Greg Wanless and Mo Bock in The Melville Boys
 |
| With Kathryn MacKay, associate producer and wife |
Reaching Middle Age
An Artistic Director looks back at a lifetime in the Islands
by Greg Wanless
The First Ten Seasons 1982-1991
The first decade of the Thousand Islands Playhouse could be typified as one of high energy, constant excitement and surprises. I had come from performing at the Stratford Festival with the intention of creating a similar festival in Gananoque, and my enthusiasm was matched by that of countless business people and theatre artists who worked alongside each other to transform the Canoe Club into a functioning professional theatre space. In the first year, I even called actors such as Hume Cronyn and Martha Henry – and programmed two classics (Comedy of Errors and The Beggar’s Opera) and one contemporary piece (On Golden Pond) for the inaugural season. Interestingly enough, it was the final show, Beggar’s Opera, that outsold everything. The others had houses of 35-75 people, but that show was getting 100 people a night – mid week! We were always on the edge, survival was not an issue – but the second two seasons each doubled the attendance figures of the previous season.
