Two great theatrical losses in Niagara

I was saddened to hear of two losses in the local theatrical world in recent weeks, the most recent coming just the other night with news of the passing of actress, director and choreographer Diane Nyland-Proctor.  But before I reminisce a bit about "Di", as everyone called her, a few words on the passing of Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects, announced last month.

Kelly Daniels, Artistic Director of Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects, started the local theatrical company nine years ago with her husband, Shaw actor Ric Reid, and together they forged a solid reputation for quality theatre in Niagara during the off-season.

They produced shows for several years at the MainStage space in the Sullivan-Mahoney Courthouse Theatre in downtown St. Catharines, and although getting audiences to come out to support local theatre in the winter months has always been a challenge, they seemed to have found a niche that needed filling and they appeared to do well enough.

Many of the productions, some of which I wrote about in this space over the years, employed several Shaw Festival actors in key roles.  These Shaw actors added a bit of cache, if you will, to many of the productions, with local actors taking supporting roles in many cases.  Often, Daniels herself would appear on stage and/or direct the productions.

But with the planned move of many artistic endeavours to the new Performing Arts Centre looming on the horizon, most likely increasing production costs in the process, Lyndesfarne decided to abandon their downtown St. Catharines home in favour of a new location at the refurbished and underused Seneca Queen Theatre in downtown Niagara Falls a couple of seasons back.

Initially, the move showed promise with Lyndesfarne staging ambitious shows and garnering positive reviews.  Unfortunately, the positive press didn't translate into bums in seats, as they say, and once again Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects faced the proverbial fork in the road.  Should they keep going, or pull the plug if people just won't come out to their shows?

Daniels and her board decided recently to pull the plug and let go of the theatrical dream that kept Kelly and her entourage in business for almost a decade.  That decision came, incidentally, after Lyndesfarne decided earlier this year to vacate their downtown Niagara Falls digs on Queen Street due to low attendance, and just rent the space when they needed it.

I am very saddened by the loss of Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects.  They almost consistently produced exceptional local theatre and deserved a better fate.  Why audiences didn't materialize is a bit of a mystery, although the downtown Niagara Falls location didn't help matters much.

There remains a stigma to coming downtown in Niagara Falls, and I am not quite sure what can be done to alleviate that sentiment.  St. Catharines' downtown, on the other hand, is on the upswing with the forthcoming Performing Arts Centre, the Marilyn I.Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts and of course this weekend, the first public tours of the new Meridian Centre in the former lower level parking lot.

But in Niagara Falls, in spite of the best efforts of private and public-sector investments, people still stay away.  It's too bad, really, as the space at the Seneca was quite nice, really, and the shows I saw there were very good quality.

This past spring George F. Walker's The Ravine received its premiere there, and although reviews appeared to be good, the audiences still did not materialize.  It proved to be the camel that broke the theatrical back.

I hope Kelly and Ric can find another way in the future to gift us with some quality theatre, but I can't blame them if they wonder to themselves, "Why bother?"  Why indeed if audiences don't come out.  Pity.

Often at Lyndefarne shows in downtown St. Catharines, I would run in to my old colleagues Frank and Di Proctor, showing their support for Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects many times over the years.

Diane Nyland Proctor, known simply as "Di" to everyone she worked with, passed away this week at the age of 70 at Toronto Western Hospital of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Di is a local theatre legend for her work for Garden City Productions over the years and earlier, her own theatre company Press Theatre, which performed at The Playhouse at Centre for the Arts at Brock University for many years.  The theatre, now known as the David S. Howes Theatre, was usually full for productions I attended back in the 80s, but again, there was not enough support to carry on, even back then.

I loved Press Theatre, a local company that pushed the boundaries of local, live theatre long before Lyndesfarne came on the scene, but Di and Kelly appeared to be kindred spirits in a way.

Diane, born in Kitchener, began her career as a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada before finding her true calling with musical theatre, producing over 100 shows locally and throughout the country.  Her two biggest claims to fame were as choreographer of Nunsense, for which she won a Dora Award in 1986, and earlier than that creating the role of Josie Pye in the world premiere production of Anne of Green Gables at the Charlettown Festival.

But many Canadians know her as Tracey Young, the hapless young bride in the 70s sitcom The Trouble With Tracy on CTV.  That was at a time when Canadian sitcoms were still rare, and this particular one was produced five days a week for two seasons with practically no budget to speak of.  The show has been the butt of many jokes over the years, but it was a television pioneer in its day.

Di was married for 44 years to Frank Proctor, with whom I worked at CKTB Radio when I first came to St. Catharines in 1981 and Frank was the popular morning man at the station.  While Frank did the morning show, Di handled all sorts of projects locally and beyond, including a short-lived cooking feature on CKTB I think was called Cooking with Di.  It was a fun little feature I remember fondly from those early years in radio in St. Catharines.

Both Di and Frank did more than their share to support local theatre, and Di especially nurtured many a local performer who would go on to bigger and better things on larger stages elsewhere.

She had not been well in recent years but kept as active as possible, working with Garden City Productions as recently as a couple of seasons ago.

A celebration of Di's life will take place at Toronto's Metropolitan Community Church at 115 Simpson Avenue on Monday, October 20th.  Many theatres are traditionally dark on Monday evenings, so that is the perfect time to celebrate a woman who gave so much to the theatrical community throughout the country for so long.

Both Diane Nyland-Proctor and Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects will be sorely missed here and beyond.

October 9th, 2014.