Six years ago, a local theatre legend came to Theatre Collingwood to make an impact, and the improvements are tangible.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we sat down with Erica Angus, who has acted as executive director of Theatre Collingwood for the past six years.
Q: Can you give me a little background on you?
A: I grew up in north Toronto. My parents moved us to King City and we lived there for a few years. I went to high school in Richmond Hill, where I met my husband, and the bulk of my growing up was.
When my husband and I had our first child, honestly we wanted to have a bigger home.
We kept driving north until we could afford that. (laughs)
We’ve been living in Barrie for 30 years. I still live in Barrie. I worked at Theatre by the Bay (TBTB) for 10 years as an associate producer.
Then, this opportunity came up to work as an executive producer at Theatre Collingwood, which was six years ago now.
They were looking to change the way things were done here.
We are entering our 35th year in 2019, which is amazing. The company used to produce three or four shows a year in town. It’s very expensive to do that, and it’s tough for a theatre company to produce theatre on its own.
The board was looking to see if there was another way to do things.
They brought me on board. I had been really lucky to work with a lot of great directors over the years with Theatre by the Bay, so I reached out to them to start to talk about (the possibility of) doing shows together.
So, a show could start in one theatre and then travel to other theatres.
By doing that, we share the expense of that production, so it’s made it much more affordable. It’s also made it so we can offer more of a variety of entertainment with different directors and styles.
It’s worked out really well. That’s a lot longer than, “Where am I from?” (laughs)
Q: That’s OK! When did you first know in your life that theatre was your thing?
A: It’s going to sound ridiculous, but when I was a young student, maybe in Grade 2 or 3, there used to be a magazine called Jack and Jill. It was a children’s magazine. About four times a year they would put a script to a play in there.
I think I was in Grade 3 or 4 when I first asked my teacher if I could direct the play that was in the magazine. (laughs) So I did.
I knew I loved it. We were lucky we lived near Toronto where there’s a lot of access to live theatre.
I was bewitched by it all.
I didn’t go to school for theatre; I went for marketing. After I graduated from Seneca College, I didn’t even go into marketing. There was a job available at the hospital and I took that job.
But, while I was at Seneca, I did theatre (as an extracurricular) at the college. I was stage managing. I also really knew I didn’t want to act. I did a little bit of acting, but I definitely had stage fright. I did act in high school but I still have nightmares about forgetting my lines.
I knew I wanted to be behind the scenes.
It’s always been a part of my life. I’ve loved to go to Stratford, and Shaw (Festival).
What’s really fun for me is, for the last three years I’ve been asked by Gaslight to direct one of their plays every year. That’s been kind of fun. It’s brought me back to that community theatre world. I’ve been out of that for a long time.
Q: You worked with TBTB for a long time. What made you make the jump to come to Theatre Collingwood?
A: I think when you work for a theatre company, it’s really important to not stay too long. The creativity can stagnate. I felt it had got to a place at TBTB where I needed a challenge that I wasn’t really getting there. However, TBTB was an incredible learning environment for me. I learned so much.
I was feeling like it was time for a new challenge. I actually left TBTB before I came here. It’s kind of a tight-knit world. It was a slow progression because I trained the next person (for my old position) and kind of put it out to the theatre world, that I was available for a new challenge.
A friend of mine called and told me about the job, and that it would be perfect for me.
It really has been. They have an amazing board of directors that supports me and the decisions I make.
It’s a wonderful job. I get to go and look at other shows and other theatres and think about what to bring into Collingwood, and what would work here.
Q: That leads into my next question: what does the executive director position entail?
A: I’m responsible for the overall running of the company. There are 10 people on the board of directors and we have a very small staff here.
Basically, the Number 1 job I have is programming.
I go out and see as many plays as I can. I go to as many theatres as I can. It’s kind of like a big puzzle, because a play that’s going on now isn’t necessarily going to be available next year. But, when I’m there, I can see the type of work that the group does, or I can see what that director is capable of doing, or whether the scope of what they do will even fit into the Gayety Theatre or the Simcoe Street Theatre.
We’ve gone from having three to four productions a year, to this year, we’ll have 11, which is a lot.
Q: How important are community partnerships to this type of work?
A: In terms of financial support, it’s really important. About 50% of our budget is covered by ticket sales. The other 50% is by fundraising. We go to corporate sponsors in the community to ask them to sponsor shows.
We’ve got some amazing sponsors.
Q: As executive director, what hopes do you have for the future of Theatre Collingwood?
A: I have some big hopes. (laughs)
Facilities are a problem for us. We’re limited to what we can do affordably in the spaces we have in town here.
Ultimately, what I’d like to see happen is, I’d like to see a centre for the arts in Collingwood, and I’d like to see Theatre Collingwood play a leadership role in making that happen.
When I say a centre for the arts, it’s not just about theatre.
It’s about coming together as an arts community and having a space that we could all use, and affordably.
I’d also love to see us get to a point where we’re producing maybe one show a year in town here where we do everything; the casting, the set building – everything.
I think that would be interesting.
That would be my goal.
We also have a little bit of a goal that is being reached this year: we’re moving offices. April 1 we’re moving down the hall to where the Chamber of Commerce is right now.
We need more space. We’ve grown. We have more ticket sales, we have more people coming into the office now. We’re just cramped in here. (laughs)
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: When I came here I realized how special this town and this community is. There’s an incredible amount of artistic talent here. The support the community gives for the arts is amazing. I’d love to be living here.
I wish I bought a house here six years ago when the housing prices were cheaper. (laughs)
It’s such an amazing community and a beautiful town, and I really have the best job in the world.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
