From the Artistic Director’s Chair Series – #12
“It Takes a Team to Pitch a Tent”
by Emily Oriold

After a very busy 11th summer season at The Foster Festival, I recently traded my Artistic Director’s chair for a camp chair and headed to Pinery Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Huron with my husband and son.

And I needed it.

There is something about stepping away from the schedules, emails, rehearsals, performances, ticket sales, budgets, cash flow forecasts, and the seemingly endless list of things that come with producing a season of professional theatre. Sometimes you need to sit under a canopy of trees, walk along the beach, watch the sun disappear into Lake Huron, and remember to simply be still for a little while.

It was a chance to rejuvenate, refresh and recharge after an incredibly full summer.

But apparently, I can’t completely turn off the theatre part of my brain.

We are tent campers. No trailer. No RV. No pulling into a campsite, pressing a button and calling it home. When we arrive, everything has to come out of the van and be assembled: tent, poles, pegs, air mattresses, sleeping bags, chairs, tables, cooking equipment, tarps — all the pieces that somehow transform an empty patch of ground into our home for the next few days.

And after years of camping together, the three of us have developed a pretty good rhythm.

Everyone has a job. Someone unloads. Someone lays out the tarps. Someone starts assembling the tents. One person holds while another person connects. Someone inevitably asks, “Where did we put the extra tent pegs?” We know which things need to happen first and which things can wait.

And when everyone is working together, something that initially looks like a pile of equipment scattered across a campsite suddenly becomes a home.

As we were setting everything up at the Pinery, I found myself thinking: This feels very familiar.

Because in many ways, it’s exactly what happens at The Foster Festival.

Before you arrive at the theatre and take your seat, our production team has already been hard at work transforming an empty stage into another world.

And because our summer mainstage productions follow one after another, that world eventually has to disappear so the next one can take its place.

Walls come down. Furniture disappears. Props are packed. Platforms are moved. Lights are refocused. All is loaded, unloaded, organized and stored. Then the next set begins to take shape.

Much like setting up a campsite, there is an order to everything. There are jobs that need to happen first. There are people waiting for someone else to finish before they can begin. There are a hundred moving pieces — and when everyone knows their role and works together, the transition can seem almost effortless.

Almost.

Behind that smooth transition is an incredible amount of organization, planning and teamwork, led this summer by our wonderful Production Manager, Clare Padgett, alongside our Artistic Associate, Jamie Williams.

They are the people making sure the right things — and the right people — are in the right place at the right time. They anticipate what needs to happen next, solve problems as they arise, and help turn what could easily be chaos into a carefully coordinated process.

And they do it with an extraordinary crew of people working alongside them.

Theatre is often described as a collaborative art form, and we usually think about that collaboration in the rehearsal hall: actors working with directors, designers and stage management to create what eventually appears onstage.

But collaboration continues long after rehearsals end.

It happens when a crew is dismantling a set after the final curtain and preparing the theatre for the next production. It happens when someone grabs the other end of a platform without being asked. It happens when everyone is tired but there is still a truck to unload, a wall to build or a stage to clear.

It happens when everyone understands that no one piece of the puzzle is more important than another.

Back at the Pinery, after a few wonderful days beside Lake Huron, it was time to tear everything down. Once again, the three of us fell into our rhythm.

Tents down. Tarps down. Bedding packed. Chairs folded. Kitchen packed away. Everything carefully squeezed back into the van.

And eventually, there was nothing left but an empty campsite. You would never know we had been there.

There was something about that moment that reminded me of walking onto the stage after a production has closed. The set that had become so familiar is suddenly gone. The furniture is gone. The props are packed away. The actors have gone home.

The stage is empty again. But only for a little while.

Because before long, another group of artists will arrive. Another set will go up. Another story will begin. That cycle is one of the things I love most about theatre. We build something together knowing from the very beginning that it is temporary. And perhaps that is what makes it so special. For a few weeks, we create a world together.

Then we pack it up, leave the space ready for whatever comes next, and carry the memories with us. Much like a really great camping trip.

So as we close the chapter on our 11th summer season, I want to offer a special thank you to Clare, Jamie, our designers, stage managers, and our entire production team for everything they did behind the scenes this summer.

The transitions may have looked smooth from the audience. That’s because a remarkable team made them that way.

And now, refreshed and rejuvenated after a few days beside Lake Huron, I’m ready for what comes next.

Although I may keep the camp chair out for just a little while longer. 😉

I’ll see you at the theatre!

Emily Oriold,
Founder & Artistic Director