MEMORIES OF THE SSHS DRAMA CLUB
In this section, former members of the SSHS Drama Club write of their memories from their years in the SSHS theatre. My own specific memories of individual productions are noted on the first page for each production.
Terry (Cooke) Fagan (“My Fair Lady” and “Sweeney Todd”)
I was thrilled to see your website ..... . It has been great fun reminiscing over the photos and "rave" reviews from the newspaper. I so enjoyed doing the music for Sweeney Todd and I must tell you that I learned so much from you in my acting debut in My Fair Lady. I recall one day early in rehearsals, I was not as prepared with my lines as I should have been. I'll never forget the scolding you gave me for being ill-prepared that day, and it taught me never to go into a situation in life again having not done my "homework"! Thank you for your many years of dedication to SSHS drama and for making my Senior semester of high school such a memorable and wonderful experience for me.
Doug Archer (“Grease” and Aladdin”)
Playing in the “Grease” band was fun...it was a good band. A lot of people still talk about the shows you did when you were in St. Stephen....there were a lot of good shows.....
Christine (Dencer) Dalzell (“Aladdin”, “The Wizard Of Oz” and others)
I had the great experience in performing in a number of Mr. Dencer's plays…getting selected many times not by my extraordinary talent but by virtue of being related! Growing up in the Dencer household has given me a love for musical theatre that I am happy is getting passed on to my own daughters. Also, theatre was an obvious choice for an attention seeking second-born like me!
The two roles I think about most often are playing the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz and playing Nuphsed the Camel in Aladdin. I was about 8 or 9 years old when I was in the Wizard of Oz and when Dorothy threw water on the wicked witch, she shrank, diving into her cauldron and then came back out and ran around the stage a smaller version of herself. That was me! I got to go up and down through the trap door and must admit I felt pretty special to have such a place in the spotlight. Once I got a taste of that, well, I was hooked.
As for playing the camel, that was truly my favourite. I was paired with my best friend Robin and we were to take turns being the front and rear of the camel, except Robin got laryngitis and ended up having to play the back end for all performances. One performance, we were on stage and the stuffing that was giving Nuphsed his shape around the chicken wire form fell out in clumps…at the rear end of course. I'll never forget whispering to Robin "What are they laughing at?" and her whispering back. "Look down!" A certain common expletive would have been most appropriate!
The role of Nuphsed was obviously one of Robin's good memories too as when she gave a speech at my wedding, referred to me being the brains of the operation and her being the all important rear end holding every thing together and that she was happy that my husband Erin got to be the ass now.
Derek O’Brien (“Aladdin” and “Trifles”)
......I still have some great memories of that show (referring to “Aladdin”) - including Darren Miller commenting during the show that "castles just aren't made as they used to be" when the caster fell off the platform / castle during his scene. Remember, we had 3 platforms on casters for the set so they could be moved easily.
I remember a play in grade 9, something about a murder, where I played the sheriff (the play was “Trifles”) . When I walked out on stage during a rehearsal, dressed in my costume complete with a tinfoil badge, Jan says: "curses, foiled again". Everyone tried to recover, but we started from the top!
Tony English (“The Haunting of Hill House” and “Fiddler On The Roof”)
I was in the SSHS Drama Club in my senior and only year (1982/83) at SSHS. Your web site has brought back some great memories and it also reminds me of the demonstrated skill of our director! Thank you for the web site and for your contribution to my experiences in high school drama.
Pamela Halstead (1980-1985): I was flattered to receive an email from Pamela Halstead in which she generously showed me an article to be published in “The Telegraph Journal” (Sept. 2013)
The first time I met Ray Dencer I was 12 and auditioning for a role in Oliver. He paced up the aisles of the auditorium huffing, his joints crackling. Little did I know this man would be the most influential person in my world over the next six years and that those experiences would shape the course of my life.
Dencer was from the U.K., where he had trained in theatre. Along the way, he decided the life of trodding the boards and hustling was not for him, and instead he funnelled that passion into teaching, especially into the drama club. He was at times a daunting figure, bellowing about cancelling the show if things didn’t shape up, snapping in half and sending flying the pencil he always kept tucked behind his ear. He ran a tight ship. There was zero tolerance for tardiness or missed rehearsals, no peeking out between the curtains on opening night or being seen in the lobby in your costume after the show. His scene breakdowns and detailed rehearsal schedules rival anything I have received professionally.
In six years, 10 productions, drama classes and a trip to Montreal, Dencer taught me a great deal. In the plays and characters, and his dedication to the work and his students, he taught me not only about what it means to be an actor but what it means to be human. What it means to be passionate about what you do. What it means to not take for granted your strengths and to work hard to overcome your weaknesses. The joy and excitement of success complete with applause and accolades balanced with the disappointment of rejection when the role you covet passes you by. As he helped me prepare my audition for theatre programs across the country, he talked to me candidly about my chosen profession – the roses and the weeds. And I was grateful.
Amidst one of my many moves, I found a scribbled acceptance speech for an achievement award in drama I received shortly before graduation. I sent it to Dencer with a note saying how, over the years, I wondered whether to thank or curse him for igniting in me this passion for the theatre. There is no question. Thank you, Ray Dencer. From the bottom of my heart.
Pamela Halstead is a professional director, dramaturge and actor from St. Stephen. She recently received the inaugural Evans Award at the Calgary Critics’ Awards for her contribution to the Calgary theatre community as artistic director of Lunchbox Theatre. Upcoming projects include direction for Never a Syllable (Onelight Theatre, Halifax), Bingo Ladies (Lunchbox Theatre, Calgary) and The Net (Theatre New Brunswick, Feb. 26 – March 1).
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Phillip Holmes:
..... Drama club was a salvation to help bring my true extrovert personality out.......
Lana (Higgins) Button: a speech made by Lana at the SSHS Drama Club Documentary presentation (2018).
What I learned from a small town stage and how it influenced my career
I am a children’s author and presenter. I feel like I found my dream job. I create characters and stories intended to inspire young children. To me, every read-aloud that I give is a performance; an opportunity to bring characters to life, a chance to inspire a young child. But when I start my presentations I often say that when I was a little girl I didn’t think I’d grow up to be a writer. I was pretty sure I was going to grow up to be a movie star. I practiced being a movie star a lot in my bedroom. And I practiced being a singer- singing into my skipping rope to large crowds of imaginary people.
I go on to say that I was an actress. I performed at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal, I had a leading role in a TV Series that ran for a season, I continued to work in TV and in film in Montreal and Vancouver (and I did a lot of waitressing). I attribute my opportunities to work as an actress and now as a writer and speaker to three things: My father, who always told me that I could be whatever I wanted- and I believed him. My mother, who has an uncanny way of making things happen. If I told her I absolutely HAD to get an audition for Anne of Green Gables in PEI or sing in a contest in Northern New Brunswick, my Mom would always somehow come through and make it happen. And thirdly to Mr. Dencer, Miss Gomersall and the SSHS drama club. They introduced to me the world of theatre, creating an environment where myself and so many young people in our community could not only learn the bones of what it takes to put a show together, but develop a craft, and express ourselves creativily in an accepting space.
When I was a little girl, practicing being a movie star, the first live performance I ever saw was at the arena- Monday Night Wrestling. There was a stage, lights, music, costumes, lots of drama- I was hooked. I was pretty sure I would marry Cowboy Johnny Fargo and be a lady wrestler. But then one day my mom took me to this building to see the SSHS Drama Club production on Sound of Music. The music, the sets, the lights, the costumes, the acting! It was my first live theatre show and I remember thinking, ‘That is what I want to do.”
The next year my dream became more fully formed when I auditioned and was cast as one of Fagan’s Gang in Oliver. Watching a show take form, from script, to off script, to performing on incredible sets, adding the lighting, costume, make up- a live audience! From blocking to final bow I loved every second of it. And on that last night I sobbed, heartbroken that it was over. (I used to be really dramatic).
So the next year, when I got wind there was going to be a new musical, a musical, I might add, that did not have a chorus of elementary school children, “Annie Get Your Gun”, I found Mr. Dencer’s number in the phone book and called his house after dinner one night and said, “Please, Mr. Dencer, can I please be in your play?” He said yes. And my mother made some calls so that I could take a bus to the high school for practices. Again, I loved every second of it. Mr. Dencer even gave me a line.
And from that point on until I graduated from high school, the drama club was a huge part of my life.
I learned so many important life lessons in the drama club that carried me into a career. I learned about competition, what it takes to get a part and keep a part. I learned that you don’t always get the part. I learned that sometimes, being a member of a cast sometimes means playing a part you didn’t want. But I learned that great experiences can come from playing a character you hadn’t imagined yourself playing. And I learned what an incredible blessing it is to be a part of a cast and crew working together to bring a show to life.
I wanted to go on study acting, Mr. Dencer helped me prepare for my audition. He gave up even more of his free time to help me with my 2 monologues.
Looking back, it’s safe to say that I may have been in over my head. I was auditioning for very competitive programs. I was younger than most, as most provinces had an extra year of high school. When I went to the audition in Montreal, it was my first time on a train, my mother and I got stuck in the turnstile door in the hotel lobby, and that night, in the fanciest restaurant in downtown Montreal, I drank my drink through a stir stick, because I thought it was a teeny tiny straw.
But when I got to the studio for the audition, I was at home. I was comfortable, I was confident and I was prepared. Because my father told me I could do anything, because my mother helped me get everything organized, and because the Drama Club prepared me. And I wasn’t alone. Ralph McLeod grew up in St. Stephen he and I were in several productions together. And in 1986, Ralph and I were both accepted into the highly competitive acting for theatre program at Concordia University. I recently asked Ralph how the SSHS Drama Club had affected his career. He said that the drama club gave him a place to explore the artistic side of himself. His first play was a British farce (Uproar in the House) Mr. Dencer was not just king of the musical he was also king of the British farce. The comedy came very easy to Ralph and gave him a lot of confidence. His second show was a musical Fiddler on the Roof, which filled him with dread because he wasn’t a singer. Ralph said that the experience taught him that challenging himself was the only way to get better. And the bigger risk you take, the bigger the reward. Ralph is one of many students from SSHS Drama Club who have gone on to a successful performing arts career. He is a working actor and teacher, and he started the two largest independent improve clubs in Toronto- The Bad Dog Theatre and the Social Capital Theatre.
I did not grow up to be a movie star (yet.. you never know). But I have found my niche in the performance world as a Children’s Author and presenter. And I am so very grateful for the training, the opportunities and the experiences I received at the SSHS Drama Club.
Lana (Higgins) Button is a successful author of children's books, and presenter, who works in early childhood education. She is a former member of the St. Stephen High School Drama Club in New Brunswick.
The above article is reproduced with Lana’s permission.
