Donna Spencer

Donna Spencer is a founding director of the Firehall Theatre Society in Vancouver and is currently the Firehall's Artistic Producer, as well as Artistic Producer of the Dancing on the Edge Festival of Contemporary Dance. Donna Spencer was awarded a Jessie in 1990 for multi-cultural innovation in theatre and has recently been honoured with the City of Vancouver's 1999 Harmony Award for her dedication and long term commitment to cultural awareness in Vancouver.

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Donna Spencer

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Fitting Into the Mix

After being Artistic Director of The Firehall Arts Centre for close to two decades, what kind of shifts have taken place in your "house", in the areas of diversity?

When the Firehall was first opened in 1982, I was involved in getting the building opened and renovated as a performing arts centre and it was only in 1985 that we began to be an active presenter and producer of theatre. At that time, the Vancouver theatre community and the work being shown on Vancouver stages was primarily "white" and drawn from a Western European sensibility. Few artists from diverse cultural backgrounds were having the opportunity to work as actors on our main stages and playwrights from diverse cultural backgrounds quite frankly were unheard of. In coming to work at the Firehall on a daily basis, I was reminded of why I had got involved in theatre in the first place: the belief that Canadian stories needed to be told on our stages and that those stories needed to be inclusive of all Canadians. And so we began with the goal to create professional theatre that was inclusive. This beginning involved creating an apprenticeship theatre training program for theatre artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, because few of the training institutions were graduating theatre artists of "color", and if they did graduate they had little opportunity to work. Twenty out of the twenty-four participants in this program still remain involved in the arts in some manner, and a few names that might be recognized include: Jay Ono, Laara Ong, Kamilyn Kaneko, Lyle Moon, Christine Menzies, Mercedes Baines, Lindsay Kenyon, Tom Wong, Columpa Bobb, Parm Soor and Russell Wallace. The second and perhaps more difficult aspect of this was finding Canadian plays that reflected diversity. And, of course, the ongoing challenge of finding the financial means to support the work. Sixteen years later a lot has changed and the Firehall is recognized, I would hope, as being an important catalyst for that change. It has not been an easy sixteen years, but it has been an amazingly rewarding and challenging time, which I am certain has had impact on theatremakers and theatre-goers both locally and across the country.

You are of pale pallor and running a theatre with a mandate to program and support work of "multi-cultural content... Have you ever felt this was a conflict in perception, or do you feel that being on the outside, but working on the inside, has made you a more effective advocate for artists and work of diversity? Do you feel you are seen as having all "the power"?

What I find particularly exciting is that in Vancouver and in Canada we now have theatremakers from a broad diversity who do not question there right to be active participants in professional theatre and are trained, highly competent artists. What I find distressing is that in many cases their work is viewed as marginal, or community-based, and not relevant, or professional enough for mainstream institutions or audiences. One of the challenges I have faced as the Artistic Director/Producer at the Firehall, is how I fit into the mix. I am a person of pallor from a diverse cultural background; however, because of my pallor, I have sensed questions around my right to choose the work I choose; to direct the work I have chosen when it may be seen as ethno-specific and to function as an advocate for inclusivity in the theatre.These questions, these challenges and in some cases insults, and "bad-mouthing", have come from both sides - the culturally diverse community and the "white" mainstream community. I have been teasingly called a "wannabe" by both groups and have had my motives challenged at funding assessment committees.

As both a producing company and a facility manager, the organization has been openly criticized for its perceived limited response to the needs of the smaller scale theatre companies who are looking for access to the venue at little or no cost. This seemingly discounts our value as a theatre producer by placing priority on our role as a presenting entity, perhaps reflecting a cultural disconnect between the Firehall's work and the more mainstream theatre community expectation.

I have been accused of having all the power and yet, have consciously worked to share that supposed power through empowering others by supporting their work and encouraging others to do the same. I have been confronted by artists from both groups and have generally found that their expression of frustration at not being able to do the work they are trained for and love is due to North American society's general lack of respect for artists and that is what is at the core of their confrontation.

So, it has not always been easy but it has been tremendously rewarding and I have been honored to be given trust and respect by playwrights such as yourself, Rahul Varma, Drew Hayden Taylor, Betty Quan and actors such as Alvin Sanders, Muriel Miguel, Columpa Bobb, Dwight McFee, John James Hong, Sophie Merasty, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Marilyn Norry, Evan Adams, Donna Yamamoto, to name just a few. The Firehall has had many successes and we have made inroads into creating a more inclusive theatre.

We were talking about two very different, but two very real challenges in the developing and development of artists of diversity and works ...new Canadian work, which we are all pretty much in step with, and the rarely spoken of ...making space and time for the integrity of process for multi-cultural work. Do you think people truly understand the significant challenge and achievement of bringing both to stage at the same time ?

Many challenges still remain and those are tied into the "double challenge" of creating new work with new and emerging artists. Unfortunately, the theatre companies in Canada (Firehall, included) that are taking on these challenges are still not receiving the necessary financial support and respect for the difficult nature of the work. Creating a new play - a new artistic work is seldom easy. The challenges of bringing to stage a new play written in a traditional manner and utilizing the talents of established professional actors and production teams certainly are deserving of support. However, creating a new theatre work that may push the envelope of traditional European theatre models by incorporating theatre practices from the playwright's cultural background - and may involve a mix of professional and emerging actors and production teams - is both a time and resource consuming undertaking, for often the work involves community building as well as theatremaking. While funding bodies have moved to encourage inclusivity in the arts, generally, the resources committed to those companies undertaking this development is far lower than those committed to the creation of mainstream Canadian work. One could argue that this is a historical bias which is slowly being addressed; but there remains a lack of understanding and appreciation for how difficult this ground-breaking work can be and how important it is to the health of Canadian theatre - both from a funding body and a mainstream media perspective. Unfortunately, it appears easier for mainstream companies to access special grants to attempt projects involving culturally diverse communities for one-time only projects and receive accolades in the press for doing so than it is for companies with ongoing committments to inclusivity in their work to increase their funding base and be recognized for its value in the mainstream press.

You said a very simple but profound thing "you just wanted to do theatre that represented Canadians"? Why do you think such a simple thing is so hard ? By The Firehall Arts Centre doing it, do you think that larger theatre companies feel they are off the hook from taking a real look at their surrounding world and their stages ?

As I said earlier, when I undertook to create a Firehall Theatre company, I wanted to create a "truly Canadian" theatre company that was representative of all Canadians. One would think this should have been a fairly easy undertaking, if creating any new company can be considered a fairly easy undertaking; however, it has certainly not been that simple. The motives have been challenged - the mainstream theatre community has often referred to us as Vancouver's multi-cultural company and have encouraged culturally diverse artists to bring their work to us rather than consider it themselves - and the level of public funding support has not reflected the broad range of artists who approach us for support, the broad range of work we want to undertake and for that matter, the broad range of work we do support and produce. But we are still here and the work and the artists we work with are being recognized, slowly but surely, and maybe just, maybe our work is leading the way for a more inclusive and understanding society.