A theatre company needs actors and directors, but actors and directors need stage managers. One of the key positions in the drama industry was an open question at Theatre North West. The answer was found in the form of Heather Thompson.
She filled the position that had been vacant for an extended period of time, and added another name to the list of new Prince George residents in the process. Thompson was recruited from Ontario and arrived last week, in time for the rehearsal process for Fly Me To The Moon, TNW's first play of the 2016-17 season.
She was a well known commodity for TNW's artistic director Jack Grinhaus. The two worked together when he and his wife Lauren Brotman operated Bound To Create Theatre Company in Toronto. Thompson also came last year to help with one of the plays in Prince George.
"Last season she made her TNW debut as the stage manager for Art," said Grinhaus. "Most recently Heather was the stage manager for Green Thumb Theatre's Still/Falling and Theatre Smith-Gilmour's Take Me Back To Jefferson."
Thompson has also worked with noted companies like Clawhammer Theatre, Opera Hamilton, Native Earth Performing Arts, Shaw Festival, and many seasons at acclaimed Blyth Festival. Thompson is originally from Clinton, Ont., but has called Toronto home through most of her professional years. Now she is adding a Prince George address.
"I love working with Jack, and I love the work that this theatre company is doing," Thompson said. "I can't wait to be a resident stage manager here because I'll get a chance to really apply myself to some excellent plays coming up."
She said the stage manager's craft was no more known to her, growing up, than to anyone one else out in the audience. She didn't go to school for it in any way, but after a coming back from a trip to Spain and in need of a job, she got word the Blyth Festival organizers were hiring.
"The artistic director there gave me an apprenticeship and I have not looked back since," she said. "I think a lot of stage managers start as actors because that is what's seen, it's in front of your eyes, and you don't necessarily even know how to imagine what goes on behind the scenes. There are a lot of professions in theatre that have nothing to do with acting, and people get into those jobs after learning about it from the stage backwards. But for me, it's the only job in theatre I've ever had."
One of the reasons she was so excited about the TNW opportunity - excited enough to move most of the way across Canada - was because Grinhaus granted her professional flexibility within the Prince George job.
Therefore, she was able to keep a prior commitment to work in Whitehorse this winter on a Toronto company's staging of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.
For Grinhaus, it allows a backup stage manager a chance to step in on one of the TNW plays, which is always a positive development, and it allows Thompson to learn more tricks of the trade to bring back for use in Prince George.
The one thing Thompson has some trepidation about is time. As in, suddenly she has copious amounts she's never had before. Normally, she would be commuting for inordinate amounts of the daily clock, but she has only a 25 minute walk from her home to her theatre. That leaves her with decisions.
"What do I do with time that's all mine?" she wondered out loud. "I could volunteer, I could take up a hobby, I could take a class, it's uncharted territory for a Toronto girl."
Thompson is focused now on Fly Me to the Moon and she is also putting preliminary work towards Alice in Wonderland coming next on the TNW schedule. She will be away in Yukon for Drowning Girls but she'll be back for Half Life later in the season.
Tickets to all Theatre North West plays are on sale via the TNW website (season's tickets, flex pass, family pass and individual play options available). Books & Company is also a sales point for TNW ticket products.
The Irish comedy Fly Me To The Moon runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 5.
