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By David F. Dawes
 VANCOUVER'S Pacific Theatre (PT) is a small, quality theatre company in a city with many onstage options.
Despite its relatively small size, PT -- co-founded 25 years ago by Ron Reed, who continues to serve as its artistic director -- has consistently 'punched above its weight.' It has received 77 Jessie nominations, and has won several awards, including outstanding production and outstanding director.
PT's success against all odds has been recognized beyond the Christian community, as seen in this tribute written four years ago by Vancouver Sun religion reporter Douglas Todd:
"Talk about faith. In the first difficult decade of Vancouver's Christian-rooted Pacific Theatre, founding artistic director Ron Reed had to trust in the future as his company struggled to keep going after receiving a grand total of one review in B.C.'s newspapers - a withering critique.
"Most theatre companies don't even last a decade, let alone one filled fighting the hostile neglect of theatre critics and government funding agencies . . . But Pacific Theatre experienced a reversal of fortunes in its second decade, when it finally began to convince government agencies, theatre reviewers, the country's artistic community and diverse audiences that it is not out to ram Jesus Christ down anyone's neck."
Robert Smyth, the producing artistic director of Lamb's Players Theatre in Coronado, California, has written of Reed: "So many people in the arts yammer on and on about how they are going to do this or that. Ron Reed went out and did it. ÊAnd has kept it up for a quarter of a century -- intriguing, stimulating, stretching an audience, and encouraging a slew of other artists."
Members of various PT audiences have been equally effusive. Rory Holland declared: "Ron Reed's singular vision, accompanied by the many people who have stood beside him, has provided Vancouver a unique theatre experience. Often we see theatre as just another mode of entertainment."
PT, he asserted, "chose more, chose to see the stage as a place where people can be moved, hearts changed, thoughts provoked -- all through the medium of damn fine writing, directing and acting. I know we are a better city because of Pacific Theatre."
Playwright and actor Lucia Frangione observed: "Most Christian theatre is actually 'family oriented' theatre. There's nothing particularly Christian about it, aside from the exclusion of certain material that some would find offensive -- or not suitable for children, or seniors with a heart condition."
PT, she added, "is one of the rare true 'Christian' theatres, where issues of faith, morality, religion, Christ's teachings -- and how they relate to the modern world -- are honestly examined. The material they explore often is too bold for 'family oriented' theatre, and too controversial for secular theatre."
For many theatre troupes, she contended, "religion is a 'red flag' which they try very hard to avoid in their programming, out of fear they will alienate certain audience members. Thank goodness Pacific Theatre has the courage for red flags."
The new season opened recently with Mourning Dove, based on the Robert Latimer case; it runs until November 15. Later in the season, PT offers Jesus My Boy, which sees the Saviour through the eyes of his stepfather, Joseph; and A Time to Dance, about a dancer living in Nazi Europe.
Reed's latest play, A Refuge of Lies, also recently finished an off-Broadway run in New York.
CC.com spoke with Reed to mark PT's 25th season.
CC.com: Pacific Theatre very much reflects the values and talents of you, as its founder. Were these talents obvious from a young age?
Ron Reed: Not at all. I came from a family that was musical and loved literature. I read endlessly myself. But drama was not part of my upbringing.
CC.com: What provided the initial spark?
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RR: I saw my first professional play in grade eight: Great Expectations. It was for me a unique and formative experience. One character pulled out a pipe and smoked it, and seconds later I could smell the pipe smoke. Later, pallbearers carried a casket down the aisle, just inches away from the audience. It was just so physical. I was enthralled by this play.
CC.com: So you became an avid theatregoer. But what about becoming an actor? Did your God-given talent show up pretty quickly after that?
RR: Quite the contrary! I enrolled in my first drama class in grade 10. Apparently I had no evident talent to act. I got my lowest grade in grade 10 in drama.
CC.com: Obviously, something changed.
RR: Right. In grade 11, I had what I call my spiritual awakening. I grew up in a church-going family; but our faith was never discussed at home. But with my re-birth, to use the biblical expression, my whole life was changed dramatically -- including my ability to act.
CC.com: Was there a linkage between the spiritual awakening and the emergence of your dramatic talent?
RR: Absolutely. I felt liberated. It occurred to me that if God thinks I'm great, who cares what others think? This realization gave me a sense of life and enthusiasm. I went from "it's all about me" to a fascination with other people. I now would ask myself: "What would it be like to be them?"
CC.com: So you hit the stage running after that?
RR: Not at first. I now wanted to be an actor, but my parents objected. They weren't too crazy about my second choice either, to be a pastor. I did a humanities degree at the U. of Alberta, although I did do a year of theatre school part way through. I also attended Regent College here in Vancouver, and for a while was a youth pastor on the North Shore.
CC.com: But it wasn't for you.
RR: No. I craved to be an artist; so I hiked off to California and did the Masters in Fine Arts at the California Institute of the Arts. Then in 1984, I co-founded Pacific Theatre with three other actors.
CC.com: You didn't have your own theatre at first.
RR: No, we used various rented premises. But in 1994 we secured our theatre, rehearsal and office space at 12th and Hemlock. This was a huge improvement in more ways than one.
CC.com: How so?
RR: Well, among other things, we were admitted to the Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance. The local papers also reviewed our plays. As time went by, we became fully accepted by the local artistic community.
CC.com: You are often called the Christian theatre in town. Is that an appropriate term?
RR: It depends what you mean by the term. If one thinks it means we're propagandistic -- preaching answers, exclusive, even amateurish -- then we're certainly not that.
CC.com: What is your distinctive, then?
RR: We do plays that interest us.
CC.com: But most theatre companies would say that.
RR: Yes, but the 'us' is different.
CC.com: Explain.
RR: I, and the company, are preoccupied with the things Jesus talked about and embodied: reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration, new life and a new start, the supernatural, ethical and moral decisions, and peace and justice. So we put on plays that explore these themes.
CC.com: So the Christian aspect has more to do with your worldview, than whether a play could be put on in a church.
RR: That's right. But I should add that we are also interested in plays that deal with Christian experience. We have done Cotton Patch Gospel, A Man for All Seasons, God's Man in Texas and Shadowlands, all of which were nominated for Jessies.
-- additional reporting by John R. Sutherland
October 30/2008
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