the crew they were setting up the wrong scene.

On stage, the curtains opened and I said “Where is that man? He’s late for his appointment”. I went to the desk and frantically started dialing the telephone. Meanwhile one of the crew realized what was happening and pushed Santa on stage just in time for me to look up, hang up the phone and say “There you are, you’re late!”. We then started with the dialogue that followed the song. The audience never suspected what had happened, but I sure did!

In another scene, Fred Gaily (Roy Fairbairn) and Doris Walker (Adele Clark) had a romantic scene which ended with a kiss. Roy had touched up the white spots in his beard; after the tender scene Roy gazed fondly at Adele and realized that the colour had come off his beard and onto her mouth. Roy fully intended to apologize as soon as they were off stage, however as Adele took a deep breath to sing, her blouse popped open, and Roy’s good intentions flew out the window!

For the final scene, the Stage Manager had devised a snowfall of artificial snow to fall on the cast as they walked along singing “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”. Every night the crew had the tedious job of cleaning up this “snow” for the next performance, so they had placed a tarpaulin on the stage to make the task easier. However no one had told the actors! During the court scene when the judge said “Do what?”, Roy turned abruptly, and hurrying to the bench to deliver his reply, skidded from downstage to upstage without taking a step, bringing a loud “Whooooo!” from the entire audience!