Rochelle Reynolds came to Collingwood after completing several years of school hoping to relax and calibrate, instead she created her own theatre company.
Reynolds has loved theatre since she was a child. She took basic improvisation classes at four years old, was invited to a conservatory program in Grade 7 and attended an arts-focused high school.
“By the time I was leaving high school, I decided this is what I’m going to do, there’s no other option,” said Reynolds.
She did her undergrad in theatre and acting at Memorial University in Newfoundland and her Masters in writing, directing and performance at University of York in the United Kingdom.
After York, Reynolds came back to Collingwood (she was born here) to live with her dad. She got involved in the local theatre scene and saw a need for a contemporary, indie theatre and decided she was the one who should make it happen.
To mark her milestone 25th birthday, she started Quarter Century Theatre.
“Theatre makes me feel great,” she said. “It’s the only thing that will fulfil me both personally and professionally. I think that’s special. There is something that absolutely everyone on this planet is born to do, I believe fundamentally. That doesn’t mean you go through life and find it. I found my thing.”
Reynolds’ vision for Quarter Century Theatre is to make it independent, collaborative and different. But above all, she wants to put on professional-grade, multi arts productions.
Reynolds said she has a good relationship with Theatre Collingwood and believes the two companies play different, but both important roles in the local theatre community.
“Quarter Century Theatre has a rustic, gritty, homegrown feel,” said Reynolds. “We’re new, which is great and not great … it means I’m still allowed to really experiment with a lot of things.”
She began with a busy year, putting on four major productions – all fully developed, existing plays.
“It was a great way to put us out there, we were doing high-quality, solid work on a consistent basis,” said Reynolds.
This year is all about collaboration for Quarter Century Theatre.
“I wanted to go back to my fundamentals,” she said. “What is my story? What am I trying to give Collingwood?”
The first production of the year is called Collected Stories for a Better World. Reynolds, with help from a friend and poet, Jake McArthur, selected various poems spanning different eras and genres, but tied together by a common theme of humankind’s relationship with the natural world. Some of the poems include This Summer Day by Mary Oliver, Only Breath by Rumi and We Are Fields Before Each Other by St. Thomas Aquinas.
“As a cast, we’ve taken all of the poems and deconstructed them entirely and then reshaped them through different art media,” said Reynolds. "The overarching theme is what does it mean to be a human in this world? What is our duty?"
This Summer Day has become a scene between two people. Only Breath is a spoken word piece, and We Are Fields Before Each Other is a physical movement piece, which has been in part created by EM Productions.
“Theatre is important to the world because it’s the only art form that has been dying for the last 3,000 years … it’s the resilience of theatre to be alive and kicking and inspiring people to watch and want it in the face of every other form of entertainment,” said Reynolds. “It’s a beautiful thing to be willing to suspend your disbelief to get invested in the story and know that none of it is real, and still care about the characters. Still be moved to laugh and cry and give the performers a standing ovation at the end. It’s a unique and intimate experience that other art forms do not capture in exactly the same way.”
Collective Stories for a Better World runs at the Collingwood Amphitheatre from May 16-19 with four evening shows beginning at 7 p.m. and a matinee on May 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online for $20 in advance. Tickets at the door will be $40. There will be tents, so the show will run rain or shine.
