Trudeau, the Felons & Me - the story of how the Presentation House Theatre was made - runs until June 14. Showtimes: Friday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets: $15 to $28. More info: phtheatre.org.
A lovestruck prime minister, felon employees, and a tale of sabotage: if this sounds like the plot of an upcoming show at Presentation House Theatre - well, it is.
Trudeau, the Felons & Me, in fact, is the true story of the Chesterfield Avenue theatre's colourful history, as told by its founder, Chris Tyrell Loranger - a former lone wolf of sorts who built a stage so he could find his identity. "I'd been an orphan," reveals Loranger. "I had to invent myself because I didn't inherit any stories. I didn't have family history. And it's a weird way to grow up. And I felt that helped me figure out what a cultural centre should be for its community. It should be a home for the community - because I really wanted a home."
Loranger learned to dream big at a young age. Rejection was not an option when, as a young man, Loranger walked into North Vancouver city hall in the mid-1970s with amateur drawings under his arm of a theatre he'd conceived.
The Presentation House site, which was owned by the city and served as its town hall for 62 years, already had a museum and gallery at this point. That left a blank canvas for a new theatre and Loranger to be the one to nervously convince a senior city staff member, Gerry Brewer, of his grand plan.
"And I turned up there with drawings that I had made in my house. I'm an English major, right? He (Gerry) must have thought: 'What is with this kid, has he never heard of an architect?'" But I remember, he just turned to his staff and said: 'Anybody want to do overtime and help draw some drawings,'" fondly recalls Loranger, speaking to North Shore News from the hallowed hallways of the PHT where he has returned once again.
The nostalgia is palpable as Loranger pauses from rehearsal for Trudeau, the Felons & Me to take a proverbial trip down memory lane.
A series of disasters that Loranger faced while building the theatre, on opening day and throughout his tenure there provide the fodder for his play. Loranger, who already knew a thing or two about adversity, was well prepared to roll with the punches - which there were plenty of. "They offered me the job but they didn't have any money to pay me, so I had to raise my own money," explains Loranger of the first obstacle he had to overcome.
Fortunately for Loranger, he found free labour in some felons that had been ordered to help build the theatre and perform some odd jobs as part of their community service. Thus, the PHT was built on the backs of criminals, chuckles Loranger.
"What they did (wrong) was nobody's business kind of thing," says Loranger, adding, the colourful characters were instructed to say they were volunteers, if anyone asked. "We had so much work here and so little money, we'd just eat them up - all these labourers."
In fact, an arsonist who had set fire to the PHT was ordered by a judge to return to the scene of the crime to help restore it as part of his 400 hours of community service.
"We got a healthy, really generous insurance settlement which helped us a lot," says Loranger of the silver lining that emerged from that disaster.
In July 1977, the finishing touches were being done and Loranger was working on a dramatic, splashy opening fit for the theatre. Nothing less than a big star, or somebody that would get a lot of publicity, to cut the ribbon would do.
Again, Loranger was a big dreamer, so was it any surprise he managed to get the ultimate Canadian luminary at the time to come to North Vancouver to christen the theatre?
To pull off this feat, Loranger turned to one of his good female friends who went to Handsworth secondary with Margaret Trudeau. Yes, the one-time wife of the popular Canadian prime minister.
Loranger recalls being "floored" at the news that Pierre Trudeau had accepted the invitation to officially open the doors to his humble theatre. But Loranger got a little more than he bargained for.
"He (Trudeau) asked me to contact a woman for a date - a woman that I knew," Loranger says with a laugh. Trudeau, insistent that Loranger track down this young woman's phone number, created a sideshow of sorts on that day. "And I just didn't know what to do," recalls Loranger. "I tried to talk him (Trudeau) out of it but he made us leave the building and walk around to my office and phone and get ahold of (her). I jokingly call it pimping for the prime minister."
Loranger never knew what happened after that impulsive phone call or if his friend ever went out with Trudeau, until today - some 38 years later. While recently working on the script for Trudeau, the Felons Me, Loranger called up Anne, who is now in her late 60s, to learn the details of her date with Trudeau. "And she was like, 'Oh, was it you that gave him (Trudeau) my number - I always wondered how he got my number,'" says Loranger, who promises to reveal all the salacious details of the date during his show.
"You should come to the show and see it because you won't believe what they did on their date," teases Loranger. "It's amazing because ... they double-dated with the Queen and Prince Philip."
There was hardly a learning period for Loranger, who had limited theatre experience in the beginning. The first show produced at PHT - North Shore Live - which poked fun at amateur actors - went on a national tour and became a huge hit internationally - thanks to some good fortune.
A New York Times critic, who happened to be in Vancouver, came to check out North Shore Live and he wrote up a review in Variety magazine. On the heels of the show's success, the PHT's board of directors asked Loranger to oversee the gallery space as well.
Loranger chose the works of celebrated Canadian composer and visual artist Raymond Schafer as his first exhibition. Graphic scores, drawings, collages, and a sound sculpture built from found objects like rusty nails and machine parts adorned the PHT gallery space. Loranger worked in concert with a gallery in Stratford, Ont., and applied for a federal grant to ship the show across the country.
His decision to establish a permanent photography exhibit, which routinely featured world-class artists such as Ansel Adams, proved popular with guests and really put Presentation House on the map.
But along with those positives came some negative publicity surrounding controversial shows at the theatre. For example, when PHT hosted a speaker series at the height of Quebec separatist tensions.
The Quebec government paid for the event and invited three "heavyweight intellectuals" of the Parti Quebecois as the guest speakers. The presence of the separatists didn't go over well with someone living in the building across the street from PHT.
"A man set a trip wire across the stairs, and sent us hate mail, and really Stephen Kingy, threatening (stuff)," recalls Loranger, who tripped and fell down the stairs after the trap was set.
PHT staff also decided to host a show with a pro-seal hunt message - in "Greenpeace territory." The theatre was thrust in the national news media spotlight and there was RCMP presence.
"Greenpeace bought out most of the seats," says Loranger, who described the QA session that followed the show as a screaming match.
Loranger will reach deep into his vault of PHT stories for Trudeau, the Felons & Me, which hits the stage this week.
"It's not like a play, it's like elaborate storytelling with plenty of humour and comedic relief - like in a Shakespeare script," describes Loranger, who has fashioned costumes out of paper, meant to represent pages of his real-life diary.
The show is a cathartic experience for Loranger, as someone who long searched for his identity before finally finding his figurative home in the Presentation House Theatre.
